For Catherine O’Hara❤️‍🩹

Few movies shaped and influenced my creativity like the Nightmare Before Christmas. I remember watching it for the first time as a young teen, already enamored with the character designs and aesthetic. I think this was my introduction to Tim Burton as well, and he, like his work, played a significant role in the artist/writer I’d become. A movie is a collaborative project though, and it was as much the voice acting that made me fall in love with Jack, Sally, Oogie Boogie and the rest. There’d be no “Nightmare” without Catherine O’Hara❤️

It’s wild for me to think back and realize she was a part of such a significant time in my creative development. I didn’t think to look up voice actors and such at that age and I certainly didn’t make the connection that the wistful, gentle Sally was the same frantic mother in Home Alone.

She’s played so many roles in some of my favorite movies and TV shows: after a while I caught on that maybe, just maybe, she herself had something to do with that. Catherine could make you both laugh and tug at your heart strings—and if you’re Moira Rose, make you understand the exasperation her husband experienced due to her antics😂 Moira will always be my favorite, but Delia Deetz is a close second, after Beetlejuice 2.

I had to draw Sally, though❤️as an advocate for the spooky and whimsical, it seemed the only appropriate choice. The character on the right is my OC, mascot and the namesake of this blog: Cryptoria Webb.

There are some for whom reputation exceeds all introduction: A canine calamity wrapped in fur and fangs. A nocturnal gremlin existing in the shadows.

A googly-eyed terror who fancies himself Prince of the Night.

He is:

NOSFURATZU

I have so much art of Cryptoria I don’t know where to begin posting🤣so today we have pony!Tori🧡

I don’t know what their pony name would be, but they’re definitely a Halloween enthusiast!

Their best friends are a batpony (Morgan), a griffon (Mimi), and an enchanted Pinkie Pie plushie commonly known as Squishamena😌iykyk✨

I’ve been extremely disappointed/discouraged by Mattel and Monster High lately, so I figure it’s time to hunker down and devote more time to my own little monster series wip!

Allow me to properly introduce Cryptoria’s Web, an indulgent passion project I started oddly enough when Monster High first dropped G2. My series leans more heavily into Halloween, with a magical twist and sprinklings of Greek mythological references.

I finished this series of drawings last summer, so it seems like a fitting time to post. There are a couple of characters missing here but I haven’t finalized their designs.

My approach to MerMay will be one drawing every Friday. 

“What? His bite isn’t that bad!”