Halloween Gallery: CG Spider Model

 

 

 

 

 

Time for another Halloween entry. This time I decided to go ahead and make a fully animatable cel-shaded 3D model of a spooky spider. Might do some animation with it next year.

Halloween Gallery: Funnybones the Skeleton Jester!

 

It's that time of year again! And, it's been awhile since I unveiled a new straight up creepy character drawing for the Halloween Gallery (Ghoulery?), so here is my new creation: Funnybones the Skeleton Jester!

I'm actually thinking of doing a short comic or animated cartoon about him (maybe in time for next Halloween).

Halloween Gallery: Spooky Boy Meets Creepypasta

 

This was just a short intro to an illustrated podcast presentation about Creepypasta (another class project). I thought Halloween night would be a good time to share it, and I always like to post a little something on Halloween. 

 

Happy Halloween all! 

 

(Obviously, I have no claim to Slenderman or The Skin Taker which each belong to their respective creators.)

Halloween Gallery #9: Mood Table 2015

I've been keeping up with Dinosaur Dracula's Halloween Countdown lately, being a fan of Matt Caracappa's work since the good ol' days of X-Entertainment. And, one idea of his that really catches my eye is the Halloween Mood Table, a special area of the house, usually a small table, where one puts lots of Halloween decorations and activities to help keep their Halloween spirit alive as the big day draws closer. As he's always encouraging others to adopt this idea with mood tables of their own, I decided to give it a try.

Starting with a duo of TV trays and covering them with a plastic Halloween door cover...

I soon created a world of Halloween fun right in my living room! As you can see (you can click any of these pictures to make them larger BTW) , I have the paper maché pumpkin mask as seen in this post. I also have an inflatable skeleton purchased from my local antiques/random stuff store, a cool black plastic skull, and some dancing top-hat pumpkin statues that my family traditionally gets out at Halloween and keeps around until New Years. And, inside the pumpkin mask is a set of flashing lights with cool Halloween sound effects. I just flip a switch and watch it spring to life!

As you can see, I have an assortment of movies and books on the table as well, that way I have easy access to all kinds of Halloween appropriate things to watch and read...

Bubba Ho-Tep: an excellent off-beat horror dramedy.

To me each Halloween season has me in the mood for a different kind of monster. Some years it's vampires, other years it's werewolves, Frankenstein, slasher-villains, etc. This year, to me, is the year of the 1950s/1960s sci-fi horror! Aliens, Atomic-Science-Gone-A-Muck, Giant Bugs, Ed Wood, whatever takes us back to a time when aliens were a stand-in for Communists and giant monsters were a metaphor for the atomic bomb!

And of course, the anime classic Vampire Hunter D. This is of course the result of me taping it from a movie channel one time that it came on. This is the original 80s film, but I do have the more modern sequel Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, on official DVD no less. I'll probably watch them both, but it's the original that makes it onto the mood table. I have some of the original books too, but for Halloween reading I have other things in mind...

Going with the popular horrors of my childhood. This includes Scary Stories for Sleepovers (the book I'm most likely to actually read), a trio of Goosebumps books, and Bruce Coville's Book of Monsters. Some light, but still scary (or at least fun) reading in between other activities for this busy October.

Anyway, this was a very fun project, and I thank Matt for making this a thing. I'll certainly consider doing this again next year. In the meantime, I have more Halloween Gallery entries to come (and they will be a lot less wordy).

Box-Bot Boogie #8: Joke Gum

Another two weeks, another Box-Bot Boogie...

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This one had some challenges. The "opening illustration" took forever to draw. And, my use of Photoshop to copy elements from panel 1 into panel 6 turned out to be a huge pain in the neck. I really should have just redrew those from scratch.

Halloween Gallery #5: My Costume for 2012

Every Halloween, I have a tradition. I put on a costume, and sit on a chair on the front porch handing out candy to trick-or treaters, always with a CD player next to me playing Halloween songs (Monster Mash, Time Warp, Thriller, etc.). To me, it's the big event of the season. And, this year I wanted to dress as a pumpkin man (not unlike our dear friend, Bob).

