Belated Halloween Arts

Greetings,

So as some of you might have realized, it was Halloween recently which meant it was time for the annual Karma Crew trip to Disneyland and Universal Studios. This also meant that it was time once again for yours truly to make some new t-shirt art. I couldn't post it before we left because we were trying to keep it a secret from two of the people going, and after that... well, I just got really busy ok?! Anyway, here now for your viewing enjoyment are those designs.

Disney shirt 2015

So this is the Disney shirt for this year, and if you're even remotely familiar with the park then you'll likely recognize the imagery from the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Last year, there were only four people who were going to be involved in this, and so the design had to change a fair bit from what I originally conceived. The trio was going to be the focus, featuring Jake, Rex, and Brock as the singing pirates and yours truly as the donkey.

© http://www.catsafterme.com/

But of course I couldn't just do it in my usual style, no, because I'm a fan of classic Disney and especially of Marc Davis' original drawings that inspired Pirates as well as a host of other famous Disney attractions. Wouldn't it be cool, I thought, to match the look of his original work rather than just the scene like I did last year?

And of course this was all well and good -last year- when I was just thinking about it. When it came time to actually DO it I began to realize what exactly I was in for. It'd been a long time since I'd studied any of Davis' work and his style is not only incredibly distinctive in terms of pose, proportion, and even the type of inking he did, but a far cry from what I do myself. It was going to be a pretty serious challenge for me to get it to look like it did in my head.

The internet, of course, provided a wealth of reference, but in the end I needed to buy this book which I wholeheartedly recommend for any fan of Disney or art in general. It doesn't feature all of his work, or even most of it, but it does provide an extremely broad view of the mans' talents.

Anywho, it took about three weeks worth of trial-and-error as well as teaching myself a new inking style (and digital watercolor) but I'm happy with the results. Check it out:

Jeremy, Rex, and Jake

Ayame

Taylor

The last two are only loosely based on existing pieces, the last one I couldn't actually find the reference for, so I winged it a fair bit. The overall look is good, but it's not as spot-on as the others. Fortunately, when they're combined, you can't really tell too much. 

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Next is the Universal Studios piece. This one was a wild card since I decided what I wanted to do for Disneyland way back last year, but never really settled on anything for Universal. A lot of ideas were swatted about, including one that I liked for Night Gallery. Sadly no one else did, so it was scrapped... until next year. 

Universal shirt 2015

I'm not crazy about this one... I mean, it's not terrible but I think I went a little overboard in some places. I was a little drained after the first shirt and this one was on a much tighter deadline. Still it came out alright, I suppose. In case it's not clear, it's all Alfred Hitchcock stuff... The Birds, Psycho, Rear Window, and Vertigo (left to right). 

The 'grain' filter I applied also was a bit heavy on print both for shirts and the poster we did. 

Both shirts, of course, feature the QR codes on the back, and match the front. This year, I didn't make the mistake of off-coloring the QR barcode so it was more recognizable. 

So there you have it. The Halloween 2015 shirts art at last. It was a fun year for these, even if they didn't really get the same result as last years. They were a fairly effective marketing tool and they're stylish. I'm fairly proud of the Pirate one too so... that's something.