So a couple days ago I’m approving new submissions on hauntedhouse.com and run across a haunt that has stolen graphics from one of my sites. It was a page background and not a whole site like I’ve seen in the past but it still peeved me off. I didn’t approve of the submission and instead contacted the site owner and told them to remove the stolen graphics and that stealing isn’t cool. They respond by telling me that its OK that they stole that graphics because they slightly changed the color and modified it. this is an excuse I’ve heard before and what’s more alarming I’ve actually heard this from people who should know better. I guess because of Myspace and Facebook we have a generation of “designers”, if they even deserve that title, that don’t understand or care that taking an image from another artist and just changing the color a bit is still stealing. These young designers then somehow convince their clients that they’re in the right to steal. Last season I had 2 occasions where I not only dealt with designers that thought it was OK but with their clients as well that argued with me that they had a right to use it!

Its never OK to steal someone else artwork, no matter what you do to modify it. Being inspired by it and doing something similar with your own materials is fine. I’ve seen a lot of haunts with similar designs to my sites and I’m OK with that as long as they haven’t taken any of my hard work to do it. I’m often asked by designers advice about how to get into the my line of work. I usually tell them the same thing. Don’t steal! Do you’re own thing, learn how to do things right and be as original as you can.

Things have been extremely busy here at Rogues Hollow. I’m already working 10-14 hour days and doing my best to get everything done. That said we are not accepting any new orders for the 2010 Halloween season. We are accepting orders with start dates of November 2010 so if you have a haunt or other web project you’d like to start in November we can accommodate your schedule. For more information contact us using the contact link on the main menu above.

A couple months ago Chris Russel at Twisted Toybox contacted me about redoing his aging website.  I’ve been a fan of Chris’ work for some time.  I even ordered a couple mask from him over the last 3 years including his awesome fathers Day costume from Creepshow!  I was psyched to work with him on this new site so psyched that I just asked for masks as part of the payment.  Last week my big box of spooky stuff landed on my porch and I was like a kid on Christmas morning!  I took a quick photo lineup of the masks above which you can see are awesome but my favorite has to be the Hockey Mask Killer that is just a really unique take on Jason Vorhees.  The pumpkin mask may very well end up on a scarecrow prop I’ve been playing with doing for my yard haunt and you may see some of those face masks show up on some posters or websites I work on this season:)

I also got the very cool Little Shop of Horror Audrey II prop that Chris makes.  Little Shop of Horrors is still the only musical I will watch and I often find myself humming music from the film adaptation.  It’s already turned out to be a great conversation piece and everyone that has seen it in my office loves it.

Chris is also making some very cool Latex logos now which he made for me and my side business hauntedhouse.com.  You can see those to the right.  What are Latex logos?  They look like skin so the idea is to cut a hole in a t-shirt and use them as very unique item to sell at your haunt or event.  I can’t recommend these enough! they are a really unique idea and will be a great premium collectible for a haunt to sell in their gift shop.

Finally Chris is also now selling this garbage can toppers that you see in the video below.  These can be used for a variety of applications.  They fit on top of a 50 gallon drum and can be used as trash can toppers, fog head, a centerpiece for your display or just about any other application you can think of.  Visit TwistedToybox.net and check some of this stuff out! You won’t be disappointed.  Everything I’ve ever received from Chris has been of the best quality and looks amazing!

Visit Twisted Toybox.net

Unfortunately we’re experiencing some technical issues so I may be out of reach for a couple days while we fix and update the systems here. Current clients please call me on my office or cell number if you have questions or need assistance. Thank you for your patience.

Last weekend I shot a short zombie film that will be very funny and have some cool visuals.   I put together a quick little teaser for it showcasing some scenes.  Please let me know what you think!  I’m hoping to release the final cut in the fall and have a title soon.

I will be at the Transworld Halloween & Attractions show in St. Louis MO March 25 – 28 2010. Be sure to stop by and check out what we’re offering as well as HauntedHouse.com!

Last November I filmed this Zombie video with Beyond the Grave Productions. It is a silly little video we pretty much made up on as we went. We had a blast doing it and now we’re actually working on a scripted Zombie Opus that we will plan to film at the end of April. I’m still getting into this whole making movies thing so each video seems to be a learning experience. Check it out below:

Last Month I was tasked with creating artwork for Blood Manor and a special Valentines Weekend event they are holding this coming Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th.  Blood Manor has always gone for the extreme so I knew the artwork had to get wet.  Bloody candy and disembodied heart seemed to be the perfect anti-valentine!  The result can be seen to the left.  This Valentines make it bloody and check out BloodManor.com