There was just one problem. We couldn't find a proper pumpkin head mask. There were plenty of pumpkin face masks, masks that are shaped like regular human faces, but made out of pumpkin. That's fine, but what I wanted was something shaped like an actual pumpkin that would fit over my whole head. The only one we found cost roughly $80!

Eventually, my Mom came up with a great idea. Don't buy one, make one!

 Starting with the inflatable pumpkin to the left, we taped a pile of plastic bags to the bottom to increase the height. Then, it was covered with strips of newspaper that were coated in flower-paste.

When she was a child my mother once created a Charlie Brown mask using the same method, so it was great that she was able to help.









  I was surprised at how tough it was when it hardened, considering it was just newspaper and flour. Honestly, I hadn't made anything out of paper maché since elementary school.

Jonni Good's site was a great source of tips, by the way. Check it out sometime. This person does amazing things with paper maché.

Once it hardened, we removed the inflatable and it was just a matter of spray-painting it orange. Then applying the details in poster paint, with the facial features outlined in black marker.

Then all we had to do was cut the facial features out with a dremel and spray it with a polyurethane glaze, completing the mask!

 Of course, we had a real jack-o'lantern, too. And, here you can see the mask side by side with the real thing. While, it's not the most realistic pumpkin mask out there, I think it looks pretty decent.

And, now the moment of truth...

I had a glow-stick inside the mask with me to create a glowing face effect like a real jack-o'lantern, but I don't think the effect worked that well. Still, I'm pleased with how this costume turned out. Anyway, I hope you had a Happy Halloween and found this post entertaining, and not too boring.

Oh, and since this is such a dorky "photo-blog" post, and none of those are complete without cat pictures, here is my adorable Halloween kitty...

Halloween Gallery #4: Zombie Attorneys

And, now a word from our sponsor...

Bonus:

Original Pencils

I'm particularly proud of this one. So, if you're interested, by all means check out the Zombie Attorney items available at http://www.cafepress.com/bobthepumpkinsorcerer/9460693 .

So, I've got two more Halloween Gallery entries for this year, but one might be a day or two after Halloween when it gets posted, thanks to the storm and other such obstacles. At any rate, I hope everyone is staying safe, and having a Happy Halloween!

Halloween Gallery #3: Werewolf Animation Sequence

And, the Halloween fun continues with entry #3! This is just a short little animation sequence that I did for fun a few years back. It's entirely hand-drawn on paper the "old fashioned" way, although it's colored and sequenced in Macromedia Flash.

Before uploading to YouTube and posting to this site, I quickly added opening and ending cards and a little music: The Derelict from the fine people at www.purple-planet.com.

Now, have a howling good time (yes, I know that was terrible).

Halloween Gallery #2: Franky!

This is my interpretation of Mary Shelly's timeless character, Frankenstein's Monster! In trying to put my own twists on the classic creature, I decided to use multiple skin colors and emphasize the stitching to give him a truly "patched together" look. I also made sure the facial features are quite different from one patch of face to the next. I've also added more metal parts, to explore his sci-fi nature.

The big challenge here was making sure "Franky" was recognizable as Frankenstein's monster, but not a direct rip-off of Universal's classic design (apparently they're kinda touchy about that). My "Franky" doesn't have Universal's protruding forehead or forehead scar. It has wrinkles, but that's it. Also, he doesn't really have a flat head, but rather a spiky "flat-top" hairstyle, so I think I'm safe.

Bonus:

Original Pencils

If you're interested in a shirt or poster with this image, be sure to visit my store at: http://www.cafepress.com/bobthepumpkinsorcerer/9428733

Halloween Gallery #1: Bob: The Pumpkin Sorcerer

Hey everyone, it's my favourite time of the year! And, as part of the spooky festivities, I'll be posting various drawings and animations to get into the spirit! Let's kick it off with someone I like to call Bob: The Pumpkin Sorcerer!

Great Pumpkin Sorcerer Bob, the spirit of Halloween mischief, stands on a cold Autumn night basking in his own magical flame, wishing you a Happy Halloween!

Bonus:

Original Pencils

By the way, if anyone is interested in shirts, mugs, posters, and other knick-knacks featuring Bob here, I took the liberty of opening up a Cafépress store. Just click here: http://www.cafepress.com/bobthepumpkinsorcerer/9428751