Halloween Web - The Spooky King

Our final artist of the week goes by The Spooky King!

 

 Thanks for coming. Please introduce yourself.

Hey! I'm Ryan Caskey aka The Spooky King on social media. I'm an illustrator & designer specializing in all things Halloween and spooky! You can find my illustrations in books like Visions From the Upside Down: A Stranger Things Artbook and Ghostbusters: Artbook. Most of my time is spent writing and illustrating horror comics, designing t-shirts, and working on my tarot deck project.

What was Halloween like for you as a kid?

I grew up in Dayton, Ohio. There were always those couple of houses on the block that went all out for Halloween every year, decorating with skeletons and lights and fog machines. All the kids couldn't wait until Halloween night to stop by those houses. There were also a lot of Halloween attractions nearby like haunted houses and hayrides that I would beg my parents to take me to. Halloween is very nostalgic for me because it was always the most exciting time of the year, and there was never a lack of fun (and spooky) things to do.

Do you have any special Halloween memories?

Trick-or-treating was always a blast, but I remember one year that I held my own "haunted driveway" in lieu of getting candy. I was always more interested in dressing up and scaring people than eating candy anyway. I played my favorite Halloween mixtape out of my parents' car with the windows down, posted my small strobe light up in a tree, and hung all kinds of spiderwebs and drapery around the front porch where my brother was handing out candy. People would come to get their candy and I would jump out from behind a tree with my Freddy Krueger mask and claws equipped. 

 

 

 What about favorite costumes?

My favorite as a kid was my Leatherface costume I wore when I was about 9, but I don't have any photos. I did make a DIY Babadook costume in college that I was pretty proud of, which I do have a photo of!

How do you celebrate Halloween these days?

I celebrate Halloween every day. I thought at one point, why wait until October to have all the fun? Now, if I'm not drawing pumpkins & ghosts or writing a scary story, I'm watching horror movies and buying masks on the internet, haha. It's a great way to live!

Do you have any yearly rituals to help celebrate?

I have a few movies I watch every year like Hocus Pocus and Trick 'R Treat. I find myself listening to a lot of Tom Waits as well. One of my favorite places to visit around this time is a Halloween store by my hometown called Foy's. They are open year-round and always make Halloween time a spectacle. That was like my wonderland as a child.

 

What is it about Halloween that sticks with us as we get older?

I think a big part of it is nostalgia. Another part is fear. I think we embrace and make light of things that are scary to us like death, spiders, etc. and it's fun to be both surrounded by and become things that are scary while knowing that it's actually harmless. Maybe it's for the adrenaline, or maybe it's because it's our way of facing it. Also the weather is nice.

Inside the Spookster's Studio

The worst thing to get while trick or treating was peanuts.

My favorite thing to get was gummies!

My favorite monster cereal is Count Chocula.

Where can people find you online?

You can find my art by following me on Instagram @thespookyking or at www.thespookyking.com!

Thanks to Ryan for dropping in and rounding out artist week!

Click the image below to see all the participating Countdown bloggers!