Vintage Halloween Greetings

Boy, was this a hard one! I picked vintage Halloween illustrations for my inspiration on this set. Looking to the constrained color palette used for mass produced low cost printing (blue, orange, black and lack of color or white). Next I studied all the crazy detailed faces used (similarly) in moons, pumpkins and owls and tried my hand at an old creepy pumpkin. My cats were styled after many different vintage cats from advertisements and greeting cards, taking a nose from here, eyes from there a bow tie from another place (adding elements of fondant for 3-D fun) and letting the creepy cat, spirit move me. Just as the flower design (from my last entry) I saw many spiders that were long since evolved, gone extinct, or been transformed from nightmares, to reality, and I made my own, nightmarish, vintage spiders. The crazy, back arched, black cats are a theme on my illustrations as well, all howling at the moon, very creepy and not looking all together cat, like (necessarily). My bats were a bit less, pig nose than most I saw (basically I wanted them cuter). But chose the same color palette, making blue the moon-lit highlight. Super fun set, but I'm not gonna lie, I'll be happy to get back to the rainbow of colors at our disposal now! <3 Thanks for the challange!

The three big cats are so much fun!

Manu posted:

The three big cats are so much fun!

Thank you! They were fun to make. I might need to do more of the clock cat! He charmed me. 

So fun! I love them!!! ❤️

Evelindecora posted:

So fun! I love them!!! ❤️

Thank you, Evelin!

Another wonderful set!

Great idea!!! Great set!!!

carouselselsel posted:

Another wonderful set!

Thank you, Selsel. BTW is your name Selsel? hehe <3 Thanks for your kind words and comments and heart (I'm sure).

Biljana Kovacevic posted:

Great idea!!! Great set!!!

Awe, thanks Biljana! I'm so glad you like them.

I love the spiders because they are terrifying!! And that pumpkin face too, its really vintage looking and I love his expression!

talia posted:

I love the spiders because they are terrifying!! And that pumpkin face too, its really vintage looking and I love his expression!

Awe, thank you! <3

Thank you, Kim for your clips.   I did not have the slightest idea of vintage but now I can start think something.   Your ways of approaching to this challenge really help me.   Thank you for your explanation.  

Fantastic Kim.  These look like they're right out of the 1930's.  You nailed it!

Did u make a template for the spiders?  Im glad I dont have arachnophobia, those long legs make the spiders more than a bit scary. 

Absolutely great set

Pip

Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. posted:

Thank you, Kim for your clips.   I did not have the slightest idea of vintage but now I can start think something.   Your ways of approaching to this challenge really help me.   Thank you for your explanation.  

How kind Ryoko, to say I helped you! <3 To help is my favorite thing. xoxo  Can't wait to see what you come up with. I know it will be wonderful!

pip posted:

Fantastic Kim.  These look like they're right out of the 1930's.  You nailed it!

Did u make a template for the spiders?  Im glad I dont have arachnophobia, those long legs make the spiders more than a bit scary. 

Absolutely great set

Pip

Hi Pip. Thanks for your kind words! I have a spider cutter (and a love hate relationship with it). I only did 2 last year, and 2 this. They are very hard to remove from the cutter, but are creepy all on their own. So it was easy to look at old spider illustrations and come up with a design I wanted. It morphed as I went through the process (that's how it usually goes). Legs re-glued as needed! hehe

I absolutely love your inspiration for this set!  Do you know what era the original inspiration illustrations are from?  Vintage halloween stuff definitely leaned more scary/creepy than cute, that's for sure!  You really captured that feel perfectly here, Kim!

Bakerloo Station posted:

I absolutely love your inspiration for this set!  Do you know what era the original inspiration illustrations are from?  Vintage halloween stuff definitely leaned more scary/creepy than cute, that's for sure!  You really captured that feel perfectly here, Kim!

Thanks so much! Christine, I tried to find this answer but the best I can do is guess. My inspiration came from a large group of similar print types. I typed "vintage Halloween illustrations" into google and saw many of the same color scheme (blue, orange and black). As I tried to find your answer, it seems this widely used color pallet was from around the 30s. But there was not any one, inspired piece used, and the ones I liked best were a mix of reproductions and originals both without a date. I followed the trail to google and asked: "when blue, orange and black were commonly used in illustrations" and it turns out that began in China back in the 1800s! (no help). But I did find some vintage dress patterns in the same color style and they had a date (1930). Hope that helps. <3