32 days 'til Halloween: Rooftop U.F.O - A Team Build

I meant to post this on Monday, but it's turned out to be one busy week.

As I mentioned the U.F.O has been something I wanted to make for years. As a matter of fact it's the one idea I've had for Halloween that my mom has often mentioned hoping to see become a reality. And just recently my brother's girlfriend Leia also voiced her enthusiasm for it and offered her help if it moved the project up on the list.

So I thought about it and realized there was no good reason not give it a shot this year. I took Leia up on her offer. She and my seasoned Halloween helper niece Devin stopped by the the grim garage Sunday making the U.F.O. a real team build.

I decided to just have fun creating it by cobbling together stuff in the stash and not stress trying to make a perfect saucer shape or other elements. If this one turns out pretty good, there's always next year to improve on it.

Ideally it would be great to make it 10' wide, but I figured being a first time rooftop prop, better to play it safe and keep fairly small and lightweight so it's easily secured from sliding or blowing off. Besides, the phrase is "little green men from Mars" isn't it?

The main saucer body is a 36" plywood round with an edge cut off to give the illusion it's slammed into the roof. I made a simple frame to stand it at an angle which will be beefed up more later when screwed into a separate larger base dressed to look like an impact hole of splintered wood and ripped up shingles. Since the main saucer body is small, making other ship components exposed like the main engine (made from plastic bowls) instantly adds a larger scale to it.

The cockpit is an overturned large plastic planter/pot with the bottom cut off. Here Leia is detailing and disguising the edges by gluing on tubing all the way around.

As in my sketch, I'm planning to have the cockpit dome open. So the interior will be seen and needs all sorts of cool control boards, alien tech and futuristic gizmo's.

I put niece Devin to work making them. No restrictions. I just gave her a bunch of odd junk, a hot glue gun and a loose description of what was wanted.

She created some pretty cool and fun things.

The initial test fitting and placement looked great. Devin noted it needed a chair for the alien to sit in and suggested a radar like in a submarine to watch out for meteors. Really good ideas and now on the to-do list.

Okay, before anyone even asks, the reason there are hundreds of little plastic compasses on everything is just because I had them. Why I do and where they came from is a long story, but it's just one reason the fiancee keeps an application for the show Hoarders at the ready. Once the saucer shell is painted they'll look like giant rivets and bolts. I'll leave a few unpainted on Devin's gizmos as they actually seem to have function.

Day one of the U.F.O build went terrific with a great team. We have loose plans to get together again this Sunday and finish the ship. In the meantime I'll get back to other projects in progress.

36 Days 'til Halloween: Rooftop U.F.O

Over the past several Halloweens, I've often mentioned wanting to make a crashed alien ship on the roof. Well, it's finally happening. More details about tomorrow.

Creative Inspiration: Katharine Hepburn

Great actress and... propmaster, set dresser, scenic painter, art director.

41 Days 'Til Halloween: Meet Grool the Cauldron Zombie

Grool is done and the first new prop ready for the lawn this year. I'll share details about how he and the green stew were made later in October. In the meantime here are links to Grool's journey from sketch to cauldron:

Zombie a Month: November
Building A Better Cauldron: Part One
Building A Better Cauldron: Part Two
Making The Cauldron Pyre: Part One
Making The Cauldron Pyre: Part Two
Making The Cauldron Pyre: Part Three

Go Riptides!

Lately, I've been distracted from Halloween prop making and doodling new Para Abnormal cartoons by the day job and other unrelated projects.

One such project request I just couldn't pass on though was illustrating a logo/banner for niece Devin's fall season softball team. Devin turns out to be a tough, but very good Art Director.  She's not at all timid with critique and notes on ideas and sketches knowing exactly what she wants with a clear vision. No time was wasted in the creative approval process. I'll work for her anytime.

48 Days 'Til Halloween - A Scarecrow For Work: SPOOKY BUDDIES!

Remember that scarecrow prop and pumpkin patch set created and posted about a few times last month? I can now reveal they were for an interstitial on GSN promoting Disney's Spooky Buddies.

Several were filmed featuring various kids talking about spooky Halloween things. Look for them this month if watching GSN or you can see a couple right now via the GSN SNAP website.

This also explains what that stuff was in the Scarecrow's hands from the initial design sketch I first posted.

Ten Years

ELVES! They're Alive! Well... Almost.

Numerous months back I posted about the illustrations I was working on for Singapore's I-Theatre production of Elves and the Shoemaker. I was surprised and happy to learn that the puppet elf characters being created for the show are based on the ones I imagined.

So now, half way around the world, puppeteer and all talented Paul Pistore and his crew has been bringing my drawings to life. Paul and I worked together on more than a few projects and TV shows before he moved to Singapore years ago. I'm grateful to him. Not only for suggested me as an illustrator to the theater company, but opening the door that allows us to work together again even thousands of miles apart.

Paul gave me the okay to share some of the process pictures he's been taking.

54 Days 'Til Halloween: Making the Cauldron Pyre - Part Three

The faux fire in the pit is done. It's not as bright as I once hoped so it would cast ambient glow on other things in the display, but that's just fine. I love the subtle hot ember effect it ended up having. It's a nicer atmospheric detail that enhances rather than calling too much attention to itself.

Since we last left off in Part Two, I added more blobs of expanding foam to look like coal and (after drying) base coated the whole mound in flat black. Once the paint dried, I placed orange X-mas lights inside (the top of mound is removable). They were not arranged in any special way, just evenly spread out with small drops of hot glue on the strands, here or there, to keep somewhat in place.

With the X-mas lights on, I used a rotary tool to sculpt the foam were needed so it looked a bit more natural. I also gouged out spaces between blobs and scraped off more opaque painted areas to let the glow shine through better.

