[maegnus]

I totally agree with all your suggestions today, maegnus. Keep 'em coming, I like how ya think.

Haha, thanks ZP!

This will be my third (maybe fourth) year returning here. I haven't been active on the forum, mainly because I think you are doing an excellent job without me!

As far as other suggestions go, here are some of the other ideas bouncing around in my head:

Unique Creations:

This category is clearly for your creative thinking, so I do not want to make any direct suggestions for patterns. What I will say is that I would love to see some more legitimately scary looking patterns, as I am less into the kiddy/silly look a lot of them seem to have. This is not a knock on your style; I would just be more likely to carve a scary pattern over a cartoonish one (I am all about scaring kids as much as I can every year). Things like your ghoul pattern from House of a Thousand Corpses are right up my alley in terms of the uneasy feeling you get looking at it (a perfectly petrifying pattern). I know you've got some terrifying ideas in that head of yours. Let's seem them!

Burton's Nightmares:

- The only think that comes to mind is something from this new "9" movie coming out in September. There are all kinds of original and creepy monsters in it, namely the "Catskull" thing. If you haven't heard of it, watch the original short film the movie is based on (featuring "Catskull") and the trailer for the film:

I only mention it because the animated short was excellent and the movie seems extremely promising. Let's just hope Burton doesn't bastardize it like some of his recent work.

Movie Monsters:

- You've already done an excellent job with this category; it is hard for me to think of anything you haven't covered. If I come up with anything, I will mention it.

Kreatures for Kids:

- Garfield sporting the pirate hat from the Halloween TV special. Seems simple enough to do and would do a lot for us late 80s kids.

- Anything from the Charlie Brown Halloween TV special. Maybe something like the iconic scene of Snoopy's silhouette against the moon in the pumpkin patch.

I mention these two because when I think of being a kid and what Halloween meant to me back then (and still does today), these TV specials always come to mind right away as paramount in tradition. It is the same way that your Grinch pattern will be a huge hit. As much as it is awesome to have some of the other obscure pop culture patterns, at the end of the day it is all about Halloween, and we need to remember our childhood roots with the holiday.

Heroic Headliners:

- The only thing that has yet to be "patternized" on your site (considering how much of a classic favourite it is with my generation) would be anything from Back to the Future. I realize how extremely difficult it is to come up with any images from the films that would lend themselves to a pumpkin pattern. The best I can think of would be the image from the theatrical poster/dvd cover for the first film; Marty with his foot in the door, checking his watch, with simply the one open gullwing door to represent the DeLorean. I'd suggest doing the car itself, but I doubt it would work well as a pattern, as recognizable as it would be. I'm sure the thought has more than crossed your mind, it just seems like an untapped resource. BTTF and Ghostbusters are my all time favs!

Pixelated Players:

I'm sure there are tons of legitimate suggestions for this category every year. Here are some that I would like to see:

- A profile/headshot of one of the "Big Daddies" from Bioshock. They are pretty iconic, and would make for a creepy pattern even for those who would not recognize it.

- Dhalsim from Street Fighter. His skull necklace, white eyes, and face paint seems appropriate for Halloween. Even if no one got who it was, it would make a nice tribal warriorish pattern, which would fit in with other scary patterns.

- Have you played/seen the game "Shadow of the Colossus" for PS2? It is an absolute masterpiece, and all of the monsters in the game have such a detailed and unique style to them. I think any of their faces would make for an intricate and beautiful pattern, even if no one understood the source material.

- A Solid Snake profile done in the artsy, sketchy style you see on the covers/concept art for the games in the Metal Gear Solid series. I think this would make for a really unique pattern, though it might fall on deaf ears as not a ton of people would recognize him.

- An FF7 Cloud or Vincent (get it, ghost, halloween?) as they appear in Advent Children.

- Link, from any of the Zelda games.

- Samus Aran, ala Super Metroid.

(less enthusiastic about those last two, though, as they would not make the most impressive patterns)

I'm sure I could go on... As you can see, the medium really lends itself to this type of thing (in my opinion, at least). Not only that, but gaming has become a more pervasive phenomenon these days, as not just 8 year olds play anymore. Because of this, I am sure others would love to see some more focus on pumpkin patterns for this category (especially as the others seem so rich already). In my opinion, some of the more serious source material would be nice to see; more than your cliche Super Mario Bros. stuff (not that this isn't awesome). Like I said, there is a ton there that is hugely popular and hasn't been done.

Thanks for listening.

[/novel]

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

Well well maegnus, you posted so many great ideas I figured your "novel" was worthy of starting it's own new topic. To comment on some of your ideas...

Unique Creations:
My style does lean towards the cartoonish, which conveniently lends itself well to pumpkin carving because you get some nice simple curves. Easier to carve perhaps. Plus, this site is meant to be "family friendly" in general. BUT, I'm all for the truly scary stuff too. In fact, "scary" is a word that my site users very often enter into my pattern search feature. So I'll see what I can do to help you freak out the kids. I have one idea I'm currently working on that might give a few children nightmares.

