Welcome back to another special Halloween post here at Designerland. Since my designs are usually based on theme park offerings, I wanted to try something different and showcase some designs based on the movies.
When I think of Halloween and Disney, a few live action classics come to mind. As a child, I was fond of the darker side of Disney, growing up with such cult classics as Something Wicked this Way Comes and The Watcher in the Woods. I’ve always been amazed that these pictures were released by the wholesome mouse—they’re dark, creepy, and at times downright scary, so when Halloween rolls around, I still love watching them. And while not as spooky, I have to throw Hocus Pocus into the mix. I remember going to the theater with my parents and little sister on opening night and instantly loving the pure campy goodness. Watching it today, I realize there are some themes and dialogue that aren't so family-oriented, which make it even more of a hoot to watch.
In typical Designerland fashion, I've created this series of shirts based on these classic seasonal Disney flicks. I really enjoy pushing myself and learning different ways of transforming existing art into something usable for screen printing. Sure, I could just do full color sublimation print, but I feel there's an amount of hand skill and craft lost with sublimation printing.
The first design is based on the poster art for Something Wicked this Way Comes. The art from the poster is simply stunning with its semi-loose abstract feel and various watercolor and gauche washes. The hand lettering for the main title is equally beautiful. I got to try a new trick with the type treatment in order to give it a letterpress look.
The second shirt in the series is taken from the poster from The Watcher in the Woods. A piece like this deserves to be brought back into the present and honored with more than just a poster, so a shirt seems like the natural progression. The collage lends itself to a nearly all-over print format.
Lastly, my Hocus Pocus concept uses the poster art done by the amazing Drew Struzan. The VHS and DVDs all use a real promo photo, but they really should have run amok with the original poster art.
I guess the moral of the post is that classic poster design is becoming a thing of the past—hardly anyone produces new masterpieces that fans, designers and artists simply drool over. Well that does it for this week’s post. I can see shirts like these fitting in well as a part of a D23 special Halloween release or the like. How do YOU celebrate the Halloween season along with Disney? As always, thanks for stopping by and be sure to tune in next week.
