Halloween Poster 2012

Figure 1.

How this poster came about:

For a Persuasion class I was given the assignment to watch the Presidential debates. This was also the week before Halloween and I thought I could make a cool pumpkin decoration while watching the debate. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see how interesting the debaters were, but I really like to draw and this was a fun project to pass the time during the dry parts.

Day 1 (figure 2) :



Figure 2.

After the first round of debates I had reached what I thought was a cool picture. I used a fine point permanent marker for most of this first day. I have found that if I use a pen or some other such permanent ink medium I draw with more confidence. If you make a mistake you find a way to deal with it. I think it get me to think before I draw and when I don't like the way something looks it forces me to get creative when problem solving/drawing.

Day 1 (figure 3) :

There was still quite some time left in the debate and my creative juices were just getting going. I knew I wanted some sort of graveyard feel or tombstone like text. That lead into a zombie hand coming into play. I spent a lot of time making the hand. I usually look off of some picture to make my drawings, then I modify them to fit the idea I had in my head. In this instance I just looked at my own hand in a position which I thought to be zombie-esque.



Figure 3.

 Day 1 (figures 4 and 5) :

I really liked how my word art turned out. I started to add some ivy-like foliage growing up the letters and then I thought an ominous tree would be a nice touch. To this day I still struggle drawing trees so they are always something I'm scared to draw, but try to work on improving on them regardless. I figure if I draw them enough I will become proficient in time.



Figure 4.



Figure 5.

Day 2 (figures 6 & 7):



Figure 6.At this point I was really into my poster. I had just finished a substantial few days of studying and this was a great time to relax

The first picture I used, shown in figure 6., was a standard clip-art haunted house. As you can see later in figure 8 I didn't copy the photo 100%. The angle was off and I had to use my imagination to fill in the gaps. Once I was satisfied with the design I focused on the details. I even added a little witch upstairs brewing some sort of magic/potion.

The first real challenge I faced, besides my ongoing struggles with trees, was the moon. Using just a Sharpie, I decided to jump right in. I wanted to moon to be prominent in the design. As in most scary movies the moon is always full waiting for the critters to go bump in the night. Since I had already drawn the tree branch in the place I wanted to put the moon I just improvised and put it behind the tree. Getting the lava flows/shading of the moon was difficult, but using cross hatching I thought it came out with a comic book feel and overall I was satisfied with it.

Another challenge for me was the rope bridge. I wanted it to look very long and ominous. Making the distance look realistic was a challenge. I had to redraw it with pencil a couple times before I went in with the Sharpie.


Figure 7.

Day 2 (figure 8) :

At this point I didn't want to go too far and mess up the poster. However, I still felt that there was details to be had. I added bats, shingles on the house, and a little witch in the top floor of the house. The rocky plateau was also a significant challenge. I had to look at pictures of cliffs for awhile to get the feel of the patterns.


Figure 8.

Day 2 (figure 9) :

I thought I was done, until I accidentally broke some pencil lead and my elbow dragged it across the page. This made me remember about the shading I had learned back in middle school. From here I took a pencil over the sky and cross hatched the areas I wanted to be darkest. Then, using a Kleenex, I spread the lead out across the surface. Because I was using a paper from an old UW-Eau Claire cross country poster, the paper took really well to the pencil lead. It spread out easily with repeated rubbing and I could control exactly where I wanted it as long as I was careful.




Figure 9.

Day 3 (figure 10) :

Figure 10.

I thought I was done after the second day of working on it. I would have been, but we were having people over for Halloween and I wanted to hang it up in my room and show people. Because there was a cross country meet that next day most of my friends went to bed early and I had some free time. I had just got done doing homework and was exhausted. I went for a night run through a small park by my house. It was then that I realized I needed more shadows.
Once home, I started on the shadows. Using a pencil to add lead to the areas I knew I wanted shadows, and a Kleenex to blend the lead. Almost like pushing the lead around, the Kleenex makes a very smooth and natural looking texture. I started with the path leading up to the rope bridge and I thought it turned out awesome. Next I went to work on the hat, and finally the pumpkin.

I think this last round of shading is what made my poster. I was really happy how it turned out. The next day when my friends saw it, I was showered with compliments. The only major problem I have with it is that Halloween lasts one day; and, 364 days a year I look like I love Halloween way to much!