I drilled hundreds of random small holes everywhere, especially in the top to let heat escape. The holes also let the light shine through completely unobstructed giving the fire extra highlights.

I wanted the coal mound to look somewhat believable during the day when not lit up, so I added ashy texture and detail to it. A combination of gently sanding with a fine grit paper and dry brushing on a light grey acrylic wash worked. I would of literally spray glued on real ash had I had some handy.

The internal glow has a simple flicker effect using the old Disneyland Imagineering trick of adding a fluorescent light fuse to an extension cord. I'm not going to try and explain how to do this in fear of not explaining it well. I learned how from an old co-worker who was a professional effects person. DON'T TRY until you've researched it thoroughly. Electricity can be dangerous.

Here's a brief video of the fire effect in action.

The cauldron sits on top very well balanced and solid without needing to secure with glue or screws. We'll see if that remains the same once I add Grool the Zombie inside. That's next.

58 Days 'til Halloween: The Countdown Is On Again!

The new website badges for this year's Countdown to Halloween have been issued by Shawn Robare. Like seeing the first Halloween candy display in the grocery store or that first neighborhood Pumpkin Patch sign go up, it's one of those small things that makes me smile signaling the spooky season has officially arrived!

The best part about this annual month long blog-a-thon? It actually becomes a 365 day countdown to the next Halloween. You need that much time trying to read all the posts by the "Cryptkeepers" participating.


This blog and Para Abnormal are joining in again.

Wanna be part of the fun? More details here.

60 Days 'til Halloween: The Sidewalk of Sinister Snares

We're fortunate to have a sidewalk right in front of the house that has lots of activity all day.

Years ago I discovered that folks coming from one direction never see the Micheal Myers figure standing up against the hedge and sometimes get a good scare. Ever since I've always wanted add a few props along the sidewalk intentionally designed to add more Halloween fun for passersby.

I've had these ideas in my head for awhile and finally doodled 'em up tonight. One of these, if not both, are definitely getting made. Even if it means some other new prop must be nixed this month.

61 Days 'Til Halloween: Making the Cauldron Pyre - Part Two

When we last left off in creating Grool the zombie's cauldron, the stone fire pit was finished. Now it was time to make the faux fire itself. But there's been some trial and error so far.

From the start I wanted it simple to make, not too high tech with X-mas lights and a bit over the top... but still fairly real looking. Most important it had to work within my annual "no budget" Halloween decorating budget.

The first version I made was okay and worked. I started by gluing on wrinkled tin-foil inside the pit to help reflect light, plus if seen would look like hot embers (actually an old Disneyland Imagineering trick). Then I attached a bucket wrapped in tin-foil to the center as a support for the cauldron (being hollow also allowed me to thread a light socket through for the cauldron's internal glow later). I surrounded the bucket with orange x-mas lights and placed a hood made from chicken wire around it. Over that I glued on a large piece of crumpled vellum and painted black.

I decided to rethink it. It didn't look the way I saw it in my mind's eye and didn't allow me easy access to the lights should I need to change a bulb or fuse. Also, being paper, it was flimsy and dangerous.

I stepped away from it for a day or so to ponder a new approach. I must of psychically put my need into the metaphysical creative ether because then, one of my favorite blogs Lost in Schlock posted a link to a great how-to called Glowing Hot Coals and literally mentioned it was the perfect thing for my cauldron project. And It was.

That project found on Halloweentforum.com by LT SCARE lead me to the original clever how-to that inspired it called Goldie's Bubbling Halloween Cauldron posted by Woodhegm on Instructables.com.
Both creations had exactly the look I wanted and used materials I was already working with. So my faux fire now is an amalgam of the two with a few changes that fit my needs.

I stripped away my first attempt but left the tin-foil base.

Both the glowing coal projects use expanding foam to create the coal mounds. Since I already had some foam blobs painted to look like ashy embers between the stones (from gluing in place), it's a great way to go and keeps the look throughout the prop.

In those projects though, the lights are permanently buried under the foam. I still want access to mine, so I'm keeping the hood over the lights concept, but making it so it's really solid and removable. I had the perfect thing for this. Years ago I acquired several large 18" plastic domes online from Barnard Ltd (which BTW is a great place to find odd decorating materials).

They've been that kind of precious thing in the material stash that you're afraid to waste on just any project and end up holding onto forever never using them. I'm finally, sort of, letting go and actually used one for a re-do of my old window monster eye prop last year. And now one will be the faux fire base.

I placed the dome in the center of my pit and used a heat gun to warp and melt it into a coal mound-ish shape. I did end up wasting a couple of domes melting them too much (it broke my heart).

Next I wanted to create a base to raise the dome up on. I traced it's shape and built up a ring of expanding foam in layers.

I wanted the dome to sit on top cleanly without gaps, so once dry I masked the ring in tin-foil contouring all the bumps. Then placed the dome on top and foamed it's bottom edges and added some all over it for more texture.

Once that dried, I peeled off the tin-foil and now I had a perfect removable top that fits snugly on the base to access the lights.

It's getting there. Next in Part Three I'll sculpt the foam a bit, poke some heat venting holes, paint, detail and add the lights!

62 Days 'til Halloween: A Scarecrow For Work - Part Three

The pumpkin patch themed interstitial set needed last week turned out pretty cute I think. I'll post better pics and more info about it when the segment actually airs in September. In the meantime here's how I made the scarecrow. I didn't take many process pics, so I've added a whole lot of notes to the one's I did. Bear in mind, this guy was not made to last forever beyond his need that day and the construction was such that I could tweak his size or shape fairly easily on location if needed.

As always, click on the images to enlarge.