It's a lonely life...that of the necromancer, er freelancer

A blog by a designer and illustrator, for designers and illustrators which may contain musings on art, movies and random weirdness.

Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Salem Halloween Mugboard Design

Several years ago, the owner of a local theater hired me to produce designs for a mugboard.
For those of you unfamiliar with what a mugboard is, it is usually a plywood board painted with lifesized images of figures with the faces cutout, so you can put your own face through the hole and look like you are dressed like that particular character, usually for a photograph. They are an old, old attraction and have been used at carnivals, circuses and other attractions for many years.
The client in question runs a witchcraft-themed Halloween attraction and thought it might be fun to have a mugboard outside the theater to attract attention and therefore customers. They wanted something light, humorous and possibly sexy. They definitely wanted it to contain a witch and a Puritan in some composition that would lend itself to a mugboard.
I worked up rough thumbnail sketches and then developed (3) different designs with a sexy witch and a hapless, bible-hugging Puritan.
A final design was selected and taken all the way up to a final, color study before the client pulled the plug on the whole idea. This is the first time I have shared the work.


Thumbnail Sketches




Mugboard Sketch-01



















Mugboard Sketch -02


Witch figure
Sketch 03







Final selected b&w design















































Final color-study






Monday, April 1, 2019

Native Woman

A quick, (45-minute) 4.5" x 7" acrylic study on paper done from a blurry photograph I took years ago of an exhibit at the Plymouth Plantation Mayflower II kiosk.