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1980s Halloween Nostalgia

If this place existed, it would be my happy space on a Halloween night in 1987. 

I have never spent much time 3D rendering. I’ve done some 3D modeling in my time, in order to aid in my more traditional digital art. But creating proper, high resolution renders with quality lighting didn’t really enter my sphere of work. I don’t remember what drove me to trying it out, especially as I’ve been obsessed with AI art tools like Dall-E and Midjourney in recent months. But for whatever reason, on August 3, 2022, I decided to try the one month free trial of Adobe Substance Stager, and I downloaded a handful of Creative Commons 3D models from Sketchfab. What resulted was the following, my first low resolution render:

This first render blew my mind. From the terrazzo floor that could have come out of a Publix Supermarket to the highlights on the Atari’s faux wood grain, I was impressed with how quickly I was able to throw this together and get… results. I was immediately addicted and started adding details. The Atari set the decade. The theme was defined by my mood at the time, which like so many of you was the slow approach of Halloween, and the pleasantries of Fall. I started downloading free 3D props to help adorn the scene. The walls need movie posters! And there should be a bowl of candy for Halloween!

Then the challenges began. First, it was the realization that if I wanted this to be a realistic scene, with all the silly references I had in mind, I’d have to create a lot of stuff myself. “I have a VHS model that I can use to create stacks of video tapes, great! But I need real horror movie cover art on those videos. I guess I’ll have to learn how to create custom materials.” That took two days to get decent at. A huge shoutout to @sp00kyghoul on Instagram, who gave permission to use her amazing horror VHS collection to create the video tape covers! 

Then I skinned the Fangoria magazines using reference images from Archive.org. I recreated the Pizza Hutt box art from that era as best I could and reskinned the Snickers bars with 1980s accurate wrappers. Then came all the overthinking of things. “What would a typical adult in the 1980s with a horror movie obsession be drinking? I don’t know, probably a shitty Budweiser.” Okay, got to reskin the beer bottle! Then obsessing over lighting! That hurt me the most, honestly. Lighting is hard. 

Anyway, it’s a project that’s gotten away from me, but I now have a newfound investment in 3D art. I’m going to turn this one into an ambience video, similar to those I posted on YouTube last year. I envision this becoming a bigger part of my art. With everything I’ve learn in AI art, now 3D, and continuing to expand on my traditional digital art, I’m feeling really good about things right now. I hope to keep turning out creative content. 

Creative Commons model licenses and credits for the individual model artists can be found here: https://jetpackjason.com/1980s-halloween-living-room-scene-licenses-and-credits

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1950s UFO Desert Chase

It’s been a while since I posted new artwork. Here is my illustration of a 1950s Ford highway patrol car chasing down a UFO down a lonely patch of highway in the Nevada Desert.

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Cyberpunk Illustration

Original digital art by Jason Snyder. For the past several months, I’ve been trying to learn the art of ‘Photobashing’. For those unfamiliar, this is the technique that many designers in the video game and film industries use to whip up concepts quickly, without spending huge amounts of time creating every miniscule detail from scratch. Stock photos are chopped up and formed into new and unique shapes and compositions. This is my first serious attempt to create a sci-fi, pop culture infused, retro futuristic city scene. This illustration used elements from 43 different stock photos, plus a lot of my own unique designs. Many of the neon signs are my own designs. It took a long time to create, which kind of goes counter to the goals of photobashing, but I’m a newb, and I was sort of enjoying figuring out what easter eggs from my ID to include. I kind of like it.

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Halloween Camp Out in A Shasta Trailer

halloween shasta camper jason snyder

Original digital art by Jason Snyder. This is a nostalgic depiction of spending a pleasant Halloween night in the campground with a Shasta Airflyte camper. This Shasta trailer is one of my favorites, with a wonderful mid-century design. I imagine taking a cross country trip in one of these, perhaps traveling down Route 66. My artwork imagines overnighting in a quiet campground on a lovely All Hallows’ Eve, with a big bowl of candy for Trick-Or-Treaters, an eerie Vincent Price movie on the television, carved jack-o-lanterns and vintage Halloween decorations pinned in the windows. A cool Autumn breeze whistles through the trees while a full moon illuminates a misty night sky. No fear of creatures in the dark, just the pleasure of hearing the other campers kids play in the dark, dressed as ghouls, witches and cowboys and clowns. Maybe a few of the adults gather and share a beer or a cider, formerly strangers, now bound by the festive mood of Halloween in the KOA.

