Halloween Scene Ideas: A Haunted Mansion in a Spooky Swamp!



Greetings, all you gals and ghouls! It's our favorite time of the year here at Studio 71 - HALLOWEEN! With that being said, I have a fiendish assortment of props and scenes to share today. Our Halloween Scream Scene is a spooky, haunted mansion set back in a creepy, swampy forest. (Bear in mind, I have smaller children who aren't so into the "scary", so these are gore and horror free.) Have a look!

We begin our tour of the Haunted Mansion in the overgrown gardens outside. This large rat seems to have stolen a bone from somewhere nearby. (Lol. The rat is electronic and can be triggered remotely.) The sign warns to continue with caution.


We stumble on the mansion's private cemetery, overgrown and forgotten. A weathered skeleton has been uncovered and stares out from the dead grass. Perhaps this is where the rat found his bone.



Near the front door of the house we find a strange little garden gnome. He seems to be watching for something. Could it be us? Perhaps he's looking for the snake that's under the porch. Either way, he seems unaffected by the large spiders crawling around, or the giant centipede that's caught in their web.



Finally, the entry hall, with its dark and brooding decorum. A large, hairy spider has taken over, shrouding everything in cobwebs. Candles flicker, their pale light casting an eerie glow.


 Here we find the master's hat and keys. Was he, perhaps, a mortician?


Here we also find a lady's ring and scarf. Can we assume that they belong to the manor's mistress? She seems to have had a fascination with spiders.


Many of the decorations used here are not intended as Halloween decor but fit in so perfectly with the rest of the scene. Since this is #decoratingonabudget, a lot of the props here are hand made or recycled from other things. The rest can be bought at thrift shops and discount chains for fairly little coin.

The next Halloween Scream Scene installment will be a thoroughly witchy kitchen, complete with seance table and cooking cauldron. Stay tuned!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

December Sketchbook: Scrooge's Counting House

Image
Hello, holiday revelers! Today's sketchbook feature is the old Scrooge & Marley Counting House. I've seen lots of different versions of this particular building, but I tend more toward the one I saw by Department 56 , from the Dicken's Village set. It more closely resembles the building described by Dickens himself, and is the one that matches the building shown in the Robert Zemeckis adaptation of A Christmas Carol  (2009). I've taken a few liberties with the architecture, just for simplicity's sake, but it does not change the overall impression that the building gives. I have to say that even though Ebenezer Scrooge was voiced by comedian Jim Carrey in the 2009 CGI version, it was a fine dramatic performance that showed the true range of his ability as an actor. Also, many people don't realize that the voice actor who portrays old Fezziwig and the second-hand merchant Joe is none other than Bob Hoskins - Eddie Valiant of Who Framed Roger Rabbit , anot
Read more

Every Day is Halloween: Drowned Zombie

Image
I'm trying a new medium with this piece. Instead of using markers, I used watercolors. Overall, I think it turned out well. Besides, the study of anatomy and proportions is so much more interesting with zombies. This one in particular must be regretting her choice of cinder block necklace - that is, if she had enough mind left to have any regrets. After all, wouldn't a zombie still be wearing the trademark of whatever killed it the first time? If you've read the book Pride and Prejudice and Zombies , the girls encounter a similar tragic zombie near the bridge to town - a former friend of theirs who killed herself by tying a large rock around her neck and jumping from the bridge. In the book, she appears from the water still wearing the rock she was tied to. Our lonely bride sports a similar accessory, though a bit more modern, and her clothes bear the telltale signs of having been submerged in some pond or river. She is mud splattered and moldy, but still bears a stro
Read more

Revenge of the Sketchbook: September, Issue #01

Image
After spending a brief amount of time on G+, the Sketchbook weekly feature has returned to its proper home, our blog. When I first moved the feature over to G+, it was an attempt to separate my personal art from that of the studio. I never realized how much traffic the sketchbook feature brought to the blog, and in return, to Studio 71. So, without any further nonsense, the Sketchbook... Inking Cultural Expression: Tattoo Design Experiments "Thug Life" "Skull and Roses" #sketching #drawing #sketchbook #penandink #tattooart #skull #roses #rosary #thuglife
Read more