Burton's Nightmares:
I'm glad you pointed out "9." I've had that movie on my radar for a while. It's been a while since we've seen such a creepy looking animated film. It comes out in the fall, so the timing is right. I hope it's well received. I wonder how much involvement Burton actually had. They proudly drop his name in the trailer, but he's not the director. Just one of several producers.

Movie Monsters:
You say you can't really think of anything, but this is the one category for which I feel I have TOO many ideas. I often have to force myself to make patterns for the other categories, so that each season's collection isn't entirely made of monsters and villains.

Kreatures for Kids:
Agreed, I used to watch the Charlie Brown and Garfield specials every Halloween as a kid. Certain characters just seem connected to the holiday. Nostalgia patterns are always a hit (like some 80s movies I've covered) because they're classic and recognizable.

Heroic Headliners:
Back to the Future is one of my favorite all time movies. So I've actually attempted a few patterns based on that, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with Halloween, But it's tricky to find an image that is recognizable and not overly complicated to carve. We'll see. But Ghostbusters... now that's another nostalgic classic, which totally fits with Halloween. You can expect to see more GB inspired patterns for sure.

Pixelated Players:
Mario, Link, Samus, Sonic... the old classics are what people most recognize. It's a bit riskier to do a character from a new game that is only hot for a brief time. But many of them would still look cool, even if you didn't know the character. Bioshock was a unique and beautiful game - I agree the Big Daddies would make a great stencil. I played through Shadow of the Colossus as well... another one of creative and stunning style.

Thanks for getting the fluids flowing in my brain. I can't wait to chrun out the best batch of patterns yet!

[purple1worm]

ooh! Garfield with a pirate hat would be so cool!

[maegnus]

Thanks for the novel in return!

If you made a pattern based one of my suggestions I would be stoked. Last year you churned out an awful lot of quality patterns, so it is going to be a tough year to top. I carved around 10 of your patterns last year. We use those foam pumpkins from Michael's, so we can reuse them every year. We have over 20 pumpkins now (almost all ZP), and I'm hoping to get that to 40 this year. Even having carved so many last year, there were a few that I was sad to have to put off for this year.

I know how you feel about the juices starting to flow. Once June hits, I will start to size up my porch and figure out a creative scare gimmick for next year. We all know how easy it is to wait until September and really get behind the 8-ball.

Last year was our best year yet. While the kids were all in a standoff with my stuffed pumpkinman in the rocking chair, I was reaching for their ankles from under the covered table. What made it work well was that as the kids were approaching, I was able to reach out and rock the chair with my hand, so to give the illusion that the man was real.

Here are a couple of shots from last year:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3581/355 ... 72.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3317/355 ... 0d.jpg?v=0

(I'm going to have my photo-expert neighbour come over and take better pics this year)

This year we want to do a full blown haunt in the garage to make the big kids walk through so that we can give them a real scare. Every year there are these punk 14 year olds who are so keen to prove how tough they are and ruin the surprise for those coming. I want to wipe that smirk right off their poorly costumed faces next year. After seeing what we did last year, I know a lot of friends want to help me this year, so maybe we will be able to take it to that next level.

I do seem to recall you making some sort of a "maybe next year" comment in the forum last year regarding the possibility of a The Dark Knight inspired Two-Face pattern. There is a "Movie Monsters" suggestion for you. I would still kill to see this, as the light/dark dualistic nature of patterns really fits the character perfectly (leave his "good" side as the solid pumpkin half, and make all the holes and nasty bits light up). It wouldn't be easy, but if anyone could do it, it would clearly be you!

[purple1worm]

Those were really nice. I especially like the white pumpkins, they're so different.

[maegnus]

Those were really nice. I especially like the white pumpkins, they're so different.

I was taking a bit of a risk on them. They look a bit strange during the day, but at night they make for some nice added variety (they just look like a brighter shade of orange).

[SuperSonic]

Heroic Headliners:
Back to the Future is one of my favorite all time movies. So I've actually attempted a few patterns based on that, even though it doesn't really have anything to do with Halloween, But it's tricky to find an image that is recognizable and not overly complicated to carve. We'll see. But Ghostbusters... now that's another nostalgic classic, which totally fits with Halloween. You can expect to see more GB inspired patterns for sure.

Pixelated Players:
Mario, Link, Samus, Sonic... the old classics are what people most recognize. It's a bit riskier to do a character from a new game that is only hot for a brief time. But many of them would still look cool, even if you didn't know the character. Bioshock was a unique and beautiful game - I agree the Big Daddies would make a great stencil. I played through Shadow of the Colossus as well... another one of creative and stunning style.

Sonic!!! Ghostbusters!!! call it fate call it Karma but i think that my mind is HOOKED on these two classics (considering im a modern guy its hard to find nostalgia in me) but these bring MUSIC to my ears!!! Who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

[SuperSonic]

and back to the future would also be nice