Monsters for Halloween

Halloween is here, and inspired by the scary season animators Jens Blank and Anna Benner of have created a series of cut-out-able monsters. Simply download the PDFs, cut them out, fold and stick, and then start having some Halloween monster fun.

The monsters include the likes of Bone Cruncher, Eyeball Muncher and Smiling Terror, and they're all based on creature designs that the animators had kicking around the studio. Aside from a sheet for each monster, you can also cut out some Puny Humans to feed to your new pets. Post photos of your monsters in action at the Picasso Pictures Facebook page and you might win a prize.

"They are a ragtag band of hungry monsters always looking for more Puny Humans to eat," explains Anna Benner. "They live in different places in the office. The Bone Cruncher for example likes to hang around the kitchen and hide behind the toaster. The Giant Bulging Orb wants to sit on your shelf and make you feel uncomfortable while the Gut Gobbler sneaks around and steals your paperclips."

While each one has its own storyline, their true genesis began with a self-promotional project Jens & Anna were working on. Their reps Picasso Pictures suggested doing a mailout that would highlight their animation and character design skills so they came up with the concept of cut-out monsters that potential clients could interact with. It was also a great way to get their creations out of the computer and into the real world. The project proved so much fun Blank and Benner want to share it with everyone.

"Their origin is pretty low key," says Blank. "We modelled super-reduced low polygon versions of our designs in 3D. We're talking 18 to 70 polys. There's a really nifty piece of software we used to make the patterns called Pepakura that converts 3D objects into 2D patterns. We generally had to build a couple of prototype monsters to optimise the pattern to a level that they are easy enough to make. Once a pattern was locked off all that was left to do was paint the texture and lay out the design."

Here are all the monsters for you to download: Gut Gobbler, Snake of Death, Bone Cruncher, Giant Bulging Orb, Tentacle Slimer, Eyeball Muncher and Smiling Terror. And don't forget, Puny Humans provide great nutrition for them. Happy Halloween!