Haunted House

Gettin' close to Halloween time again, so I thought I'd get a head start on a new scary scene. Second only to Jonny Quest, Scooby Doo was blessed with some of the best background paintings Hanna Barbara produced. I grabbed this off the secret funspot blog, and am using it as inspiration for a haunted house on an isolated rocky island (click on images to view full size.)

This was from the episode where Scooby was to inherit a share of some guy's fortune. But first, he and the gang had to spend a night in the old family mansion (complete with two green laughing phantoms.) I love how this pic combines the house on an island motif with the house built precariously close to the edge of a cliff. Below is the start of my design.

I traded the winding path for a stone staircase and tossed the gazebo. The island rocks are still just basic geometry, and will require a bit of carving to look all craggy and weathered. Also, still need to spooky up the house and add some twisted gnarled trees.

Here's the dilapidated boat dock (still needs a little detailing.) All those decaying boards and posts are actually stretched and distorted copies of just three components, which saves a lot of time. As always, the figure is just temporary to help with scale.

Here's another camera angle with different shadows (oops, forgot the sky.) Not sure if I'm going to use all the sketchup colors and textures or do a paint over in Photoshop. Either way, keep checking back as the haunted house slowly evolves into the terrifying abode of PURE LIVING EEEEVIL!