December 18, 2007

A Beautiful Haunted Mansion Book!

I received my copy of the SLG Publishing's hardback, Haunted Mansion comic compilation, "The Haunted Mansion: Welcome Foolish Mortals".
First, let me say, Yes, I am an affiliate with SLG. They asked me to help promote their book through this site and, being a fan of their comic series, I gladly agreed. I was sure that the book would be a cool addition to any mansion-phile's collection, but I honestly had no idea how gorgeous the book would be until I receiv ed my own copy!
This book is fantastic!
Click images to enlarge
The art and stories are an fun, eclectic collection of interpretations of the Disney Haunted Mansion lore. S ome are whimsical and light-hearted, and others have the spooky, dark style of the old pulp horror magazines I grew up with, like Eerie and Creepy.
The book itself is designed beautifully! It comes in a full color box sleeve, which helps protect the beautiful tome inside.
When I pulled the book out from the sleeve, I had to say "Wow!".
The back cover has a gold, embossed "999" (for the 999 happy haunts in the mansion).
I expected to see the book's title on the front cover, but to my delight is has
a gold embossed "Gracey" coat of arms! 
And because I'm such a mansion geek (and because I designed a paper model of the Conservatory Coffin) I also noticed that the embossed borders on the top and bottom edges of the cover are the pattern of the conservatory coffin's pedestal drapery!
To top off the wonderful design of the book, the pages are cut with an irregular, scalloped edge, giving the feel of an old, hand-bound book, and the red, ribbon bookmark is the final, classy detail. Can you tell that I love this book?

December 11, 2007

Back Home for the Holidays

My most recent gig at Universal is over, and I'm back in chill y Pennsylvania.
Watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" come to life at Universal's Islands of Adventure was a priceless experience! It is interesting to note that while I spent the Spring and Summer designing the horror of the Universal Halloween Horror Nights web site, I was literally back to back with the brilliant artist who was helping to design this stunning, beautiful set for the Grinch show.

The show is sweet, funny and truly heart warming!
Every show left me with misty eyes, even in rehearsals. 
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I also had a chance to meet the Simpson's before their arrival in this year's Macy's Christmas Parade at Universal Studios. I created some of the graphics on their parade RV.
Here they are arriving for the Macy's Parade, in their RV. 
I created the graphics used on the donut boxes and Duff Beer cans on the roof of the RV.