Behind The Scenes of " Snarky Halloween "

Maybe it's the PIXIE DUST , but Snarky always seems to come to life when the Disney Christmas Windows get pulled for installation . Perhaps it's just the magic that permeates the air during the impending " holiday season " - struggling to be noticed amidst the commercial madness that assaults us from ALL angles that starts earlier and earlier every year . I suppose it could even be attributed to the VODKA ! heh .

Snarky Halloween MISSED the ACTUAL Halloween festivities , I forgot that when I began her 2012 holiday adventure I was on vacation and had time to work on the story uninterrupted . I can deal with that . Who is to say WHEN Halloween ends ? Santa ? Okay - yeah - Santa . . . which means I still have time . As I did when I revisited Snarky the Elf in 2012 , the 2013 Halloween story also has me creating NEW SETS !! Woo Hoo !! Halloween is a more " personal " time for Snarky , Buttercup and Hunnypie so that meant inventing their space - their GURL CAVES . There is in addition , the hall that divides CHAOS from STABILITY - or the Elf Twins' room from Snarky's .

 

Although you might not suspect , a great deal of thought goes into the creation of a setpiece . You may NOT be dealing with the character her ( or him ) self - but YOU are approaching the space where they LIVE . It is a very introspective environment , it has to reflect the persona that dwells within . Both the bedrooms - that of the elf twins Buttercup and Hunnypie and that of SNARKY THE ELF herself ; needed to convey their individual personalities AND help to tell their story beyond words . designing and building the sets is just as important an aspect of character creation as the characters themselves , often it helps in DEFINING who those characters are ; many times BEYOND what you might have envisioned .

 

During the month of October when I began work on Snarky Halloween I realized that the characters are as much me as they are separate individuals . The twins represent my hopes and dreams and Snarky is my " real self " - needless to say perhaps , their environments encompass my own .

 

There is the whimsical and half-baked world of Buttercup and Hunnypie and the more grounded and pragmatic one of Snarky - very much if you were to take my apartment and separate the real from the imagined - cut it in half and separate it . I'm lucky in that I live in BOTH ! Looking deeply however , you will see signs of each world encroaching upon one another . That's how it is . Or as Katy Perry might intone " This is how we Do ! " She is forever my MUSE .

 

I've taken a little more aggressive route with my patronization of Ms. Perry this time around with Snarky the Elf , incorporating her " iconization " within the bedroom of the Elf Twins - it seemed natural given the personalities of Buttercup and Hunnypie . The simple fact that I came to recognize that both Hunnypie ( the " EVIL " one ) and Buttercup represented the innocent and faithful in me made it very reasonable that she that has become a spiritual and creative MUSE would ALSO find a home within the hearts of the two characters that are the breath of life and strength of Snarky . Snarky may NOT be the mother of the twins , but they are as much her children as those she might have birthed . I have fun with the idea that Snarky would likely NOT like Katy Perry . Love Hate . Sadly , I STILL have been unable to squirrel away enough " disposable income " to invest in casting and moldmaking materials for my " unofficial " Katy Perry dolls - so as yet the introduction of a " Peppermint Princess " is still ambiguously unforeseen in Snarky The Elf's future . Patience is a virtue I am told .

 

 

 

Anticipate some further musings on Snarky Halloween .