Gallery999 Haunted Mansion meets Star Wars Blog Dump

The fancy framed version with a lovely black velvet mat.

So, contractually I was forbidden from showing any progress photos or the finished piece until after the Bats Day Gallery999 opening/event.  Since today is officially the day AFTER the opening I can now post everything online.

"Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope"; 5"x7" Gouache 

As my regular followers know, I LIVE for progress updates.  I do it because, honestly, I just get so excited as things start coming together I want to show it off like a little kid!  Every painting is an opportunity to learn something new and expand my knowledge and I skill base and now that I'm not in school anymore I LOVE learning!!  When I was working on South Park they called me "Ask Jeeves" cause I was the inferior search engine.  It may sound slightly insulting, but it just means I know a bunch of random stuff, but I don't know everything and some of the things I do now aren't always useful.  And you know what, that's totally fine with me, cause then I get the opportunity to learn MORE. . . but let's get back on target.  Here are a couple progress and detail shots of the new Haunted Mansion Meets Star Wars themed painting "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope".

Halfway there!  Getting a nice glow on the tombstones.

The Bride's Glowing heart.  Master Gracey's tombstone was slightly altered the next evening so she would "pop" a little more.

For this piece I really wanted to try doing a limited color pallet so I could try to work on light sources.  Granted this has a few errors, but overall it turned out pretty damn good for trying something new!

Some things/problems I stumbled across during this painting that I hadn't encountered before:

Thumbnail.

Once again, too many ideas!  As with most people my age, I'm a huge nut for the Original Trilogy.  My favorite has always been Return of the Jedi because that's the one I remember my Parents taking me to the Drive In to see.  I will forever have the final battle between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker embedded in my memory.

Both the Haunted Mansion and the Star Wars Films are so iconic, so I really had to ask myself a million questions when I was trying to narrow my subject matter down.  Questions like: "Yeah that's funny, but how many other people are going to have the same idea?"  I admit, I did have the had the typical "Yoda, ObiWan and Anakin as the Hitch Hiking Ghosts" idea.  Also had a variant where it was a Gammorean Guard, Bib Fortuna and Salacious Crumb as the Hitch Hiking Ghosts, but the problem with those ideas is that they're very iconic and you can BET that everyone had the same idea in their heads.  Another idea that I knew would be overused by the other artists was the stretching portraits when it comes to Haunted Mansion tribute artwork.  I also had a few funny ideas for those too, but at the end of the day I really wanted to do something that didn't involve a pin up or Slave Leia or something I'd seen a million other people do already.  After a month of throwing ideas around in my head I decided to just settle on R2-D2 delivering Master Gracey a message from the 80's/90's version of the Attic Bride in the original Haunted Mansion's lost cemetery.

Bride and R2-D2 sketch (before the redraft).

Background layer of the first draft of the Lost Cemetery.

Second problem encountered: Horizon lines truly can make or break your composition's "story".

My thumbnail had such life and this 'feel' to it that was just perfect.  When I started my inital sketch I lowered the horizon line because I thought putting R2 and the Bride center stage, unobstructed would tell a better story.  WRONG, totally KILLED the feeling I was going for.  I wanted the viewer to feel like they were looking in on some private moment, not much different than when a viewer first sees Princess Leia and R2's interaction on the Alderranian Cruiser in the first Star Wars film.  You need to feel that separation.  As you can see in the first sketch, you were right up in their faces with them, and it just didn't feel the same.  Not to mention, R2 looked like he was towering over the observer, which is just silly.  After completely redrawing my sketch, using a blown up version of my thumbnail, things felt MUCH better.  And then it was off to color comps.

Digital composite and crop of corrected original sketch.

Third thing I learned on this painting:  the better the color comp, the easier the completion of the final piece.  I invested more time in my color comp, and I admit, it's still rough, but since I spent more time on it the thought did run thru my head of just turning the comp in.  So glad I didn't.

Photoshop color comp.

