Halloween 2016: The Arts

It's the time of year again for the annual Karma Incarnate Halloween trip to California, which means two new shirt designs. Yay. I knew what I wanted to do for the Disney one way back in June, but alas I never got around to it... so at the last minute I had to do a little marathon session to make sure both designs were done in time to get printed.

So for the Disney one, obviously I had to go with something for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror because in a few months it's going to be changed into something much, much more lame.

Disney shirt 2016

This one is alright, the balance is all off, but what can I say? I was on a tight deadline. I do like the way the lightning came out (probably the best I've ever done) and I'll be using the technique again in the future. Sadly, it didn't print out as well. I also like the static effect. There's a couple easter-eggs in there too, if you can spot them.

Honestly my favorite part of it is the 'Fearwell Tour' it made me laugh when I thought of it. Also, all the letters in it are customized from the base font to make it look more Twilight Zone-esque. I think I got the look pretty well.

What's that? You don't know what this is about? Well don't worry, I've got you covered.



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And then the Universal one. This was a fair bit easier, but less satisfying in the end. I think the idea just never quite came together. Still, people seemed to like it okay.

Universal Shirt 2016

If you can't tell (and I wouldn't blame you if you can't) that's Freddy Krueger, Michael Meyers, Krampus, Jason Voorhees, and Leatherface behind the Crew. Those were the main haunts at Halloween Horror Nights this year, so it seemed appropriate. It was also quick, which was good because -again- time crunch.

I don't like this one as much... usually I do one serious one and one silly one. The Disney one invariably being more silly because it's Disney and more cartoony and fun whereas Universal is more serious. Oh well. 

The backs of the shirts (Universal Left, Disney Right)

The backs of the shirts were a little boring compared to last years, but they did their job and that's all that matters in the end.

Both shirts did perform fairly well this year, people were asking about them both because of the design and because of the Tower of Terror reference, at one point I declared Jake to be the Karma Incarnate Sponsored Tower of Terror Portable Information Booth, so that was good. I don't know if people really noticed the Universal ones all that much, a few did for sure, but that day is kind of a blur.

"One last time, relax have a drink with me one last time" 

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. 

Fancy Shmancy Work Sketches

Hello all,

So this is what I was doing at work the other day instead of listening to the calls... I decided to try and match one of my favorite artists, Drew Struzan, at least in terms of style. I may not have not managed it great, I was using pencil after all, but I think I did pretty good. I like them anyway.

Indy, Conan, and Mike

 I don't know if you can tell, but that's Indiana Jones (that one I used the cover of Genesis Deluge which is one of Struzans actual works as reference) and then Conan O'Brien and Mike Nelson.

I guess I can do a little more than draw ponies.

Five Nights Fever

Hey blog world,

I said I'd post stuff whether I liked it or not, so here goes. Two quick work sketches I did while listening to old people prattle on about their health problems and general racism.

First, Toy Chica from the (slightly less) amazing (than the first) Five Nights at Freddy's 2.

Yes, it's the one with the panties.

Yeah, I don't know either so don't ask a lot of questions. The game is great though, all the same and if you haven't played it, you should. The payoff is jumpscares, but the tension is what makes the game scary again and again.

(Wind noises)

This one is from the same day. I promised my sister I'd draw her a Disney-inspired thing for each day we worked together. Not a terrible skull, I suppose.

Anyway, art. Yay. See, I do occasionally keep my promises.

"I'm supposed to be at acting class! I'm letting down my scene partner!"

Haunted Mansion shirts

Hello,

So I managed to make it all the way through September without posting anything. I would have taken this as a failure of my goal at one time, but ah, not this time. No, because now we're only a couple days into October and I'm posting something I actually like. Woo. 

So the company I do volunteer work for, Karma Incarnate, is taking me to Disneyland in a few weeks time and they wanted shirts made. I made a fairly poor showing which I'm not going to post here, because it's terrible and as soon as I'd finished it, underwhelmed as I was (but working with a fairly narrow deadline) I accidentally came up with something I liked better.

Before I show the finished piece, I'm going to post the originals because for some reason, all my best work is done in pencil. I don't think there's been a single thing I've ever drawn in which the inks and colored version look as good to me as the pencil sketches...but who knows? I've gone ahead and added the vector version next to the pencil one for comparison sake. 

Ghostly Rex

Ghostly Jake

Ghostly me

Ghostly Brock

Those are the individual versions. I think they came out quite well, all things considered. Here's what they look like in a set with a background (this is also the image which ended up being on the shirt).

Hitchhikers

Yeah, I think it's pretty great. Don't know about you, but I do. The coloration ended up being a little different than I'd wanted/expected, but it's not terrible and sort of has the look I wanted. 

Oh, hell, okay. Here's the one that I didn't like very much...

Rejection!

Yeah, it's a pretty poor bit of photo manipulation. May have been an off night, maybe it was just a stupid idea to begin with. Probably both. Maybe I just suck at it? Yeah, it's probably that one. Just know that the elements are there for something not quite so terrible. Maybe. 

So that's it for now. Some lovely character and vector art. Oh, and as a bonus, since almost no one ever sees my blog, I'll post some bonus art that I did for this. Enjoy!

It's bonus, so just deal with it. 

Now this one, I did it as an afterthought. I did the sketch first and was like...oh, I have three hours to kill here at work, so I'll just bang it out. In the end, obviously it falls apart on many, many levels...most notably the shadows which...ugh. Went way further than they should have. Still. I got all the way through the inking stage. Go me. 

"It's her own fault I didn't save her." 

                        - Tom Stewart