The mind behind Volpin Props

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5MysSilvMk&feature=youtu.be&t=3m3s

On Monday's /ALL Chat, we asked the dudes from Volpin Props to explain what went into designing and creating the stunning trophies for the North American Collegiate Championship. Today we’ve got Volpin Props founder, Harrison Krix, telling us all about how he got his start and how he grows as a creator!

http://i.imgur.com/avDOdDU.jpg?1

Check out more of Harrison’s work on his website: http://www.volpinprops.com/

What first drew you to prop creation? What was the first prop you made?

I like to say that Halloween was my gateway drug into costuming and propmaking. When I was in high school and college, I worked as a mechanic, did auto body work and installed car stereo systems for a while, so when my wife and I decided to do a couple videogame characters for Halloween back in 2007 I thought I had more than enough skills to make some costume accessories. I was very wrong, but that first handful of failures taught me a lot. My first props were the accessories for those costumes -- Midna’s headpiece and Link’s shield, both from the Twilight Princess version of Zelda. I suppose my first proper “replica” where I really took my time and ended up with a successful result was the Portal Gun from the original Portal.

http://i.imgur.com/3TjTFSh.jpg?1

Are there other creators out there who inspire you?

Absolutely. It’s a list that’s way too long to fit into an interview like this, but the community of prop builders is a really close-knit group. Some of us are hobbyists and others do it professionally, and we all call or text one another when we figure out some neat new trick or find a cool material. It’s a really positive creative force when you’re friends with other artists who share the same pseudo-manic drive to create. Guys like Adam Savage are kind of the big anchors in the community that we all look up to, but the DIY builders like my friends Bill Doran (Punished Props), Eric Jarman (Jarman Props), and Zander Brandt (ZProps) are the guys that are constantly pushing me to try new things, work harder, and step up my prop making game.

Your site says you usually don’t create the same prop twice--how do you track your growth as a creator? How do you know you’re getting better?

Repetition would refine the process of an individual item but the challenges of that initial project would diminish the more I copied it. A wholly new project forces me to consider construction techniques I may not have otherwise thought about with repeat projects. Certain elements -- like moldmaking, casting, many painting techniques -- transfer from one project to the next, and I can build on the experiences of the last piece to make the next even more successful. I don’t build the same way today I did a year ago, and I really hope that a year from now my process will have dramatic changes once again. If I ever complete a project without learning anything new, I know I’m not challenging myself.

http://i.imgur.com/dON9oEo.jpg

What kind of planning goes into a prop design? At what point in the planning process do you actually begin crafting the prop?

I typically start off by hand tracing every element of the design into a 2D vector orthographic set of illustrations. This might seem like a step backwards since many things stem from 3D renders, but I feel like the process of manually copying the details by hand familiarizes me with the shape and geometry of the piece and ultimately leads to a more accurate replica. I also never really stop considering solutions to a project. Cooking dinner, brushing my teeth, falling asleep -- I’m always sort of turning the elements of the project around in my head and considering the best way to go about construction. By the time I actually cut the first piece of material, there’s probably 15-20 hours of sketching blueprints, materials research, and just generic musing that has already happened.

http://i.imgur.com/IuAT4YF.jpg

How often do you have to scrap a design and start over?

Almost never, though it isn’t unusual for me to bork up one component of a project and ditch it in favor of a redesigned part. For instance, the three large “arms” on the collegiate trophy (we called it the “Scholar’s Spire” in the shop) needed to be replicated seven times in order to get the castings to come out correctly. The four that didn’t make the cut eventually got chucked in the trash while I refined the process of how best to make the castings. Generally I like to think that anything can be salvaged but sometimes it’s more time conscious to jump ship and start over.

On the plus side, having those dud pieces allowed me to test out various mounting methods for the arms themselves as well as the large gem they hold in place, so it wasn’t a total loss. I got to use the scrap parts to mock up various pin and screw configurations without worrying about messing up the actual final parts.

http://i.imgur.com/OfkvMGV.jpg

What do you enjoy about working with people in general to create props?

I like the idea that there’s a world in someone’s mind that absolutely doesn’t exist anywhere else. Admittedly I’m not the most creative person when it comes to inventing original concepts, but I can take someone else’s vision and bring it into meatspace. The act of making a wholly new item that had zero physical dimension previously elicits a giddy sort of wonder that never diminishes no matter how many things I build. They clash when they intersect with our reality, and interacting with them always feels surreal. I’m constantly in my shop holding a half finished sword, bow, or rifle and striking silly poses while making “pew-pew” noises.

http://i.imgur.com/NYeX9Ll.jpg

What was the first League prop you created?

Fishbones, Jinx’s rocket launcher. That was a big step out of my comfort zone, as I had to design a hinged jaw mechanism to open and close the mouth sections via a trigger by the handle. I’d never done any puppetry or articulated parts like that before, and there was a lot of research and trial and error that went into making the jaws open and shut just so.

http://i.imgur.com/mXGqLYJ.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ZGtaYj9.jpg

Had you heard of/played League of Legends before then? If not, were you inspired to check it out afterward?

It’s kind of hard to operate as a commission-based prop artist and not notice the League community. Many of my friends cosplay LoL champions and other prop artists I know have built some really amazing replicas from the game. I’ve played a few times - I’m absolutely terrible, in case anyone’s curious - but I spend most of my League interaction pawing through the modelviewer, thinking of how I can bring some of this craziness into reality. You guys don’t make that part easy.

Is there a League-related prop you’re itching to make in the future?

I actually have a few potential commissions lined up in the coming months - one for Ekko’s blade and a few of his accessories for a friend of mine, and another for Caitlyn’s rifle. DJ Sona’s helmet would be a really challenging project I’d love to jump into if I could find the right client to tackle it with. I love working with LEDs and I’ve made a couple of fancy DJ helmets in the past so it’s a natural extension of my existing work. I’ve also, unsuccessfully, been campaigning to convince my wife to make Dryad Soraka for several months. I might just make the staff and see if it changes her mind at all…