MORRIS COUNTY

‘Goosebumps’ cover artist living in Budd Lake

Tim Jacobus also worked on movie

Michael Izzo
@MIzzoDR
Budd Lake artist Tim Jacobus who designed all of the covers for the original Goosebumps books and contributed artwork to the movie currently in theaters. October 21, 2015, Budd lake, NJ

MOUNT OLIVE - Tim Jacobus has illustrated more than 300 book covers in his career, none more famous than the 100 he designed for the popular 90s kids’ horror series “Goosebumps,” which is getting a jolt of buzz thanks to the new film starring Jack Black.

And while author R.L. Stine created these characters and wrote the stories, it’s Jacobus who brought them to life in designing the covers and putting the images in the readers’ mind.

Jacobus, 56, has been a Morris County resident his whole life, living in Denville and Lake Hopatcong before settling in Budd Lake.

Prior to landing the “Goosebumps” gig, Jacobus had been creating book covers for years working with Scholastic, which published the series. He said he skewed toward drawing fantasy covers, not horror, before beginning his “Goosebumps” run.

The original 62-book series ran from 1992 to 1997, and Jacobus created covers for all but the second book. There was a competition to see who would get the gig, and Jacobus was tasked with drawing the first book in the series, “Welcome to Dead House, and another artist with the second, “Stay Out of the Basement.”

Jacobus said it was his use of overly-saturated colors that won him the job, which fit with the now-notable 60s B-movie-style title font. He would ultimately design an alternate cover for “Stay Out of the Basement” to complete the collection, but that second cover is the only one in the original series run not to be drawn by him.

“So I got picked. I thought, great, maybe I’ll get four more of these,” Jacobus said. “Everyone was unsure how ‘Goosebumps’ would be received in the beginning. There were no expectations.”

Instead, the series ended up selling hundreds of millions of copies, with many landing on the list of top-selling children’s books of all time.

Jacobus ended up designing more than 100 covers between the original series, “Goosebumps 2000,” and “Goosebumps Gold.” He even drew the cover for his own Scholastic autobiography, released in 1998 after a similarly-titled book about Stine came out, “It Came from New Jersey: My Life As an Artist.”

Jacobus said he rarely spoke directly with Stine about what to draw. He was simply given a title (Stine always started his books with the title, Jacobus said) and a few sentences describing the story, and created the cover while the book was simultaneously being written.

He would design about one per month, while also designing other book covers. Jacobus said it took him about 40 cumulative hours of work to make a cover.

For “Goosebumps,” he would sketch three potential covers, one his bosses requested, one he thought of himself, and one that was a combination of the two. He said the one ultimately chosen was evenly split between the three.

“I can usually tell which one they’ll go for though,” Jacobus said. “With ‘Deep Trouble II’ I drew a close up of a giant goldfish, and another with the fish jumping out of the water over a boat. I liked the second one better but figured they’d go with the first because it was more in the ‘Goosebumps’ style.”

Jacobus said he never attacked a cover with a specific plan, but the ideas just seemed to flow out of him and fit what the publisher needed. All followed the bright color palate he set for himself, and many featured a pair of Converse sneakers, a brand of shoes he loves (though his mother doesn’t) and still wears today.

“I’m baking a cake every time,” Jacobus said. “It’s the same ingredients, just slightly different.”

His favorite cover changes from time to time, but Jacobus said he always comes back to “Egg Monsters From Mars” because of the creative challenge it presented and his decision to go with a warped perspective for the kitchen after not knowing how to approach it.

Slappy the Dummy from “Night of the Living Dummy” and the giant praying mantis from “A Shocker on Shock Street” are two of his favorite characters.

Budd Lake artist Tim Jacobus who designed all of the covers for the original Goosebumps books and contributed artwork to the movie currently in theaters. October 21, 2015, Budd lake, NJ

Making the movie

Jacobus had heard talk of a “Goosebumps” movie for years – director Tim Burton held the rights to the series at one point in the late 90s – so when he heard of the newest potential film several years ago, he was skeptical it would come to fruition.

“It seemed awful late,” Jacobus said. “Then I heard Jack Black was going to play (R.L. Stine). I liked Jack Black, and I thought they must be going for something interesting, but I didn’t get it.”

Two years ago Jacobus joined Stine on a trip to a Canadian Comic Con for a “Goosebumps” panel, and Stine told him he liked what he saw from the film.

Jacobus hoped he might get a call to be involved, but then principal shooting wrapped, followed by the special effects, and soon the movie had its Oct. 16 release date so he assumed his chance participate in some way was over.

“I thought it would have been cool to be a part of this, but oh well,” Jacobus said. “Then in May someone reached out and they wouldn’t tell me what it was about until I signed something. I thought it can’t be ‘Goosebumps,’ but it was. All along I thought I was out and I slid in at the end. They wanted me to make another cover.”

That one more cover, 15 years after his last, featured Jack Black screaming and was the final shot of the film before it cuts to the credits.

It was Jacobus’ first “Goosebumps” cover to feature a movie star, but not the first based on a real person. That honor goes to “The Horror At Camp Jellyjam,” which featured a camp counselor on the cover based on Jacobus’ own image.

Jacobus also designed the movie’s soundtrack, created in the style of a “Goosebumps” cover. There’s also sweepstakes to win an original portrait drawn by Jacobus, which he’s still working on this week.

A few weeks ago, Jacobus was flown out to Los Angeles for the movie premiere with his son, where he met director Rob Letterman and Jack Black, and signed autographs for fans.

“It was a real nostalgia ride,” Jacobus said. “I thought there would be a lot of kids, but instead there were all former kids, now adults, who read the books when they came out in the 90s.”

Jacobus said it was a thrill to see the creatures he designed come to life on the screen. He also got to see the actual book covers become animated in the credits scene.

“I was very impressed with the movie,” Jacobus said. “I’m certainly not unbiased, I don’t know if a lot of your typical 56-year-olds would like the movie, but I found it entertaining. There is a humor in those books and they brought it out.”

He said a lot of creatures were very similar to his original designs, including Slappy the Dummy and the praying mantis from “Shock Street.” Even the ones with changes were only things he himself would notice, like the nose on the “Abominable Snowman of Pasadena.”

“It never ceases to amaze me. Going to this movie, having people come up and talk to me about the covers,” Jacobus said. “I should be the only one who knows ‘A Shocker on Shock Street’ has a praying mantis on the cover. It’s all been terrific, just a lot of fun.”

Jacobus currently works at DScape, a design studio in Mount Olive’s International Trade Center, and does freelance illustrations at his home studio on nights and weekends. He said he’s picking up more jobs now thanks to the film. After years of heavily-saturated bright colors, Jacobus enjoys working in black and white, but he’s happy to return to that style if a fan requests it.

“Most illustrators do their thing and only you know you did them,” Jacobus said. “That people still know what I did 25 years ago is astounding. I’m very proud of it.”

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com