NYCC Wrap-up and "Slide" Festival screenings

Hey, Plymptoons fans and Scribble Junkies - 

I know it's been a while since I wrote anything, but I suddenly became very busy.  I wanted to get something posted about the New York Comic-Con before it gets too late - we had a great time over four days in October at the Javits Convention Center!

While I was there at NYCC, I got interviewed by Mary Fan of the Workprint, and I got to talk about the progress on "Slide" and when I expect the film to be finished and released, and you can read that interview here:

https://www.theworkprint.com/nycc-2023-cartoonist-and-animator-bill-plympton-on-slide-his-most-personal-film/123

The NY Comic Con is a big sales event, for sure - I got to do some caricatures for my fans who were willing to pay for the privilege, and this is always a big thrill for me also, I love to draw people and to see their faces light up when they what they look like as one my cartoons!

It's also a chance for me to connect with some old friends - like Bob Camp, animator for "Ren & Stimpy", we go way back and we've been neighbors in Artist Alley in previous years!  Also Mike Richardson, head of Dark Horse Comics, he came by my booth also. 

On Sunday there was a group signing at the Z2 Comics booth, for a hardcover comic called "The Illustrated Al", where different artists took the opportunity to illustrate some of Weird Al Yankovic's best (non-parody) songs.  I had done the illustrations for his song "One More Minute", so I was part of this group of artists who each illustrated a song and put their own spins on it!  What a great opportunity to meet all of these talented people and sign some books together!  My thanks to Z2 Comics!

Of course, I'm there to sell my own stuff, too.  Selling art from my animated shorts has become a big part of my business plan, so I brought about 4 portfolios of art from "Your Face", my "Simpsons" couch gags, "How to Kiss" and "25 Ways to Quit Smoking", plus art from a few other films.  But people on Friday were asking me if I had any art from the Kanye West music video "Heard 'em Say", which I animated years ago.  I didn't think to bring any on Friday, but I stopped by the studio on Saturday morning and grabbed some, and I'm so glad I did!  These teenagers bought up 10 pieces of art from that video - they must be big fans, of either me or Kanye!  (Probably Kanye....

Then a few days later, I had to jump on a plane and go to Taiwan for a screening of "Slide" at the Taiwan International Animation Festival!  More about that next time, I guess.  But I hope everybody had a safe and fun Halloween, and I'll let my office manager post some of the great costumes he saw at the NYCC below!  

You might remember this first costumed guy, he came to my booth last year dressed as a dinosaur in a leather jacket, and he bought a few of my DVDs.  Well, he came back dressed as Donkey Kong, complete with a banana gun and a banan-dolier full of bananas!  And he bought a few more DVDs, which is great!  I'm always happy to sell them!  And he brought his whole family, all dressed like Super Mario Bros. characters!

That's all for now, catch you at the next screening of "Slide"!

--Bill P.

Slide's Festival Schedule, NYCC and the Reuben Awards!

I'm so close to finishing "Slide", I can smell it - and it smells sweet!

We have a new producer, Owen, who's really taking charge and wrapping up the production after about 7 years.  Of course, there are still some last-minute shots and editing changes and sound mixes to take care of.  But already we've booked the film into a number of festivals:

The International premiere will be at the Seoul Indie Ani-Fest in South Korea, starting September 14. By the time you read this, I'll probably be in South Korea, to present the film and also do an animation Master Class.  Then there will be a special screening, the Spanish premiere, in the Canary Islands on September 19-21, sponsored by the Animayo Festival.  

Then the U.S. premiere will be at the Woodstock Film Festival, one screening at the Woodstock Playhouse on Friday, September 29 at 11:30 am, and another at Upstate Films in Saugerties on Saturday, September 30 at 10:30 am.  If you want to go, you can get tickets here:

https://woodstock2023.eventive.org/films/64af03c398cdfc0084e62db2

The Woodstock pre-festival party was last night in NYC, just down the street from my apartment, so I just HAD to go.  Also, I designed the poster for this year's Woodstock Festival, I'll include it here so you can see how great it looks!  

