{"id":26002,"date":"2019-11-04T01:10:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-04T06:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=26002"},"modified":"2019-11-04T10:00:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-04T15:00:13","slug":"available-for-birthdays-and-bar-mitzvahs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/11\/04\/available-for-birthdays-and-bar-mitzvahs\/","title":{"rendered":"There Ought To Be Clowns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Available for Birthdays and Bar Mitzvahs\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/willceau\/49008255766\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/49008255766_4a2e115b9a_z.jpg?resize=640%2C640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Available for Birthdays and Bar Mitzvahs\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>I was trying to squeak out this <em>Halloween Head<\/em> for October 31st, but it wasn&#8217;t to be. I had a <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/11\/01\/halloween-2019\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Halloween costume to finish<\/em><\/a>, and I ended up chasing a few wild geese and wandering up a few blind alleys with ideas that didn&#8217;t work out. Rather than rush it, I let this design develop over the weekend. Here now is a scary clown vector illustration I produced in <em>Affinity Designer<\/em> as a belated <em>trick-or-treat.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I thought I was out of creature candidates for a <em>Halloween Head<\/em> when I thought of doing a clown. The idea of a creepy clown was a milked dry cliche beaten like a dead horse, but why not? Nothing else was coming to mind so I pondered clowns. I thought of the background first. Instead of putting him in a circus setting, I would put him in some place incongruous like a dank basement. Even a beloved clown like Emmett Kelly or Red Skelton placed in a cellar would be unsettling to put it mildly. <em>Slowly back out of the room and pray that the path is clear.<\/em> So I worked on the setting first.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"26003\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/11\/04\/available-for-birthdays-and-bar-mitzvahs\/clown-background\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?fit=640%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"640,640\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"clown-background\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?fit=640%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-26003\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?resize=640%2C640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?w=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/clown-background.jpg?resize=50%2C50&amp;ssl=1 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>The wall and ceiling are all vector elements built up one by one. That&#8217;s where I hit my snag when I started putting together the boards that comprise the ceiling slat by slat in perspective. It was taking forever, and I was not thrilled with the results. Fortunately, I found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=upxBGNcryRs&amp;fbclid=IwAR3WxHV-2aN-Nx1iw9ikRn2hdVBOeCPgAKUwK76wBWgsBYm2uXDvpNF8QZM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>this video<\/em><\/a> on simplifying perspective, and it came together very nicely.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"26005\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/11\/04\/available-for-birthdays-and-bar-mitzvahs\/split-clown\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?fit=1000%2C625&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1000,625\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"split-clown\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?fit=640%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-26005\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?resize=640%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?w=1000&amp;ssl=1 1000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?resize=300%2C188&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?resize=768%2C480&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/>Then I built up my clown. I took a few passes with various shapes and looked at some clowns who hosted kids shows back in the &#8217;50s which were much more frightening than I could ever illustrate. Eventually I arrived at this fellow as my latest <em>Halloween Head.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I hope to continue this series of <em>Halloween Heads<\/em> whether it&#8217;s the season or not. They are a lot of fun to do. I just have to think of another monster to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was trying to squeak out this Halloween Head for October 31st, but it wasn&#8217;t to be. I had a Halloween costume to finish, and I ended up chasing a few wild geese and wandering up a few blind alleys &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/11\/04\/available-for-birthdays-and-bar-mitzvahs\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26005,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[82,7,700,318],"tags":[3465,3668,4806,76,3661,5,23,2040,1034],"class_list":["post-26002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-halloween","category-illustration","category-pixels-versus-pigment","category-technique","tag-affinity-designer","tag-halloween","tag-head","tag-horror","tag-illustration","tag-joe-williams","tag-monster","tag-scary","tag-vector"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/split-clown.jpg?fit=1000%2C625&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-6Lo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42716,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2024\/03\/13\/available-for-birthdays-and-bar-mitzvahs-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":26002,"position":0},"title":"Available for Birthdays and Bar Mitzvahs","author":"Joe","date":"March 13, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a variation of the frightening clown I produced in Affinity Designer back in 2019. I was on a streak back then making a number of vector Halloween heads in Serif's superlative software, and my basement dwelling Bozo was one of them. I was poking around one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Illustration&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Illustration","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/illustration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/arent-we-a-pair.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/arent-we-a-pair.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/arent-we-a-pair.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/arent-we-a-pair.jpg?fit=800%2C400&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25911,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/10\/16\/the-ghost\/","url_meta":{"origin":26002,"position":1},"title":"The Ghost","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 16, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This is another in a Halloween themed series of illustrations I put together in the superlative vector art program known as Affinity Designer. See more of my vector illustrations HERE!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Halloween&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ghost","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48904620292_2c5a83866f_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48904620292_2c5a83866f_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/48904620292_2c5a83866f_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25979,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/10\/29\/we-are-not-alone\/","url_meta":{"origin":26002,"position":2},"title":"We Are NOT Alone","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 29, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"My latest Halloween Head is a fellow with one hell of a commute. This visitor from another world is a vector illustration I whipped together in Affinity Designer.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Halloween&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/alien-process.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":44976,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/04\/23\/the-diplomat-from-grorfleplotz\/","url_meta":{"origin":26002,"position":3},"title":"The Diplomat from Grorfleplotz","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"April 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Once again I am ricocheting back and forth between analog and digital illustration. Today I am back in the digital domain with my latest Halloween Head which I call The Diplomat from Grorfleplotz. I'm not sure what the specific honorific would be for this diplomat from the far distant planet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Halloween&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Diplomat-from-Grorfleplotz-full-frame.jpg?fit=640%2C680&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Diplomat-from-Grorfleplotz-full-frame.jpg?fit=640%2C680&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Diplomat-from-Grorfleplotz-full-frame.jpg?fit=640%2C680&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25898,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2019\/10\/14\/the-witch\/","url_meta":{"origin":26002,"position":4},"title":"The Witch","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Another vector Halloween Head created in Affinity Designer.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Halloween&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vector Witch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-witch-3-AD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-witch-3-AD.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/the-witch-3-AD.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":45005,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/04\/30\/halloween-heads-the-mummy\/","url_meta":{"origin":26002,"position":5},"title":"Halloween Heads \u2022 The Mummy","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"April 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I know Halloween is 184 days away, but being a dyed-in-the-wool horror movie fan, I always seem to be in the Halloween Spirit! I started doing my series of Halloween Head vector illustrations almost 20 years ago with a simplified Frankenstein Monster done in Adobe Illustrator. I really started to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Halloween&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Halloween","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/halloween\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/The-Mummy-900x900-1-1.jpg?fit=900%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}