It’s hard to believe that our winter break has already concluded. Nonetheless, I am excited for the new year and cannot wait to see what is in store for my Spring 2025 semester at Marywood University as an Illustration major in the Marywood University Art Department. That said, one of my newest classes in 3D Design (ART 212).

First week of 3D Design:

In a nutshell, the first week of class… like every other… we went over the syllabus. However, we also start our first brief, in-class assignment. Our first assignment was to cut, fold, and assemble 3D shapes from given templates. Not to toot my own horn, but I slayed this assignment.

Previous 3D Design Experience

I thrived while completing this assignment because frankly, I have done similar builds many times before. As a Halloween enthusiast, I worked 4 full season at the seasonal retail store, Spirit Halloween. In case you are not familiar with my favorite place in the world, Spirit is known for it “IN STORE EXPERIENCE” (ISE). The ISE features an elaborate cardboard display that showcases Spirit’s unique, and highly anticipated animatronic line-up. As one of the “seasoned” employees, it has usually been my responsibility to assemble these displays over the summer in various Spirit Halloween locations. In just the previous summer of 2024, I assembled parts of the ISE in 5 different locations! Anyways, the cardboard displays follow a similar format to our in class assignment. Here is a brief rundown of the assembly process.

• The cardboard arrives in flat, pallet-sized boxes separated by each section of the display.
• Each box is opened one at a time and the cardboard templates are laid out on the sales-floor.
• We follow the given manuals step by step to assemble each 3D shape from the templates.
• the shapes are gathers together and connected to one, unified display.

There are of course various other steps that go into creating the ISE such as wiring, metal framing, etc. however, I only included what is relevant to the blog post.

Some of My Original Photos of the Spirit Halloween ISE:

WRAP UP:

Overall, despite being an Illustration major who primarily focuses on 2D illustrations, I love to get my feet wet with 3D design.

• Stay Spooky, Santo 🎃