I fiddle around with 3D graphics — as long-time readers will have noted in the blog headers — but I don’t usually post my art here on the blog. After all, the blog is here to discuss other peoples’ creations, and usually movies, not other forms of art. For today, though, I’ve decided to make an exception and share something I’ve been working on for fun for a couple months. So check after the jump for a bit of Halloween pop culture.
This is something I’ve been working on since mid-August — hey, it takes time to digitally carve 94 pumpkins. In the background are jack-o’-lanterns inspired by characters from films and television and all over pop culture, so long as they’ve got just a bit of spookiness to them. In the middle, a character from two episodes of the Real Ghostbusters cartoon series: Samhain, the spirit of Halloween.
You’re bound to recognize a fair number of the characters carved into the jack-o’-lanterns. If you think you’d do well in a guessing game, I’ve created a quiz on Sporcle of 50 of them (my username over there is MRL, if anybody wants to see other quizzes I’ve made). And if you just want to know who all is represented, the complete list is below:
Row 1:
Kodos, or possibly Kang (The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror)
Queen Grimhilde (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
Sabrina Spellman (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)
Michael Keaton as Betelgeuse (Beetlejuice)
Barbara Steele as Elizabeth Medina (The Pit and the Pendulum)
Al Lewis as Grandpa (The Munsters)
Count von Count (Sesame Street)
Casper, the Friendly Ghost (Harvey Comics)
Frankenberry (General Mills monster cereals)
Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster (Frankenstein)
David Bowie as Jareth, the Goblin King (Labyrinth)
Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil (The Exorcist)
Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)
Row 2:
Linus van Pelt (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)
Audrey II (Little Shop of Horrors)
Count Chocula (General Mills monster cereals)
Elsa Lanchester as the Bride of Frankenstein (film of same name)
Brandon Lee as the Crow (film of same name)
Victor van Dort (Corpse Bride)
Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot (The Wolf Man)
Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance (The Shining)
Fruity Yummy Mummy (General Mills monster cereals)
Peter Cushing as Victor Frankenstein (The Curse of Frankenstein)
Goober (Goober and the Ghostchasers)
Tony Moran as Michael Myers (Halloween)
Row 3:
Count Duckula (Danger Mouse and Count Duckula)
Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre)
Ghostface (Scream)
Witch Hazel (Disney short “Trick or Treat”)
Peter Lorre as Adolphus Bedlo (The Raven)
King Kong (film of same name)
–blank pumpkin– I used blanks if I felt Samhain was obscuring too much
First Mate Odie the Stupid (Garfield’s Halloween Adventure)
Fangface (cartoon of same name)
The Green Goblin (Marvel Comics)
Killer Tomato (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes)
Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Doctor Cockroach (Monsters vs. Aliens)
Row 4:
The Horned King (The Black Cauldron)
Boo Berry (General Mills monster cereals)
Michael J. Fox as Scott Howard (Teen Wolf)
Bunnicula (Bunnicula, novel by Deborah and James Howe)
Cthulhu (writings of H.P. Lovecraft)
–blank pumpkin–
Cryptkeeper (Tales from the Crypt)
–blank pumpkin–
Magica de Spell (DuckTales)
Jigsaw Puppet (Saw)
Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
Gene Wilder as Frederick Frankenstein (Young Frankenstein)
Row 5:
Killer Klown (Killer Klowns from Outer Space)
Skeletor (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe)
Orangebeard the Pirate (Garfield’s Halloween Adventure)
Chucky (Child’s Play)
Prime Evil (Filmation’s Ghostbusters)
–blank pumpkin–
Max Schreck as Count Orlok (Nosferatu)
Mr. Stay-Puft (Ghostbusters)
Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Howard Witt as Mr. Boogedy (Mr. Boogedy and Bride of Boogedy)
Tim Curry as Pennywise the Clown (It)
Kiefer Sutherland as David (The Lost Boys)
Row 6:
Mike Wazowski (Monsters Inc.)
The Creeper (Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?)
Alice Cooper
The Joker (DC Comics)
Stripe (Gremlins)
Wesley Snipes as Blade (Marvel Comics film series of same name)
–blank pumpkin–
Mumm-Ra (ThunderCats)
Witch Hazel (Looney Tunes)
Ash Williams (Evil Dead, Army of Darkness)
McBoo (McDonald’s Happy Meal promotion)
Zombie Michael Jackson (Michael Jackson’s Thriller)
Row 7:
Godzilla (film series of same name)
Wendy the Good Little Witch (Harvey Comics)
John Astin as Gomez Addams (The Addams Family)
Vincent Price as Vincent Van Ghoul (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo)
Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula (Dracula)
–blank pumpkin–
–blank pumpkin–
Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera (film of same name)
Ichabod Crane (The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad — Legend of Sleepy Hollow segment)
Chernabog (Fantasia — Night on Bald Mountain segment)
Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th film series)
Lonesome Ghost (Disney short “Lonesome Ghosts”)
Row 8:
Gill-Man (The Creature from the Black Lagoon)
Claude Rains as the Invisible Man (film of same name)
Frute Brute (General Mills monster cereals)
Uncle Deadly (The Muppet Show)
Darth Vader (Star Wars)
John Franklin as Isaac (Children of the Corn)
Christopher Lee as Count Dracula (Horror of Dracula)
Monzie (My Pet Monster)
Edgar Allan Poe
Doug Bradley as “Pinhead” (Hellraiser)
Floor:
Bette Midler as Winifred Sanderson (Hocus Pocus)
Slimer (animated version) (The Real Ghostbusters)
In all cases, I created my own carving pattern from a still shot of the movie or TV show (or cereal box), rather than using pre-existing patterns (though I occasionally looked at existing ones to see how they approached particular issues). Some of them were definitely easier than others — cartoon characters are easy, real people with hair and noses are tough. And of course, some are simpler than others; Michael Myers involved 8 cutout shapes, Elvira involved 16, and Pinhead involved 240. But while there is definitely room for improvement on several pumpkins, overall I’m pretty happy with how things turned out.
And between this and the month-and-a-half of horror movies, I’m also feeling pretty in the Halloween spirit today. Halloween Haunters round-up will be up Monday. I’ll be taking tonight off from movies to watch Halloween specials.
Happy Halloween, everyone!
Morgan on Media 