2019 Halloween Shirt Visionboard (Patreon)

Hello, lovely patrons! I'm here with a different kind of post that hopefully you'll enjoy.

Believe it or not, it's already time to begin planning and designing this year's limited edition Halloween shirts and prints!

I wanted to share with you all the theme I've been mulling over and also share some visual inspo that I think captures the essence of where I'd like to go with the design. (Plus, a sneak peek at the end!)

This year, I wanted a design that was a bit more intricate than last year's vampupper shirt while still playing with a glow-in-the-dark design. Initially, I was drawn to the idea of the Will of the Wisp:

I kept thinking a spirit-like entity with blue flames would look pretty cool (especially in dog form!)

Once I began researching 'blue flame' imagery, I fell down the rabbit hole of japanese spirits and gods. This is definitely not because I've been watching tons and tons of anime lately. Nope, not at all. I felt particularly inspired by the onibi (demon fire), inugami, and komainu. I also couldn't help but think of the beautiful style of the Okami game (aka cool dog with flames).

At this point I'd like to explore making something that's a blend of a traditional japanese drawing and my style:

But since another front runner idea was a design revolving around a grim reaper/demon, I thought, WHY NOT TRY ADDING A MASK ELEMENT. Specifically, I was interested in oni masks or druidic skull masks:

So what started out as a simple "Will of the Wisp" idea has transformed into a weird mix of dog demon, grim reaper, and fire spirit. To be honest, I'm not sure how everything will turn out. There might be some elements that fall to the wayside while finalizing the design, but I thought it'd be fun to take you all on a journey through my thought process for this piece.

And finally, while it's FAR from finished, here is the initial thumbnail of the design that made me super excited for the shirts this year:

I have no idea how close to the finished design this initial sketch is, but it got me pumped to start drawing, and I wanted to share!

That's all from me for now. I'll be back very soon with a final design!

Thank you all so much for your support, I really appreciate it. <3