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16 Spooky Artworks by Students + Alumni to Celebrate Hallowe’en

Raising hell web
Image provided by Puppyteeth Studio
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By Jenny Xu

Posted on | Updated

This spine-tingling collection of spooky artwork will satisfy art aficionados and scare-seekers this Halloween.

Spooky season is here! To ease (or unease) us into the dark nights we've conjured up 16 artworks by our students and alumni that explore the creepy, the uncanny and the eerily beautiful. Whether it's cannibal bunnies, cursed children, or anthropomorphous trees, enjoy this collection of wicked artwork while snacking on Halloween treats.

1. Siqi Yang

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illustration Major | Grad 2021

Siqi yang
Siqi Yang

The Age of Blue
Digital drawing
2021

This image belongs to a scene from my book project, The Age of Blue this late spring, where the book itself is infused with life, death, dream, past and future. Despite the fact that I don’t give my expressions any written explanations, who doesn’t like an eerie tale of cannibal bunnies?

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Sour gummy worms ۜ\(סּںסּَ` )/ۜ

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Possession (1981) by Andrzej Żuławski: breathtakingly beautiful and absolutely insane

Follow Siqi’s work here.

2. Ruijie Ti

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Visual Art Major | 4th year

Hand Forest
Ruijie Ti

Hands Forest
Watercolour on paper
2020

The rate of deforestation numbers are going up every year. Trees provide benefits to us in so many ways that we should appreciate how much they have done for us humans. Painting hands instead of the tree branches can represent how important trees are. We should do the best we could to go green.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Kit Kat

What’s your favourite scary movie?
The Nightmare Before Christmas

Follow Rui’s work here.

3. Jaik Olson of Puppyteeth Studio

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Visual Arts Major | Grad 2012

Raising hell web
Puppyteeth Studio

Raising Hell
Digital drawing
2021

This piece is based off of a 1940's children's book illustration of two kids playing with a kitten. A lot of my work focuses on the subversion of childhood innocence and occult mysticism, so I combined those two elements into the drawing, and paired it with the innocuous term "raising hell" to give a literal reference point.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Nightmare on Elm Street

Follow Puppyteeth’s work here.

4. Yan Wei Lau

First-Year Foundation

Halloween art 2021
Yan Wei Lau

What Are You Most Afraid Of?
Digital, Procreate
2021

What are you most afraid of? I am not talking about your phobias, spiders, or blood, nor am I talking about your obsessive-compulsive disorder, such as keeping your hands clean to avoid germs. What I am talking about are your core fears, abandonment, rejection, loss, etcetera. How do you cope?

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Chocolate's cool

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Hereditary. (It's good because it's well written and directed horror, e.g. does not bank on the usage of jump scares)

Follow Yan’s work here.

5. Violet Patrich

Bachelor of Fine Art, Photography Major | Grad 2017

Skinto Skin Violet Patrich
Violet Patrich

Skin to Skin
Photography
2021


Postpartum skin-to-skin contact reduces stress, releases oxytocin and starts the bonding process between parent and child. Love in one of its most tangible forms. In this current world health crisis, there is a hesitancy of touching skin to skin amongst all humans. Consumption is the new skin-to-skin, filling voids and increasing dopamine levels. As the new generation breaks through the earthly realm, one must be reminded of the significant impact of both of these practices. While these consumables bring temporary highs, their impact will persist and physically accumulate in devastating ways. Skin-to-skin contact amongst beings of any age is a practice that only exists in the present moment, yet leaves a lasting emotional imprint.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

What’s your favourite scary movie?
The Exorcist

Check out Violet’s website here and Instagram here.

6. Celine Ye

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illustration Major | Grad 2021

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Celine Ye

Scene Ten, Bone and Bessy
Digital Illustration
2020

This is one of the pages from my pop-up book project called, Bone and Bessy, which is meant to be an adventure story. The scene portraits the moment that Bone and Bessy, the two main characters, become friends and decide to go on an adventure together

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Kit Kat

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Out of The Dark
directed by Stephen Chow

Follow Celine's work here.

7. Meaghan Brooks

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Ceramics/Illustration Major | Grad 2021

7th Circle
Meaghan Brooks

7th Circle
Digital Illustration
2020

"7th Circle" is a digital illustration inspired by the description of the 7th circle of hell in "Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno". The Seventh Circle of Hell, the Circle of Violence, comprises three internal levels. Those in it have committed acts of brutality, assigning them to a level of the inner rings according to the kind of violence that was committed. This illustration is a depiction of the second ring or level, Against Self or the Wood of the Suicides. The imagery in this section of the poem depicts the twisted and gnarled trees that were once people, who now reside within the second ring.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Snickers

What’s your favourite scary movie?
The Conjuring

Follow Meaghan’s work here.

