Jack Skellington Piggy Bank

A friend once asked me to paint a piggy bank for a charity project hosted by the company were she worked. You see, that company (ARS DDB) conducts a yearly auction during Christmas called "Navidarte", which works as a fundraiser for the Children's Orthopedic Hospital. ARS hands out plain ceramic piggy banks to national artists and company employees, who commit themselves to paint, embelish and fix the pigs however they wish. Every year people go online on this web page, where they can see the piggies, choose their favorite and bid on it in favor of donating to the kid's hospital.

The piece they hand out is a smooth, cute, clay baked pig; a basic figure good enough to work on it from a basic perspective (such as simply painting it) or taking it to a next level by adding elaborate parts and details.

After mentally going through some options and consulting with my friend, I decided to make a classic Jack Skellington piggy bank.

Here's a brief step-by-step:

1. Since I didn't need to mold the piece, I simply proceeded to draw the guide lines with a pencil: Facial features, body parts and suit stripes.
2. Following that same order I painted the face, legs and tail white, while the rest of the pig got black paint. I gave it a couple of coats to make the colors stronger.
3. With a tiny brush I painted the eyes, fingers and other facial features. Then I let it dry for a day.
4. To make Jack's signature pinstripe suit, I carefully retraced all the fine suit lines with a white colored pencil.
5. I carefully covered the pig with a generous coat of white glue, which would make it shinier while protecting the paint job.
6. For a finishing touch, I made Jack's iconic bat tie cutting it out of sturdy cardboard and painting it black. I then attached it below the pig's chin with thin, super sticky, double-sided tape.

So there you have it! My finished Jack Skellington piggy bank. A true bone daddy.