Just in time for the holidays, a superstar group of creatives is bringing you Merry Christmas, Krampus. We were drawn to their large and highly detailed display at DesignerCon this year. It screamed of Jim Henson, Disney, and all the practical effects we loved as kids… and our instincts were correct. This group is creating something unique to the holiday season. Not only are they creating a family friendly Krampus, but they are also doing it with practical movie magic. It’s refreshing and nostalgic to see the art of puppetry and practical effects is still alive an well. The best part is they are doing it over kickstarter so as fans we can all be involved. We talked to the team about their project, Merry Christmas, Krampus!
The team behind this project is like a dream team, with people working at Disney and Jim Henson, etc…. How did you all meet?
We actually met at Puppet Up!, which was an invitation only puppet and improv class that we took at the Jim Henson Company. It was weekly, and we instantly bonded over our love of all things Henson, Disney, etc. We met Andrea when her boyfriend at the time, a cop, was patrolling the area and stopped by the shop. He said that we HAD to meet his girlfriend who was an artist. A few days later we met her, saw her amazing work, and we’ve been working together ever since!
How did you all decide on Merry Christmas, Krampus?
Artie: I had a relative from Hungary who told us about Krampus during a holiday party. We were equally horrified and intrigued. I brought the idea of doing a children’s book about him to Andrea and the guys and, serendipitously, Andrea pulled a Krampus doll out of her bag that she had just finished. That Krampus was the basis for what you see in the book.
How much of Merry Christmas, Krampus will be practical and how much will be CGI? Will there be any CGI at all?
The mass majority of the project will be done practically. It will be created using posable puppets, props and sets. Once the puppets are posed and photographed, the hand-drawn facial expressions will be digitally mapped on in post production. We really want as much of the project to be practical as possible.
Given everyone’s work in film and TV, why did a book?
That’s a great question. Our goal is to hopefully do a Christmas special one day for Disney or Netflix or someone, but in the meantime we wanted to have something that was within our power to create on our own, that we could be proud of and read to our young children.
Let’s talk about the kickstarter and some of the amazing rewards people can get…
Obviously, the reward that we’re most excited about is the book itself. We want to get it into the hands of as many people as we can and share this delightful story with them. But some other premiums that we’re really excited about are the puppetry workshops that we’re offering. People can sign up for a 5-day puppet performance or a 5-day puppet building workshop, where you’ll get to meet and work with us. Workshops like this are EXTREMELY rare, and anyone who is a working professional in the puppet business started out in workshop like these.
Is there any worry about giving out the actual Krampus as a prize?
There was, initially, but we knew we wanted to give away something truly special. So once we decided that Krampus himself was the prize, we had Andrea get to work on constructing his replacement!
Krampus has mostly been used as a horror figure, what was the process to making a kid friendly Krampus?
It’s interesting because so many of the stories that we grew up loving, have scary roots. Just look up the original version of Sleeping Beauty, and you’ll see what we mean. So we knew that making Krampus family friendly would be possible, but somewhat of a challenge. Instantly, we recognized that we had to jettison some of the folklore, like hitting people with switches or bringing children back to his cave to work (though we do have him address that in a comical way in the story). We picked the parts that we liked and made us laugh, and we introduced some of our own elements. But basically, the story that we wanted to tell was of someone who works hard all year, and is sidelined, and decides to take matters into his own hands
in a comical fashion. Along the way he meets a little boy who is just as bad as he is, and together they learn a warm Christmas-y lesson, that we think is a good lesson for everyone.
Will we see other popular Christmas characters? Rudolph perhaps?
No Rudolph, but you will be seeing Santa, of course, along with Mrs. Claus, and the elves. In fact one of the premiums is to get an elf of your own, which is designed to look like you, and will cameo in the book.
Will this group be working on other projects after Merry Christmas, Krampus?
Absolutely! We already have another project completed that was optioned by a major media company, and we currently have 3 other ideas in the pipeline that are in various stages of completion. Having worked in this business for a long time, we know to never put all our eggs in one basket.
What’s next for Merry Christmas, Krampus?
Krampus will be making appearances all over Los Angeles, including the Krampus Run, and at an event at the Anaheim Brewery. Also, Sean and Patrick’s Company “Swazzle” will be hosting a Krampus open house, for a limited number of guests later in the month. And we’ll be introducing some additional premiums that we think puppet fans are going to be really excited about. Otherwise, we’ll be huddled up in front of our computers throughout the season, nervously biting our nails, hoping that we get to bring our labor of love to the masses.
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Be sure to also check out The Coolest Art and Curiosities From Designer Con 2018!