And "Slide" has been invited to the prestigious Mill Valley Film Festival!  The screenings will be on Sunday, October 8 at the Rafael 3 at 6:00 pm and again on Monday, October 9 at the Roxie Theater at 9:00 pm.  You can check out the program and get tickets here:

https://www.mvff.com/program/slide/

After that, the film will screen at the Taiwan International Animation Festival, which takes place October 13-21.  I'll be appearing at ALL of these festivals to introduce the films and do a Q&A after.  So if you're around any of those festivals, please stop by and say HELLO!

In the middle of all of that, I'll also be appearing at the New York Comic-Con, at the Javits Center, which is October 12-15.  Travel is important, but so is staying close to home and going to Comic-Con!  You can find me in Artists Alley, I think I'll be at table G-08.  We'll have art for sale, and also my DVDs and books and some special surprises!  

Since I've pretty much finished my work on "Slide", I am now free to take on other projects.  One of the more interesting is a feature compilation of animated sci-fi stories, put together by a gentleman from Poland.  The story I chose is very compelling, both visually and dramatically. I've already done the storyboards and I think it could be a whole lot of fun to animate.  I can't really say any more because it's still under wraps.  I'll definitely let you know more about the project as it develops.  

But the coolest event lately was my winning the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award from the prestigious National Cartoonists Society, who hand out the Reuben Awards!  When I got the phone call about the prize, I was somewhat dumbstruck, flabbergasted and even gobsmacked!  I've been out of the cartooning business for 15 years!  What the hell?  I do create an occasional gag cartoon every so often, but I'm now immersed in animation.  But hey, I'm not going to turn it down, it's a BIG DEAL!

The Reuben Awards were held on September 7 at the luxurious Hyatt Regency in Jersey City.  It was tremendous fun, because I get to mingle with some of the biggest names in cartoons - Brian Bassett, Peter Kuper, Mike Peters, Jim Davis ("Garfield"), Bill Griffith ("Zippy the Pinhead") and of course, the great Peter de Seve (whose new large art book is now being released) did my introduction and presented me with the award.  Peter and I go way back, although he doesn't look it, we hung out in the late 1970's and early 80's. 

The award is really important to me, although I was a print cartoonist 30 years ago and am now an animator, for the comic and illustration world to celebrate my career like that is really a life-affirming (and art-affirming) event.  This is the highest award I could hope to get, except perhaps an Oscar!

See you all soon, 

Bill P.

"Slide" update, "Elemental", "Indiana Jones" and Summer Art Sale

Once again, I want to thank you all for your patience.   I believe I've finally finished with my animation for "Slide" and now I move on to finish the editing and the sound, which I delegate to my crack team of post-production geniuses.

So, now I have a little more time to concentrate on some new projects, and also take a little summer vacation break in Oregon.  I got used to going up there every year after San Diego Comic-Con, so even though I stopped going out to SDCC in 2018 (it just wasn't profitable any more, once we factored in travel costs, shipping and the rising cost of just having a booth) I still try to make it back to Oregon for a week each summer.  The next exciting part will come this fall when I can begin another tour of the international film festival circuit and show "Slide" to the waiting world.  

It's taken me seven years to finish this damn film.  The delay was caused by the COVID pandemic.  The cinemas closed, universities and film studios closed down so my touring and master class fees disappeared and I had to take on commercial work - music videos, ads, documentaries and even illustration work.  Well, now that the virus has abated I can finally get out there and make appearances again.

All the people who have seen the rough cuts say it's my best film.  It's very different from my other features, the artwork is reminiscent of my illustration style, which is a ballpoint pen and colored-pencil mizture.  In fact the look is very impressionistic, which is rare among today's digitally animated films.  So it kind of has the look of a Van Gogh painting.

"Slide" premiered at the Annecy Animation Festival, but as a work-in-progress, so I had to open each packed screening with a disclaimer that the film was not yet finished.  Surprisingly, the audiences all loved the film and encouraged me to finish it soon.

We're now entering other festivals and searching for distribution and we hope that the film will get some good reviews and pick up some great sales. 

I just saw "Elemental", the new Pixar animated feature, and I was disappointed.  On my all-time Pixar list this film is hovering near the bottom, along with "Lightyear".  

The story starts off very slowly and picks up some momentum at the end.  I think the script needed a few rewrites - it also needed the genius of John Lasseter and Joe Ranft.  They need to get their stories back up to the quality level of their earlier films.  And in a film about the elements, what the hell happened to Earth and Air?  I give it a B-.

