Interview with artist DeadSpider
Posted on 03. Feb, 2009 by The Crypt Keeper in Info, Interviews
A few weeks ago, we posted a review of DeadSpider’s artwork “Halloween Art by DeadSpider”. We loved her work so much that we decided we wanted to get to know her a little better. She was kind enough to take some time out and answer some questions for the HalloweenCenter community!
HalloweenCenter.net: How long have you been creating Halloween related art? How did you get started?
DeadSpider: I struggled a lot as a young child with art. I would see things other kids made and wished I could do similar. Then at 11 or 12 while making a dinosaur project things fell into place and I realized it wasn’t so hard. I took art classes through high school and looking back at the few things I saved, I guess I always have had a taste for dark creepy work. In 1999, after moving out of an apartment to a house, I began to get more into decorating for Halloween, and making my own props.
HalloweenCenter.net: Do you have any words of advice to aspiring artists?
DeadSpider: Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself, it’s the best way to improve. You never know it all, so keep learning and try new methods.
HalloweenCenter.net: Who or what inspires you?
DeadSpider: All sorts of things inspire me. Sometimes a texture on a vegetable or a weather beaten old gnarled tree in a farmers field. Animals. People. Art, some from known artists, some not.
HalloweenCenter.net: Where in Canada are you from? Is Halloween any different there?
DeadSpider: I am from the West coast, about an hour east of Vancouver, British Columbia. Halloween here is usually rainy, and a few degrees above celsius (36F), so when putting kids costumes together, you need to fit them over jackets or warm clothes. Halloween isn’t any different here as in the states.
HalloweenCenter.net: What do you love most about Halloween?
DeadSpider: Fall in general is my favorite time of the year. Crisp air. Fall colors. Spooky ambiance. The smell of a candle scorched pumpkin. Fog. Longer and cooler nights. Cozy sweaters and apple cider. On the flip side, Fall seems to bring out a lot of spiders, which I am terrified of. And once the Halloween decoration come out there many many black plastic spiders around. They fall out of bags, get dropped, etc. and I come across them thinking they are real for a second and they scare me half to death.
HalloweenCenter.net: Tell us about your fondest Halloween memory from your childhood?
DeadSpider: Carving pumpkins before Halloween with my brother. This was serious business. Washing the pumpkins, drawing faces with markers, using all-too-sharp-for-children-to-be-using knives, not being able to get the face just right, because of those big knives. And then baking the seeds and turning down the lights so we could put candles in our new jack-o-lanterns and admire our work.
HalloweenCenter.net: What is your favorite Halloween or Spooky film or cartoon?
DeadSpider: I really have a hard time picking favorites. I tend to enjoy anything by Tim Burton. Anything with a dark flavour. Creepy. Unnatural. Not so much the scare and startle movies, and easy on the gore.
HalloweenCenter.net: Thanks!
Check out DeadSpider’s Etsy shop as well as her personal blog!
Haunted Maps