If you like this artwork, let me know in the comments. I’d love to do a series of illustrations of campground trailers. I think a calendar with the same camper depicted in a different location each month would be cool. We would follow the Shasta throughout the year, with different seasonal decor and weather.

This Shasta trailer artwork is available as a printable digital download on Etsy.com. If you’re interested in framing it and hanging it on your wall somewhere, here’s where you can get it! It’s only $5 dollars, and you’ll receive access to several high resolution digital download sizes. You can print it yourself as seasonal decor, make greeting cards or Halloween party invitations. You can even use it as wallpaper for your PC or phone.

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Clean-Up In Produce! – Pin Up Art

grocery store pin up cartoon style falling oranges

Original Artwork by Jason Snyder. “Clean-Up in Produce!” This is a colorful digital pin up design of a dark haired beauty having a bit of an accident in the fruit section of her local grocery store. Featuring the classic styling of 1940s and 1950s pinups combined with a cartoon / comic style, similar to Archie Comics and Betty Boop.

The character style was inspired by a variety of mid-century art styles. Archie Comics artist Dan DeCarlo certainly is a factor here, as he is one of my favorite comic creators. The risque comics of Playboy Magazine and the naughty pin ups of Art Frahm also provided some of my spark. I don’t think I can go quite as risque as Art Frahm though.

This pin up is available as a printable digital download on Etsy.com. If you’re interested in framing it and hanging it on your wall somewhere, here’s where you can get it! It’s only $5 dollars, and you’ll receive access to five high resolution digital download sizes. You can print it yourself, or have it professionally printed and framed. You can even use it as wallpaper for your PC or phone.

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Pinball Pin Up

Pinball Pin up

This is a pin up I created a few years ago. Again, fitting in genres that I love, this one features a pinball machine that never existed, but that I feel should have. “Forbidden Planet” (1956) is one of my favorite films, and I love the art direction. Especially the alien interiors, the flying saucer and of course, Robbie the Robot. It’s a precursor to Star Trek in terms of tone, and takes plenty of inspiration of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. So yeah, worth a watch. And definitely worth a pinball machine.

As for my pin up girl, I styled her after Dan DeCarlo of Archie Comics fame.

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Galaga Pin Up

galaga pin up pinup
This is one of my earliest pin ups. I recently looked at it with fresh eyes and realized it needed a few tweaks. So we’ll call this “Galaga Girl” Version 2.0. Its formal name is “Single Credit Galaga Queen”. This dark but colorful pin up art print was inspired by 1980s pop culture. My pin up subject is a wiz on Namco’s Galaga. She’s filled the high-score screen with her initials, but don’t bother asking her name. She’ll never tell you. This is a love letter to my favorite game, and my favorite place to be growing up.

This pin up is available as a printable digital download on Etsy.com. If you’re interested in framing it and hanging it on your wall somewhere, here’s where you can get it! It’s only $5 dollars, and you’ll receive access to five high resolution digital download sizes. You can print it yourself, or have it professionally printed and framed. You can even use it as a Windows wallpaper for your PC gaming rig, or your phone.

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Pinup – Jilluminati’s Lair

Jilluminati is my modern tribute to the classic ‘horror host’. A horror host pinup is something I’ve been wanting to create for a while. I’m working on a comic book concept with her, as a late night tv host. Behind her, painted on the walls are two generations of sexy horror hosts, Vampira and Elvira. I hope to post more of the concept art for my comic soon.

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Pinup – Theremins are Sexy


Here’s a recent theremin pinup that I added to Jetpackjason.com. It’s titled, “Theremins are Sexy”. And hey, they are, right? Also, I created a few items for my Zazzle Store
Original art by Jason Snyder.

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Pinup – Am I In Your Chair, Captain?

My Star Trek pinup titled, “Am I In Your Chair, Captain?”
This illustration was created entirely in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. You can find a time-lapse video of its creation here.

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