Nightmare Before Christmas Matching Shirts

 I recently went to the Oogie Boogie Halloween Party at Disneyland and wanted matching shirts to wear for me and my boyfriend. I love Nightmare before Christmas so of course I had to do Jack Skellington. I just got black t-shirts and used a stencil I cut from my silhouette machine. Then I just used bleach. They came out awesome! I would just caution to not use too much bleach or it will eat holes in the shirt. I ended up doing a painted version.

Wicked Witch Makeup

 This year we settled on doing this witch makeup. I think it turned out pretty good. She's mean and green and has quite the snarl and hairy warts. Her eyes are dead as if she's ready to cast a spell on you. One can only wonder how many children she's ate. 

Vampire Silhouette T-shirt

 I saw this vampire design online somewhere but they were sold out. So I decided to make my own. I modified the image slightly and made some adjustments. Mainly his body in a more creeping stance and his arms too. I really love him. I decided to turn them into T-shirts. I cut out a stencil on my vinyl cutting machine and then just used acrylic paint to fill it in. Then I've always wanted to do a bleach design and thought this might be a good opportunity. So I went for it. I love how it turned out. 

Making of Carl Fredricksen from Up Costume

I made one of these out of pink insulation foam and I have a different blog post and how to about that one. But hes rough and I wanted to make a better one and one that I can easily make copies of for people that want to rent of purchase him. So this is my process on this version. Turned out great! Hit me up if you want to rent or buy one. 

Audition Tape for the tv show "Making It"

 I have created and make so many things over the years that I decided to make and send in an audition tape for the NBC tv show "Making It". A show about creators and makers with hosts Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler. I didn't get chosen for call backs but I was happy I spent some time creating this video of some of my projects. Hopefully you're inspired to create something of your own. 

Skeleton Plaque - Make It With Mason

 Every year I host a Make It With Mason night where we create and make a halloween related craft or project. This year I made a mold and plaster cast of this plaque for everyone to paint. We learned dry brushing techniques and wet brush with a wipe away. Such a fun night with great friends and safety during covid. 

Kratos God of War Face Makeup

I've been wanting to do a face paint on myself of Kratos the God of War. I just needed my beard to grow longer. For those that don't know, Kratos is the main character in the God of War video games for PlayStation by Santa Monica Studios. They are some of my very favorite games and I just love the look of Kratos, especially in the latest game set in Norse country. I feel like I capture the face pretty well. His body however I'm not even close. The trickiest part was to contour my nose to look more like his. I extended my nostrils and shadowed and highlighted the rest to resemble his. Here is my final look with a little enhancing in photoshop.



And here is my reference image.

 

And here I am with just an iPhone camera.

Upside-down Face Makeup

I look forward every year to doing more face makeup from ideas i've seen on instagram and the internet. My sister Gina and I were looking for one to do last night and came across a few of these upside down face ideas. I thought it would be fun to try. It took a lot longer than expected because the nose and lips have to be just right or it looks terrible. In the end it turned out pretty cool and trippy.

Here is one upside down:

Haunted Mansion Self Portrait

Ok so i've had the dream to one day have a portrait done of me and my dog. Like the kind you would see at Disney's haunted mansion. You know, where it seems like a nice normal painting but then you look closer and find all sorts of creepy spooky things. And if I was to have this done then I wanted it done big and done right. I smile at the thought of who will get this painting when I die and how many generations will it be passed down to? "Thats great great great grandpa Mason."

Well I work with a very talented painter Amber McRae. And I knew I needed to make the dream happen. So we made a plan.
Check out her website here: ambermcrae.com

We started with a quick photo shoot of me and my dog in a regular office chair in various poses. Our goal was to get a feel for lighting and also a reference for her to paint me in a sitting pose.




We collaborated on all the things we could have going on in the painting and created a couple style guides.




Then I took that photo and began to do some graphic design work on it to give her even more ideas on exactly the layout and look what I was going for. This is what I came up with:



Amber then took my digital mock up and ran with it. She ordered a very large custom canvas and began to get to work. Her goal was to have it done by my birthday on Oct. 3rd. I could hardly wait. She would only give me small little detail photos as to not spoil the surprise. Ready for the big reveal? Here it is all finished and in all its incredible glory!!



I'm giddy every time I go up the stairs. I love love love it! A custom hand painted portrait of me and my dog Brooks. Follow him @kingbrookscavalier on instagram! She captured us perfectly and it fits in excellent with all my other Halloween decor this time of year. I just can't believe how great it turned out. Definitely check out more of her work: ambermcrae.com