I was also excited to see the new Indiana Jones film, "The Dial of Destiny", which I loved.  The recreation of Harrison Ford as a younger version - was magnificent.  What does this mean for the future?  Actors don't need plastic surgery any more - nor do they need make-up artists.  It's a bold new future!

In my mind, the most satisfying of all the film mega-franchises is Indiana Jones - more than James Bond, Jurassic Park or Mission: Impossible.  I could watch "Raiders of the Lost Ark" every day and never get bored!

We're working now on a web-site to promote "Slide", and we're going to be selling original drawings from the film, made by my own hand, there.  Keep an eye out for that.  In the meantime, we've still got our Summer Art Sale going on, led by my intrepid office manager, John H., who's been working with my fans and customers to get them the art they want to collect from my films.  John's a collector himself (comic books and "Star Wars" autographs) so he gets it.  

John noticed that a few people were asking about buying matching frames from my Oscar-nominated short "Your Face" and also from the Simpsons couch gag "Homer's Face", which is a tribute, Homer sings the same song and his face goes through most of the same crazy contortions.  So he went through all the art that's left from both films (which isn't much at this point) and he found a bunch of matching frames.  

Check these out - these matches are still available, you can buy a pair of drawings for just $600 plus postage.  ($300 for the "Your Face" drawing, and $300 for the "Simpsons" drawing)

We have a few more sets than this, so if you're interested please e-mail John at studio@plymptoons.com and he can show you more of what we have available.  You can also still get signed art from my other films, like "How to Kiss" and "25 Ways to Quit Smoking" for $200 each, and from ANY other Plympton film ("The Tune", "I Married a Strange Person", "Mutant Aliens", "Guard Dog", "Guide Dog", "One of Those Days", "Plympmania", you name it...) for just $100 each if you want to choose the art.

Or there's still the "Director's Pick" from those films for $50 if you don't mind letting ME choose the art for you. ("Your Face" and any "Simpsons" art is ineligible for the Director's Pick).  Just e-mail if you want to get in on the Summer Art Sale, while summer lasts!  

These art sales have been extremely helpful in keeping my studio up and running while I've been rushing to get "Slide" finished.  We still have to pay off all the post-production expenses, so if you can buy some art and help me out, I would greatly appreciate it!  Or if you're looking to get a tax break before the fiscal year is over, you can still make a donation through Filmmakers Collaborative at this link:

https://filmmakerscollab.org/films/slide/

I know it's been a while - hey, I've been busy with "Slide" - but here's a new gag cartoon - 

Stay cool, 

Bill P.

Slide funding campaign on Hourglass24.com

Hey, gang, there's a lot to talk about this week - but that's because there's a lot going on!  We're almost finished with my new animated feature, "Slide" and it's just in time - the film was invited to the "Contrechamp" section of the Annecy International Animation Festival.  It's kind of like the Oscars of animation, one of the biggest and best animation festivals out there.

It's been a long road, finishing "Slide", thanks to COVID-19 our studio was shut down for a while, plus so were film festivals and theaters and comic-cons, so all that extended my work schedule.  But I must say that the film looks really great and I hope we'll have a finished film for the big French premiere.  

The style is sort of a synthesis of all of my illlustration styles - when I was a freelancer I loved pen and ink and then water-color on top.  The new animation style is very similar to that, except instead of water-color, it's colored pencil, which is a lot more controllable than water colors. 

You can see the trailer for "Slide" on my YouTube channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYOpnjhQlJg

Speaking of "Slide", on Tuesday, May 16, I'll be hosting a live broadcast on Hourglass24.com - for 24 hours, I'll be holding conversations with my favorite artists - we'll be talking about animation (of course), tricks of the trade, how to make money and lots of anecdotes (both funny and tragic) but always educational. 

Some of the participants are: Pat Smith (animator of "Handshake", "Drink" and "Pour 24"), Mike Smith (rock star of "Tank Girl", "Futurama", and "The Boxtrolls"), John Payson (early MTV producer), and John Andrews (also MTV producer), Maureen McElheron (musical genius on "The Tune", "Your Face" and "Hair High"), Jerry Beck (animation guru), the great Signe Baumane (who just finished her second feature, "My Love Affair With Marriage") and others!

This is a very exciting event - for 24 hours I'll be talking with animators to help raise money to pay my post-production bills from "Slide".  Plus YOU can call in and talk to me or ask questions about "Slide" or my other work.  I hope I don't burn out during the broadcast, but it seems that I have endless energy while talking about animation.  

So, please, tune in to Hourglass24.com starting at 12:24 pm on Tuesday, May 16.  I think there's also a way you can follow the broadcast on Facebook, but as you probably know, I'm not great with all these technical computer things.  

https://hourglass24.com/

In other news, last week I was saddened to hear about the passing of the great cartoonist, Sam Gross.  He's the guy who was most famous as a cartoonist for The New Yorker and National Lampoon.  I met him at a cartoonist party while I was also creating gags for National Lampoon.  We became friends, and he even invited me to his beach house on Fire Island. 

If you've ever met him, you'd be aware of his over-the-top profanity.  It's too bad that very few magazines were able to print profane cartoons.  Sam was sort of in the same quandary as me when I'm trying to sell my adult animation.  There seems to be some national mental brain block about cartoons for adults being a profitable genre.

Sam's cartoons were wickedly sick and twisted - and that's why I liked them.  

Be sure and check out the 24 hours of Bill Plympton, Tuesday May 16 on hourglass24.com

watch the promo here:

https://www.facebook.com/Plymptoons/videos/1002466221163530

See you there, and be sure to call in and talk to me!

--Bill P.

"Slide" to premiere at Annecy Animation Festival 2023

Yes, believe it or not, I'm still alive.  I've been amazingly lost for the last few months.  Lost in the deep light box in my studio, trying to finish my latest production, called "Slide".  You may have heard of it, I've been in production on it for the last six years, maybe more!

So here's the update.  I'm so close to being finished.  The scanning, coloring, animation, voices, music and editing are essentially all completed - however, the bottleneck is the compositing.  That, I can not do, I'm a No. 1 klutz when it comes to computers.  And all the interns we hire (and I love interns) have left my studio because they need to finish their own thesis films.  And I have no more money to hire extra help.

I did do a test screening of the rough cut of the film, back in March, at the SVA Theatre, and even though the film was in terrible shape - no lip sync, half the film was uncolored and scenes were missing - to my surprise, it scored very well.  WHAT?!?  So I've now corrected the small weaknesses and I've started to send the rough cut to the festivals.  Lo and behold, it got accepted into one of the most prestigious festivals around, the Annecy Animation Festival, in their "ContreChamp" features competition!  Only one problem, can I finish the film in time?

So, I'm calling in all my friends, to pitch in and help me finish the damn film.  I must say, it looks really good now, I'm using a new technique that I developed that looks fantastic - also, I believe the story is very interesting and funny.  So, it should perform well.  

To learn more about the upcoming screening of "Slide" at Annecy, please visit the festival's web-site:

https://www.annecyfestival.com/the-festival/competition/2023:lmcc

We are still accepting donations to help with finishing funds and promotional costs for "Slide", I've partnered with Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization based in Boston - so if you can spare any amount for a donation, it will be tax-deductible!  Here's their web-site: 

https://filmmakerscollab.org/films/slide/

In April, I made a presentation at the acclaimed National Arts Club, located in Gramercy Park, here in NYC.  They wanted to screen my first animated feature, "The Tune", and have me then discuss the film with the audience after.  I was thrilled to see such a large crowd turn out for the event, and it was fun to see the old film I made 30 years ago and hear such enthusiastic laughter from the audience.  Someone suggested it should be a Broadway musical - yeah, why not?  

After I autographed a bunch of postcards for fans, we we put up some original cels from "The Tune" for sale and people raced to buy them!  The other reason I mention this event, besides the fact that it was a lot of fun, is because a company called Deaf Crocodile is going to re-release "The Tune" later this year, for its 30th Anniversary.  And then after screening the film in select theaters, they want to finally get the restored version of "The Tune" released on BluRay!  

It's another bit of good news that the film holds up very well after so long - people still laugh and sing along with Maureen McElheron's wonderful music.

So, watch for the re-release of "The Tune" some time this fall or winter - 

And here's the link to the trailer for "Slide" on my YouTube channel:

https://youtu.be/HYOpnjhQlJg

I think you'll like it!  Now that I've delivered my "child", "Slide" I believe I can devote more time to this Scribble Junkies blog and to my fans.

Thanks for your collective patience - 

Bill P.

A VERY Busy March schedule

March 3, 2023

So, I'm back!  I apologize for being out of touch for the last two months.  I was in "FINISH SLIDE" mode, which was all-consuming.  Now I've finished the rough cut to enter into Cannes and show to the Annecy Festival, I can come up for air and maybe take a little rest.  Now I can give you an update on my upcoming events!  It seems now that society is finally getting back to normal (?) I have a bunch of events where I'll be appearing.

Starting with March 10-12, I'll be up in the Boston area at the Boxboro Regency Hotel for the NorthEast Comic-Con and Collectibles Extravaganza.  I'll be selling original art and showing some excerpts from the new feature, "Slide" and everyone who attends my Master Class and screening will get a free sketch!  Please note, though, that there is an additional ticket required to attend my screening, it's not included in the price of admission to the Con!

You can get all the convention information, schedule, directions and tickets here:

https://necomiccons.com/necc-schedule/

Then on Monday, March 20, I'll be screening the ROUGH CUT of "Slide" to get audience feedback on my film.  It's very important that I make any appropriate changes to make it the best feature I can make.  The screening will be at NOON on 3/20 at the SVA Theatre, which is at 333 West 23rd St. in Manhattan, between 8th Ave. and 9th Ave. 

Then on March 25-26, I'll be appearing at the Big Apple Comic Con - I've always enjoyed this event in the past, even though it's mostly for comic book collectors.  I've still found that I have a lot of fans there.  I'll also be doing a Master Class there screening clips from "Slide" at this event, and I'll do quick sketches for anyone who stop by my booth.  The Big Apple "Back to Spring" event takes place at the New Yorker Hotel, 481 Eighth Avenue in Manhattan.  

For convention info, directions and tickets, please visit:

https://bigapplecc.com/venue-info/

And then on March 30-31, I'll be in sunny (?) Palm Springs for AmDoc (American Documentary and Animation Film Festival), where I'll give a Master Class and show clips from "Slide" and some of my other big hits.  I believe my event is on March 31 at 11:30 am but you can check out the festival's schedule here: 

https://www.amdocfilmfest.com/

I then fly QUICKLY back to NYC on the red-eye and go straight to the one-and-only MoCCA Arts Festival, which is being held April 1-2 at the Metropolitan Pavilion, 125 West 18th St.  This is one of my favorite events of the whole year!  They only present books and films that are independent, and I fit very nicely into that category!  So please stop by and say "Hello!"  You can get tickets and directions here:

https://www.moccafest.org/

WOW, this is a lot to process!  I haven't had this much on my schedule in about three years!  I hope to see a lot of my fans again in March!  It's finally time to leave the house!  See you soon!

--Bill P.

Guillermo Del Toro's "Pinocchio" and Animation School UPDATE

Hello, everyone - 

I've been very tardy in my correspondence and my blog posting, and I apologize.  I'm working very long hours because I'm trying to finish my new animated feature, "Slide". 

However, I was able to sneak away a few nights ago to see a screening of Guillermo Del Toro's new "Pinocchio" film (I get all these e-mails about the Academy screenings taking place around town, but I've asked my office manager to only tell me about the animated films - I just don't have time for any live-action films right now). The screening I saw was at the Crosby Street Hotel, but Guillermo came to town and made a bunch of appearances all over, like MOMA and the SVA Theater.  I got wait-listed for a couple screenings, it took a few tries for me to get lucky!  

There was a wonderful Q&A session after the screening with (among others) co-director Mark Gustafson and Guillermo.  And then after that there was a reception, where I got to chat with my old buddies.  We talked about this wonderful version of "Pinocchio" - and it's a terrific film!  It's much more powerful and touching than the earlier Disney version, I found myself almost crying.  And visually, the film is stunning - it's puppet animation, which is something Mark has been doing for years with Laika (formerly Will Vinton Studios) and for "The Fantastic Mr. Fox".  When I got to talk with Guillermo, he's such a friendly guy, he talked to me like we grew up together.  I predict great things for his "Pinocchio" - and if you can't get to a screening where the directors are appearing, the film's going to be on Netflix later this week!  

As most of you know, I've decided to hold a Master Animation class at the beginning of 2023 - it will be eight 90-minute sessions, one per week.  I'll talk about everything creative involved in the making of an animated short or feature.  Originally the price was $1,600 - but now I feel that I was asking too much.  So, I'm now lowering the price to $1,000 for 8 sessions.  It's going to be a great class, where else can you learn from the King of Indie Animation, someone who's made 9 animated features, almost 50 shorts, won the Prix du Jury at Cannes and has two Oscar nominations?  

So, please tell your friends about this great deal - thanks for your support!

--Bill P.

Bill Plympton Animation Master Class

Hey, everyone, great news!  I've decided that now's the time to bring back the Plympton Animation School.  It was about five years ago when I last held my super popular set of Master Classes.

But there's a difference - because back then people had to fly in from all over to attend.  This time, it's going to be on Zoom, so it will be much more accessible. 

Right now, I'm finishing up my new animated feature, "Slide" and I've decided to use the creation of that film as a teaching tool.  I will start the class with the original concept and end with the premiere at some theater. 

My plan is to begin the classes on the first Monday in January, 2023 and finish on the last Monday in February - that will be eight 90-minute classes.  I will be drawing, showing films and talking on Zoom.  I will take questions and critique the work being done by the students.  

Here's a list of the topics that the classes will cover: 

1. Introduction: concepts, ideas, influences, financing

2. Outline & storyboards

3. Character design

4. Layouts & backgrounds

5. Animation

6. Coloring

7. Editing, music & voices

8. Festivals, distribution, contracts & promotion

The price will be $1,600 for the two months, or about $200 per class. So please sign up and tell your friends to check out Bill Plympton's Animation School, and all students will receive a diploma after the last class.

You can order the classes here: 

https://www.plymptoonstore.com/merchandise/plympton-university

See you there!

-Bill Plympton

October wrap-up - Simpsons, NYCC, Tucson FilmFest

Hey all you Scribble Junkies, I'm sorry it's been a while since I posted, but I've been busy working on the rough cut of "Slide".  It's been a very busy month with everything going on, all while I'm trying to edit this feature, record some of the voices and try to get some of the music for the film in place.  

First off, I hope you caught my new couch gag for "The Simpsons", which aired on October 2. It's called "The Rug", and it's the EIGHTH couch gag that they've let me animate, and I'm truly thrilled, and proud that I probably have the most guest animator segments on the show!  What an honor, seriously!  If you missed it, the episode is called "One Angry Lisa", and it's episode 2 of Season 34.  

You can catch it on YouTube here (I didn't post it...):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tij2iVNIqmA

On my YouTube channel I made a playlist of (almost) all the couch gags I've animated over the years, you can find that here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL022D27CB9866EEBA

Then I spent four days in Artist Alley at New York Comic Con, I had a great time meeting fans and selling art, they gave us a great table very close to the entrance of Artist Alley.  The number of people attending was up this year, because last year they were still limiting attendance because of COVID.  However, this year I think there were a lot more panels and screenings going on, because there were times where it felt like nothing was going on down in Artist Alley. Oh well, I still had a blast signing things for fans and drawing caricatures, and we made some sales. Oh, and I got to meet Eric Appel, who's the director of the "Weird Al" Yankovic movie that's about to be released!  

with Eric Appel

A week later, I was off to the Tucson Film Festival - Herb Stratford, the director, arranged for me to fly out there and do two shows, one that was a collection of my recent short films and music videos, like "Demi's Panic", "Odd Duck", "Voodoo Doll" and "Lipstick of the Brave", then I did a second show with clips from "Slide" and a presentation about the making of the new feature.  I got to attend a couple parties there, so that was a nice little break for me.  

But since I got back from Tucson I've mostly been working on "Slide" around the clock.  I'm getting all of these notices for Academy screenings of animated movies like "Wendell & Wild", "My Father's Dragon" and the new "Puss in Boots" movie, plus a lot more, and I wish I could go to all of them, but I'm just too busy!  Maybe now that I have a rough cut almost done, I can sneak out to one or two of these this weekend, and take my son Lucas along.  

Lucas is also very excited about Halloween - and it's just about that time, too!  I may not have time to do much, but here are some photos of people in costume at New York Comic-Con, that were taken by my office manager, John H.  I hope you enjoy them, and have a great Halloween!  

Check out his whole Flickr album here:

https://flickr.com/photos/66064297@N00/albums/72177720302743125/with/52412922727/

--Bill P.