8. Rachel Zeier

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Visual Arts Major | Second Year

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Rachel Zeier

Untitled
Oil on canvas panel
2020

“He was determined to discover the underlying logic behind the universe.Which was going to be hard, because there wasn't one.” ― Terry Pratchet

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Reese's Pieces

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Pan's Labyrinth

Follow Rachel’s work here.

9. Abigail Taylor

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Visual Arts Major | 4th year

Spooky Szn Abi Taylor
Abi Taylor

St.David’s
Digital drawing
2021

This is a digital drawing I did today of a church I saw in my neighbourhood...I envisioned some sort of spirit flowing through it.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Crunchie bars

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Midsommar

Follow Abigail’s work here.

10. Jinny (Yae Jin) Lee

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Visual Art Major | Grad 2021

Jinny Lee Spooky Art Submission
Jinny (Yae Jin) Lee

Oh No Ant
Digital illustration
2021

An illustration of a woman who is scared by a giant ant climbing on her while she tries to drink her coffee. Some people would say that spooky arts are dark colours with ghosts and monsters, but for me big bugs give me chills.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Mr.Big Candy Bar

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Coraline

Follow Jinny’s work here.

11. Anjey Lin

First-Year Foundation

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Anjey Lin

Hello, ween
Digital illustration
2021

The main character which is the bear in the middle is a figure I created myself. It somehow gives me a Halloween feeling so I chose to draw the bear to fit in the concept.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?

This is actually my first ever Halloween in Canada so I don't have a favourite Halloween candy, maybe chocolate?

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Annabelle

Follow Anjey’s work here.

12. Marymay Howse

First-Year Foundation

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Marymay Howse

Halloween Rat
Ink on paper
2021

This Halloween rat was inspired by one of my drawing sessions with my Grandma. She encouraged me to complete it; without her, this lighthearted, Halloween piece would not exist.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Twix

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Friday the 13th

Follow Marymay’s work here.

13. Keanna Lee

Bachelor of Design, Industrial Design Major | 2nd year

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Keanna Lee

Neighbourhood Friends
Photography
2019

This is a spooky series I did in my Foundation year. I used photography and digital manipulation to create spooky shadow entities that live within the darkness.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Reese's Pieces

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Coraline

Follow Keanna’s work here.

14. Alisa Trysheva

First-Year Foundation

Bad Connection
Alisa Trysheva

Bad Connection
Digital, Procreate
2020

The duality of a person especially in the digital world is more than ever present in today's world. It's as if one person has two characteristics: one in real life, and one online. The one online is unknown, anonymous, powerful, contradicting and terrifying in contrast to the one in person.

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Candy corn! It gets too much hate in my opinion but it's actually really good.

What’s your favourite scary movie?
I'm not a fan of any creepy/horror movies, but I really enjoy the class, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Follow Alisa’s work here.

15. Yi Fang

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Illustration Major | Grad 2021

Yi Fang The Blue Symphony

The Blue Symphony
Charcoal
2018

In a humble room, a light came from above, like the spotlight on the stage. Everything in the room seemed to be frozen.

Beneath a pair of dangling legs was a simple chair. Music scores were falling from the air and strewn all over the floor. An empty vase sat on a table. There were four pictures on the wall, one of a piano, a mushroom cloud, a clock pointing to five o 'clock, and a lily that seemed to grow out of the frame.

Did he hang himself? Did he descend from the sky? Or was he called by God? No one knows.

Only silence remained.

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Silent Hill are my favourite Halloween movies

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Skittles and gummy bears

Follow Yi Fang’s work here.

16. Nil Yurdaku

Bachelor of Media Arts, 2D Experimental Animation Major | Second Year

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Nil Yurdaku

Cruel
Digital drawing
2021

When I'm creating my monsters which I make a lot of, I like to make them cute and pretty but also creepy and uncanny. I want to give them humanoid features to make them a bit more unsettling. I think creating monsters that look creepy but cute and pretty adds a bit more fun designing them.

What’s your favourite scary movie?
Perfect Blue

What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Follow Nil's work here.

Interested in making spooky art of your own? Expand your practice with our Continuing Studies courses, or learn more about applying to our degree programs.