SATURDAY SIX Presents: Artists Inspired by Halloween Horror Nights

For me personally, the thing I love about theme parks the most is how much that they inspire others to create themselves. There is a singular event on the theme park calendar that seems to be the muse for more talented artists in the community than all the others combined… Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. Today we’re going to look at some of the incredible artwork this year’s HHN inspired, starting with…

# 6 – Andres Orellana

You may remember Andres “Andy” Orella (AKA @imaginaticart) as one of our featured artists in this year’s Artist Spotlight series (which you can read by CLICKING HERE). Two of Andy’s signature drawings this HHN season featured HHN Icons Dr. Oddfellow and Jack the Clown.

Unlike many other artists, Andy takes things to the next level and uses his artwork to create pins, stickers and other items to hand out to guests and Team Members while in the park.

I love these versions of Jack and Oddfellow that are done in the style of the clown dolls you see at skill games in which you use a ball to try and knock over.

Andy also created a sticker in this style for the H.R. Bloodengutz character.

# 5 – Phillip Weatherford

If we were to make a Mt. Rushmore featuring the all time greatest theme park artists in the fan community, I’m not sure who would be the four people on it, but one of them would definitely be Phillip Weatherford (AKA The Horizoneer.) I am insanely jealous of the talent level he possessess, and the fact that he can create incredible pieces of art in so many different types of medium (including LEGO!) Big fan of The Horizoneer’s piece for HHN 35 featuring Chance, Dr. Oddfellow, and Jack the Clown.

We also got another great piece that focuses on HHN 35’s Downtown Clowntown scarezone.

One surprise this year came in the form of this piece of art focusing on Chance. This was hand illustrated by The Horizoneer’s partner in crime, @TaylorVision3D. This is one dynamic duo whose work I can’t wait to see more of in the years to come.

The artwork below is from 2023 and is a character study based on Jack the Clown, stylized as a playing card. Let’s hope The Horizoneer takes a “chance” at illustrating more Icons in this format in the future, because this is just straight up E-Ticket!

# 4 – Chris Schenning

I was fortunate that the social media algorithm introduced me to Chris Schenning (AKA @chrispysketches) and I was immediately blown away by their art style.

The detail in Chris’ line work is just fantastic. As a long time comic book reader, it reminds me of artist Frank Quitely, and I can’t give higher praise than that.

 

Next we have the character of Major Sweets, who has been featured across several HHN events.

Let’s check out Chris’ drawing of Miss Treats…

…along with the character herself from HHN 31.

Chris also created this awesome drawing of the Icon of HHN 31, The Pumpkin Lord.

# 3 – Skelly Bones

A “new to me” artist this  year is the exceptional @skellybones art. Always love to see different takes on our favorite characters, including this one of Dr. Oddfellow.

Here we have Dr. Oddfellow, Chance, and Jack the Clown.

It’s going to be tough for any future HHN to beat the combo of Jack and Oddfellow.

 

# 2 – Mike Atwell

All my life I’ve heard the phrase “comedian’s comedian” to describe someone who may not be the most well known, but everyone who actually understands the craft knows they are the best. All the artists I know keep mentioning Mike Artwell as The Guy when it comes to amazing theme park artwork, and after going through his Instagram page, I can’t disagree. This piece below featuring Dr. Oddfellow is just stunning.

I always love to see “how the sausage is made” and try to understand the process that these incredible artists use to create such jaw dropping pieces. Mike has blessed us all with several examples of “sketch to finished product” examples, including the following for a Dr. Oddfellow drawing.

Once everything is in place, it just becomes a “wow” moment.

For the character study of Jack the Clown we’ll look at the beginning sketch and the finished work.

Fans of HHN love their Icons, and Mike has drawn several in a completely different style than the artwork above.These include The Director…

…The Caretaker…

…and The Usher.

# 1 – Brian Cooper

There are not enough superlatives in the English language to properly describe my love, admiration, and complete jealousy for the amount of artistic talent in the hands of the one and only Brian Cooper. As many reading this know, Brian is the mastermind behind our annual Theme Park Turkey of the Year Awards headline drawing and I can’t wait to see what he has in store for us this year. However, before we get to November and our beloved Turkeys, we get to experience Brian in his natural element, the haunt season. If you remember Brian’s Artist Spotlight feature, his wedding was Haunted Mansion-themed and he saw his beautiful wife Joanne in her dress for the first time on the steps of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Now that’s a commitment to the spooky season if there ever was one!

Brian is naturally drawn towards Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, and this year he delivered this banger of a drawing featuring Jack the Clown and Dr. Oddfellow.

Fan favorite H.R. Bloodengutz also got the full color treatment.

Meanwhile, over on Brian’s Instagram, you can see him putting out what seems to be a drawing a day featuring characters from HHN both past and present! We’ll start off with a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of a piece featuring Delancey Dan from HHN 35.

Here we have three examples featuring fan favorite characters Chance, Eddie, and Cindy Caine.

HHN Icons The Caretaker, Dr. Oddfellow and The Usher.

Honorable Mention – Brianna Garcia

Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and is the leading haunt experience in the world. However, there is another Halloween Horror Nights experience taking place on the other side of the country at Universal Studios Hollywood.

The good news is that the USH community has one of the best artists around visiting the park, the incomparable Brianna Garcia. Here is Brianna’s drawing for Carnival of Carnage from last year’s HHN out in California.

Readers of the Artist Spotlight series will remember seeing Brianna’s feature, which included her artistic takes on subjects such as Dark Universe, Grinchmas, and Shanghai Disneyland. However it is her love for the characters at USH’s HHN that separates her from the pack in my book. Here we have a look at Dimples, one of the clowns featured in the Carnival of Carnage.

Along with a photo of Dimples himself, taken by Brianna.

Brianna does find herself over the East Coast as well, and thanks to her bringing along her sketchbook, we got to see some fantastic drawings of Orlando’s Art the Clown and some of his ilk in HHN 35’s Downtown Clowntown scarezone.

 

 

So there you have it: Artists Inspired by Halloween Horror Nights 35! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

If you enjoyed this article, you will surely like the following: 

Theme Park Turkeys of the Year Archives

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SATURDAY SIX Tribute to Ian Barritt

TPEI Tribute to Bret Taggart (AKA @Schmoofy)

Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, Ace Photographer Diservations, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Thickey for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by Lightning Lane Influencer Professor Leisure. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHide.