Joe Lacey talks about his work for BOOklet, a Halloween promotional activity book by Crayola.

Crayola BOOklet

10/16/2018

Crayola Halloween Color Treats Store Display

Crayola BOOklet 14 page activity book by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Just in time for Halloween! The Crayola BOOklet was the first time my digital artwork started to look the way I saw it in my head. Before this, I was doing mostly vector art and traditional painting - primarily airbrush. BOOklet was a crash course in digital art and an incredible rush to finish. I started on the 5th of March and finished on the 25th of March, 2002. That's twenty days to write all the activities, design the pages, and finish the art.

BOOklet was a free in-store giveaway with the purchase of two Crayola products. Fourteen pages of craft projects and five pages of activities I wrote and illustrated, plus the cover, and a store riser display.

My favorite page is "It's Alive!", a cut-out mobile dangler of Frankenstein coming to life on a laboratory table. I can't say it was my idea, however. In grade school, one of our class projects at Thanksgiving was to make a scarecrow dangler out of construction paper and yarn. I loved it then, so why wouldn't kids love it today! I still have my scarecrow dangler. He makes me happy.

So, here's the art, the sketches and some stuff that never made it in the book. Happy Halloween!

Digital Artwork

Crayola Halloween BOOklet cover by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Crayola BOOklet cover.

Crayola Halloween BOOkelt "It's Alive!" monster mobile. by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Crayola BOOklet "It's Alive!" monster mobile.

Crayola Halloween BOOklet "Jack-O'-Labyrinth" maze. by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Crayola BOOklet "Jack-O'-Labyrinth" maze.

Crayola BOOklet "Crossword Crypt" word puzzle.

Crayola Halloween BOOklet "Gone Batty" hidden picture game. by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Crayola BOOklet "Gone Batty" hidden picture game.

Crayola Halloween BOOklet "Trick or Trace" craft page. by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Crayola BOOklet "Trick or Trace" craft page.

In-Store Riser Display

Crayola Halloween Booklet store riser by illustrator Joe Lacey.

Crayola BOOklet in-store riser display.

The riser was placed above a display of selected Crayola products, Model Magic, Gel Clings, crayons, and markers. I never saw this in the store and I don't have a printed copy of it. Always wanted one. The moon was left blank for the art department to fill with text, probably something like this — FREE BOOklet! While Supplies Last! The book had instructions on how to make the "Bouncing Eyeball" that Dracula is holding and Frankenstein's "Paper Bag Pumpkin Patch". There were also "Ghostly Goodie Bags", "Creepy Spider Web Doorways", and "Jolly Jack-O'-Lantern" craft ideas.