Bruno’s Geek Reviews: Interview With Candy Keane!
This graduate from the University of Florida with a degree in magazine journalism has become a professional model, cosplayer, costumier and boutique owner. Everyone, meet Candy Keane!
Q- One thing I noticed while looking at your work is that in some cases you’ll be extremely faithful to every little detail of a character’s original look, while some other times you’ll change it and put a twist on it. When you start on a project, is it always clear to you from the start if you’ll do a ‘purist’ adaptation or if you’ll change it? Or is it more of a progress where you see where it takes you?
A- My costumes tend to take on a life of their own. I always start with an idea and reference photos and then make some embarrassingly bad sketches that only I can decipher. Once I start construction, it changes and morphs as I go. If I’m doing a realistic recreation, I try to stick to the original but tend to change small things as I make the outfit. Some things just don’t translate well to real life. But if I’m going to be changing a lot of the outfit, then I go out of my way to make it totally different. If you go half-way but tweak something major then people are just going to think you got it really wrong. It’s no fun to wear an outfit where you just have to explain all day long why you made it the way you did.
Q- When choosing the next costume you’ll make, do you intentionally keep track of what is currently popular with the fans, or do you simply go with what inspires you the most? Or something in-between?
A- I always go with what inspires me the most. I enjoy making something challenging.
I actually do keep track of what is popular and usually try to do something different. There are a lot of characters I’ve wanted to do but didn’t want to be one in a million because the movie just came out and everyone would be doing it. Babydoll from Sucker Punch for example. I so wanted to do that one! Every time I do my hair in pigtails somebody brings up Sucker Punch. But I think it’s best to let it die down a bit than to be thrown in the mix with all the straight out of the package versions that a lot of people will be wearing when something becomes really popular and immediately licensed. Since I own a costume shop, I have a good preview of what’s available so I usually have a good idea of the outfits I’m going to see a lot of.
Q- You get to wear the costumes you create. Do you think that gives you more passion for your projects during the creation process when you know you’ll be the one showing it? And on the other side of the coin, when it’s time to model does it make it more fun to be wearing something that you made?
A- For me, it’s always more fun to wear something I made. I’ve never actually had someone else make a costume for me, except my mom when I was little. But as a professional costumier, I put as much passion into costumes I make for others as those I make for myself. Most of the time I put even more into it! When I’m making something for myself I will let little things slide since I’m the only one who will see it. So maybe my hem isn’t perfect or I glued something instead of sewing it in. But when I make something for someone else, I take pains to get it perfect looking with a perfect fit and make sure nothing is going to fall apart when they wear it.
Q- Do you have any creepy stories from conventions?
A- I can’t really think if any! For the most part, everyone has always been respectful and nice. I’m out there all dressed up, so I want people to talk to me and take pictures. And I’m happy to meet them! Before I opened my store, I did a lot of promo and spokesmodeling work for other companies. A lot of it was liquor promos in bars so I dealt with all kinds of creepy. I’d take an overzealous fanboy over that any day. The only time I ran into any thing like that was a couple years ago at DragonCon when the convention was infiltrated with drunken football fans who were, for the most part, complete a**holes.
Q- In 2009 you opened your own boutique in Jacksonville with your office and workshop in the back. Now that you’ve owned it for a few years, how has that experience been for you?
A- I love it! I love going to work every day and being in this business. I had the website store for a few years before opening a strorefront and having the store has really brought out another dimension of the business and changed my main focus. I used to mainly do commission work when I was building the store website. As the business has grown, it’s gotten to where I am so busy running the business side of the business that I only do a few commissions a year now. I have a small line of my own costumes that I custom make and I do a lot of those, but I don’t do very many original requests because they take up so much time with research and assembling materials. I provide a lot of help with bits and pieces. Most cosplayers make a lot of their own costumes and they don’t necessarily need to buy a whole costume, but they might need a petticoat, gloves, accessories, etc. And I carry all that stuff in my store or I special order it for them.
Q- A lot of professional cosplayers have used the internet to self-promote and share their work with others. Do you think that without the internet cosplaying would still be a viable profession?
A- The Internet and social media have done wonders for self-promotion, but I’m not sure if I would really consider cosplay itself a “viable profession.” Most people who involve cosplay as their business have something else to supplement it, like regular modeling or selling handmade costumes or props. The Internet certainly makes it possible to succeed doing that.
Q- You actually graduated with a degree in magazine journalism. Do you think this has informed you in the way you’ve done things with your current career?
A- I may not work in magazines, but I use everything I learned and it definitely helped get me where I am. Because my degree was specialized for magazines, I learned photography, photoshop, graphic design, web design, advertising, pr…a little of everything! So I do everything for my business from building the website to making the ads. College paid for itself in the money I’ve saved from not having to hire people to do all that for me.
Q- You have worked with your husband in the past. How does he see what you do? Is he as much of a geek as you are?
A- I wouldn’t describe him as a geek, more like geek by association. He really enjoys going to the events with me and he costumes as well. I think he finds what I do very entertaining. He’s been incredibly supportive the whole way. He even shoots a lot of the photography I’ve used on my website and in ads. I certainly got lucky because I don’t have a normal job and didn’t follow a normal career path. If he didn’t take an interest in my geeky things it would never have worked!
Q- What fictional story (be it in book, comic-book, t.v series, movie or any other format) have you enjoyed the most recently?
A- I’m on the 3rd book of the Hunger Games. I can’t wait to see the movie and see what the people from the Capitol are going to look like with their crazy hair and dyed skin. The costumes are so vividly described in the book, I feel like I’ve already seen the movie.
Q- Any hints about your next costume?
A- I’m currently obsessed with Dazzler, but I’m pretty sure when I wear it most people are just going to think I’m Lady Gaga or Ke$ha!
************************************************************
You can see more of Candy’s work and follow her online in the following links, including her shop where you can get costumes and accessories:
