Ghostbusters, Onionhead/Slimer Concept Drawing

original production artwork

This original Onionhead/Slimer drawing by concept and storyboard artist Thom Enriquez was made for the production of Ghostbusters (1984). Accomplished in Prismacolor pencil, the artwork received the approval of director Ivan Reitman before being sent to Boss Film Studios, where the specter was sculpted for a reported price tag of $300,000.

The illustration appears in Cinefex magazine founder Don Shay’s authoritative 1985 behind-the-scenes book, Making Ghostbusters, as well as in the 2015 art book Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History and in the 2020 retrospective book Ghostbusters: The Inside Story.

Outlined only vaguely in early script drafts as a malodorous yellow vapor, Enriquez is credited for initially crafting the look of one of cinema’s most iconic ghosts, under the art direction of associate producer Michael C. Gross.

As Enriquez’s handwritten notes detail, fellow creature design consultant Kurt Conner created a preliminary clay prototype modeled after the piece.

“Onionhead,” as the spook went by at the time, then endured a six-month morphing process at the hands of Emmy-winning sculptor Steve Johnson, evolving from a stop-motion puppet into a life-size suit with internal mechanisms for controlling facial expressions.

According to one story told by Johnson, the producers informed him a mere 24 hours before the shooting deadline that John Belushi had served as the inspiration for the character. Channeling Belushi’s proclivity for illicit drugs, Johnson turned to snorting lines of cocaine off headshots of the late actor, which fueled an all-night work session that ended with what would wind up on the screen.

“Enriquez’s design looks like Slimer’s cousin,” Johnson commented in an interview, alluding to the point that, although the general anatomy remained the same, the self-assured 22-year-old left his own mark on the movie monster’s completed manifestation.

One of the main creature conceptualizers on the film, Enriquez also developed the final approved designs of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and the Terror Dogs, as well as sketched some of the work-in-progress storyboards. He returned for Ghostbusters II (1989) in the role of production illustrator.