Today we’d like to introduce you to Curt Tuckfield and Shane Hunt.
Curt and Shane, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
CURT: As kids growing up in the eighties, we both discovered a very strange book in our school libraries called “Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark.” We were fascinated by the macabre, surreal style of the stories and artwork. A second book was released, and then a third.
After that, the original author, Alvin Schwartz passed away and the illustrator, Stephen Gammell, became a recluse and effectively disavowed the Scary Stories books. All our lives, we wished for a fourth Scary Stories book, but that was never going to happen.
In 2015, I began having very vivid dreams when I was in a library. I saw the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series of books on the shelf. Only now, there were four of them. I looked through the fourth book and was amazed by the never-before-seen artwork and titles. I wanted to take the book with me when I woke up, but that was impossible.
I told my best friend Shane about my dream and an idea began to form. I’m a writer and Shane is an illustrator, so we committed to making the fourth book for ourselves with the plan of printing two copies; one for Shane and one for myself. As the project developed, it was clear that fans of the series deserved a chance to experience our creation. So we began selling it as a meticulously-crafted tribute to the originals.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
SHANE: I had a full-time job, a side business creating freelance art and a young family. So it was a real struggle to find time to create the art for the project. Each of the 60+ drawings took dozens of hours to get right, and I did all of it in my limited free time.
Plus, I had never tried to emulate Stephen Gammell’s incomparable style, so it was an enormous challenge. I had to unlearn a lot of what I had learned about composition and the behavior of light and shadow that I had spent years studying because Gammell has such a unique, dreamlike approach to his drawings.
In the end, I’m proud of what I created, but it was an arduous journey getting there.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
SHANE: I’ve been a professional artist and creator for 16 years. I’ve created art for video games, book covers, picture books, animated films, and dozens of international brands. I love drawing interesting characters, delicious food, facades of cool buildings, mushrooms, and any variety of subjects.
Basically anything I see that interests me somehow. I guess my most popular work is my drawings of exaggerated, cartoonish vehicles. I love putting ridiculous, tiny tires on cars and trucks. I’m proud to be known as an artist who can effectively utilize a wide variety of art styles.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
CURT: We also have an audiobook version of Scary Stories: A Tribute to Terror available on our website for only $10. It was recorded by professional voice actor AJ Dana who voices the Ghost Host at Disneyland. We are extremely proud of it. You can get your own copy of the book here: https://www.scarystoriestribute.com
Pricing:
- Physical Book – $15 plus tax/shipping
- Digital PDF Copy – $10
- Audiobook – $10
- Collection of all 3 – $25 plus tax/shipping
- Prints – $13 plus tax/shipping
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.scarystoriestribute.com/store
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scarystoriestribute/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarystoriestribute
