Little Known Fact:

Female werewolves have French manicures.

I make silly stuff at work sometimes.

More Reindeer Sketches

And this one I think, one day, I've got to make a life sized prop for my own Christmas house decorating.

Still More Elf Sketching

More Elf Sketching

Elf Sketching

Reindeer Sketching

DIY Google Glasses

Because I try to remain on the cutting edge of technology, I made my own pair of Google Glasses this week.

It's still in the prototype phase.

50 Years Ago

50 years ago yesterday, Walter Cronkite reported one of the most tragic events in our nation's history. 

My mom was there, working in the CBS newsroom. She was even caught on camera in the background amid the chaos that afternoon checking the news wires for information.

A Well Organized Prop Department

Light saber, check. Dust broom, check. Fencing sword, check. Sledge hammer, check. Dust pan, check. Audio cable, check. Electric cord, check.

New Beginning

Here's the first page of a brand new sketchbook. My 52nd.

I get a fresh start feeling whenever I break the spine on a new one. They're visual journals for me, so each one represents a chunk of my life. 

The last one took a almost a year to fill up. Those months, despite many great and wonderful moments that did happen, generally, have not been ones I'll look back on with happy memories.

Hoping this new sketchbook inspires putting the past behind and a new beginning.

The 24th Hour of Halloween - The Creepy Walk

Earlier today, I shared what niece Devin's costume was tonight, a creepy undead doll.

For my final Halloween eve post, I share with you her creepy undead doll walk.

Have I mentioned how much I love this kid? And how much she makes me laugh?

Hope all had a great day and night.

The 22nd Hour of Halloween - Home and Family Part 2

The entire prop crew worked late into the night the other day to dress the set with me for Home and Family's big Halloween show.

Paul discovered tying a noose is easy, but securing the victim was hard.

Cory was a master window silhouette carver...

 

But a lazy pumpkin carver. Kids these days, he used a Dremel tool. Back in my day, we only had blunt and broken popsicle sticks to carve with, and happy to have them.  

Tara ran around insisting we include baby dolls in the creepy decor. I reminded her this was for the Hallmark channel and that might be a bit too much. She said "Just parts of babies then?"

I kid, that never happened. I missed getting a picture of her working hard that night, the above is the only one I have from a whole other show.

And speaking of not having a picture of, fellow Halloween haunter, Derek Young, of Van Oaks Cemetery and Better Haunts and Gardens, joined us that night to help. Derek was more than willing to cut the baby dolls up for Tara. Awkward.

The 21st Hour of Halloween- Where Monsters Walked

Universal Studios' Court of Miracles set where Chaney and Lugosi once walked, as it looked tonight, just as I was leaving work.

The 20th Hour of Halloween- A Better Jason Mask

Making a cheap Jason hockey mask better. To the left, the before. To the right, the after.

Improving it was easy. First, being soft foam, I shaped into a more character accurate curve by heating with an ordinary hair dryer. Then it was just aging. I cut some chips and dents into the edges for a more well worn appearance and gave it a wash of watered down dark brown acrylic paint. Next I actually rubbed muddy dirt on it here and there. Once dry I sealed it with a very light coat of matte finish clear spray. Finally, a couple of random splatters of stage blood and done. Took a 1/2 hour to do. 45 minutes if you count drying time.

Photo by Jeremy Lee

The 16th Hour of Halloween: Home and Family Part 1

One upside to not being able to have my own haunt this year is using my horde of props to decorate the Home and Family set at work.

We have a signpost outside the set for the tour trams that go by. I thought a fun place to add our new crew member Mr. Myers.