Meet Arend Smith, Monster Maker at Ravendark Creations
My name is Arend Smith, and I make monsters. I have always had a love and respect for monstrous and wild creatures, from big drooling dogs to mythical forest creatures to things that dwell in the oceans and seem so fantastic they could be made up.
(Me and my ArtPrize entries from 2016.)
In 2011, I started off making little faerie monsters inspired by the work of Brian Froud, giving them away to friends when they started to overpopulate my apartment. Eventually, I started selling pieces on Etsy, and each project I took on was bigger than the last.
(OOAK Octopus Sculpture. Dimensions: 12" wide, 10 1/4" tall, and 15" long. The piece is pretty heavy and ate a lot of Aves Apoxie!)
Jump To Section
- Making the Spider Alien for ‘Violent Starr'
- Future Plans
- When Arend Smith Discovered Stan Winston School
- Making Monsters as a Family Business
Making the Spider Alien for ‘Violent Starr'
Since my small beginnings making those little woodland creatures, I've contributed pieces to full-length movies, like the Spider Alien for Violent Starr, which won me the Stan Winston School's Alien challenge, as well as another film that will be shooting next year called the Closet Dweller.
Watch the Fantasy Filmfest 2018 Trailer featuring my Spider Alien Creature Suit:
(Movie Monster Mask for a new short film, The Closet Dweller.)
Future Plans
I've done full silicone makeups that have won convention awards and built foam muscle suits for Krampus costumes. I also make monstrous pets based on some of H.P. Lovecraft's work. I love the idea of making sculptures that people can interact with, and I have several Cthulhu pets already made in this vein.
(Cthulhu pets! They are very easy to care for; they just need a few souls a week. Feed them your enemies and irritate door-to-door salespeople.)
In addition to developing my own line of sculptures and masks, I'd like to work with game companies, graphic novel companies, and fantasy/sci-fi authors of all sorts to create large-scale displays for their convention booths.
(Cup-thulhu. See what I did there?)
I've really enjoyed working with independent filmmakers and would be interested in doing more creature suits in the future. In the coming year, I will be focusing on launching a 'Krampus and Perchten Society' in Michigan with my wife, Lara. We will have a full line of wild masks that can be used for costumes, as well as eventually hosting an event locally where we wear and perform in these costumes ourselves.
(The painted version of my large-scale dragon bust.)
When Arend Smith Discovered Stan Winston School
Though my work started off as passion projects and I was entirely self-taught, I quickly realized this was what I really wanted to pursue as a career. When I discovered Stan Winston School, I was blown away by all the things I had yet to learn, and because of this resource, I was able to study and improve!
(My Forest Lord bust done for a great client. I hope you all like him!)
The courses allowed me to become more than just a hobby artist and take on projects that I would have been unable to do before. The Stan Winston School opened doors for me, and I'm proud to say that at the end of this year, I will be a full-time artist. This would not have been possible without the amazing things I learned through the Stan Winston School.
(Shadowflash, the 9-foot-long Kaiju I sculpted in 2015.)
Making Monsters as a Family Business
I also have had the help of my wife Lara, who is an artist and has been such a help to me in getting the business off the ground and getting pieces completed. We have collaborated on projects, using our similar visions to create pieces together, or she acts as my sounding board and gives critique for my sculptures.
(My Krampus mask. Photo by Alyssia Booth.)
I struggle with impatience with social media, color blindness, and the belief that I can take on just a bit more than I actually can do in the time I think I can. She styles Krampus's hair, cleans molds, models my work, helps with prosthetic appliance applications and body painting, and rewrites all of my garbled posts and updates online. (Including this bio.)
(My realistic Skulltula from Zelda.)
(June Sheperd killed it at her very first convention. I created the silicone mask, body paint, and ax, and she did everything else with a little help from her assistant, Jim Elmer.)
I'm grateful for all the teachers and helpers I've had through the Stan Winston School, and I can't wait to move on to the next bigger and better projects!
My work can be found at Ravendarkcreations.com / Etsy / Facebook / Instagram
- Arend Smith
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Check out the original Alien Art Contest Winner Announcement: Spider Alien Creature Suit
View all the entries at the Alien Art Contest
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