So, yeah, R2-D2 in the Lost Cemetery (which you can learn more about here if you're interested) with the tribute stones and the Round Eyed Attic Bride (which you can read more about here as well).  Having said that, I'd sincerely like to thank HGB2 over at the blog Long-Forgotten for all the wonderful posts he writes analyzing the different aspects of the Haunted Mansions and their histories.  A sincerely fascinating dissection of the ride.

Although the artwork was only on display May 3rd and 4th as part of the Bats Day Weekend festivities, artwork will be viewable on the Gallery999 Facebook page.

Official Bats Day in the Fun Park™ Sugar Skull for Dia de los Murcielagos

Officially Licensed Bats Day in the Fun Park™ Sugar Skull

This year is the 15th annual Bats Day in the Fun Park outing happens to fall on Cinco de Mayo, as such, the people who organize the event chose to market the outing with a Day of the Dead theme.  This year Bats Day is also being referred to as "Dia de los Murcielagos" (which is obviously just the spanish translation of Bats Day).  Since my followers all know how much I LOVE drawing sugar skulls I contacted the people who organize the event and asked them what measures and permissions I would require if I wanted to make a special limited edition sugar skull for my table that was reminiscent of their logo.

Let me just say Noah K. and the rest of the organizers have been a pleasure to work with on this.  I submitted a proposal which included what I wanted to make, how many of each proposed piece I was planning on making and a rough sketch of my idea to them.  Happily they agreed to my proposal and after I signed the proper licensing agreement paperwork, I got into full swing with production.

Official Bats Day™ Sugar Skull Hair Clips.  Limited Edition of 25 pairs.

Official Bats Day™ Sugar Skull Digital Archival Print.  Limited Edition of 25 prints all signed and numbered.

Official Bats Day™ Sugar Skull Earrings.  Limited Edition of 25 pairs.

As you can see, I chose to stick with what I know in the form of merchansise.  There are three limited edition items that will be available at my Boogervampire.com table (table 19 if you were curious) this year: hair clips, earrings and a digital archival print (numbered and signed).  Each of the limited edition items are only being released in a run of 25 and will be available at the table on May 4th for the Black Market event.  If for any reason there are some left over, I've been granted permission to sell the remaining items in the Crypt of DOOM once Bats Day Weekend is over.

(Sorry for the Instagram bombing.  I haven't had space to set up my good photo rig since my husband started a new custom GI Joe vehicle project in my work space and I don't have the heart to tell him to move his project just so I can take pictures for the blog.)

Also, if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you already know about the two new mini paintings I'll have available at the table.  For those that don't let me introduce you to a couple more cranky Candy Corn and an irate Rainbow Layer Cake.

Candy Corn 2013; Gouache, 2"x3"; 2013

Rainbow Layer Cake; Gouache 3"x2"; 2013

Both the mini paintings are framed in adorable little mini frames. Still determining pricing for everything, but anything new that doesn't sell at Bats Day will be available in the Crypt of DOOM shortly after.

Speaking of the event (not that I've stopped since January) if you decide to swing by the Anaheim Double Tree Suites to check out the Bats Day Black Market on May 4th, you can also check out the "May the 4th be with you" themed "Haunted Mansion meets Star Wars" tribute show in the same location.  I do have a new piece, which I mentioned a couple of posts back.  I still can't show you any images of the whole piece, but be sure to check back on Monday, May 6th to check out the post devoted to my painting "Help Us Master Gracey, You're Our Only Hope".  (I always have way too much fun coming up with the titles.)

What I will tell you about the piece is this. . . it's got a certain squat little trouble making droid in it and I finally got to use the neon red gouache I've had for a while but didn't know what to do with it.  ;)

Just in case you're thinking of turning out for the event, here's the details:

Where: Doubletree Guest Suites Anaheim Resort/Convention Center | 2085 S. Harbor Boulevard | Anaheim, CA 92802

Full details at the Bats Day Website.

Pagan Spring @ ELEU Salon in Burbank, CA

And finally, something NOT Bats Day related!  I'm participating in a small group art show at a Salon/Gallery in Burbank, CA thru the end of the month of May.  If you're in the area swing by and check out the awesome "Pagan Spring" themed artwork.  Since I've been so busy getting ready for the convention I submitted the Medusa series, including the never seen before in public "Soul" Medusa.