Artist Games Featuring Justin Piatt

Dave Hulteen July 28, 2023

Yes! It’s time for another Artist Games, this time with the amazing Justin Piatt! Justin has contributed to this blog before, was a major contributor to ToughPigs Great Muppet Mural and its subsequent “Making of” documentary, and is one of the kindest and hardest working artists out there! Originally known for his art, Justin now boasts an amazing portfolio of puppets as well! Him and I have known each other for at least 7 years now and have collaborated together on more than a few other projects as well. So it was a no brainer to play this game together.

What game am I talking about? Well if you want an extended look, check out when I played with Will Carroll and Noah Ginex last year, but if you’re anxious to see what Justin and I did, here’s the skinny:

The Rules

I start first and draw something rather fleshed out then pass it on to Justin. There are no time limits or space restrictions (put a pin in that for now). Either of us can draw as much or as little as we want before passing it back. One artist can add to or obscure the previous work as much as they like as long as they don’t manipulate it (within reason). So to start off, I drew a clown throwing a punch. That’s it! No context, no further instructions.

I don’t like clowns at all. I think I draw them as a face your fears type thing. Coulrophobia anyone?

Justin: The pose Dave picked for the clown immediately made me think of Popeye. I didn't even consider drawing anything else because I just had to draw Popeye getting hit in the face by a clown. I could tell you it means something significant. It could be satire, a comment on the current state of comedy and comics, or the physical violence that can be incited by words or the printed page. But I just wanted to draw Popeye getting smacked in the face by a clown.

I'm not sure what else to say on it. I love what he did with the clown. It's such a good pose and I hoped to match it.

Dave: I was thinking of a schoolyard fight but being witnessed by both classic cartoon characters (Justin’s Popeye and my Blip the Monkey) and archetypes that are cartoonish but have real world stand–ins that are fantastical (the clown, a DnD wizard who may just be a weekend dungeon master, and "Pirate Baby" who is a silly character my daughter and I created for when we play).

Justin: I was trying to think of some obscure cartoons and other things that would fit our vague theme. Death seemed like a good fit, just waiting for the loser. I was also thinking that I'd like to have him subtly rooting for one of the characters, preferably the clown. I wasn't sure how to make that work, when I came up with the idea of the Groucho glasses. It was like dressing up rather clownish, but it could also look like Death was trying to stay incognito.

The banana just sort of happened. I wanted something that wasn't really interested in the rest of the action, because it was only concerned with its own peril. And the monkey looked to be reaching for something, but distracted. It made sense in my head.

The third character I was trying to grab at a random character from my childhood that nobody remembers. My first inclination was to draw one of Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Heroes, but then I remembered Crusader Rabbit, Jay Ward's series before Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Dave: So Death with Groucho glasses is my newest favorite thing! He needs his own show. Justin needs to patten him and then draw him all the damn time!

I wanted to start to flesh out the world around this odd group, so I was inspired by a scene from The Simpsons when they go to Cuba and there's a boxing match happening outside with the coast line in the background. I went for a slightly more medieval look with lush flora on the sides and a deteriorated brick wall in the background. I also subdued the colors of all that so the focus stays on the fight.

I made the background area bigger than it needs to be with the intention of cropping the final image tighter to the fighters.

So remember in the beginning when I said there was no time limit? I wasn’t kidding! Justin and I initially started this weirdo brawl back in April of 2022. I didn’t jump back on this with the background art until March of 2023. Then Justin—up to his ears in design work—admitted he felt we had brought this about as far as it could go, but I wanted my Cuban street fight, so I fleshed out the rest of the background that is more reminiscent of something otherworldly.

Justin: Just everywhere Dave took this made it a thousand times better and was so unexpected to me and threw me off and made me laugh. I really love the influence of the background being Simpsons/Cuba inspired, which initially made me want to go full Simpson with the sky and paint it pink and yellow, but it drowned out the clown. Ultimately, Dave made the right choice.

This thing is weird. We made a very weird, strange thing that I very much like. I would want the live action film version, except Robin Williams is gone, and if he weren't, I know Bobcat Goldthwait would get cast as the clown, and I don't like him. So I'm glad this is just a picture we drew instead.

Thank you, Justin! I love this too! You absolutely need to check out Justin’s website Uzzy Works and his Etsy store and follow him on Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, Twitter; all as @uzzyworks.

Aah! How great to add this one to the Artist Games! If you’d like to play this game with me, please contact me through here on my site, or follow and contact me through Instagram and Twitter (until it becomes an unmanageable hell scape).

Video Game Inspired Art

Dave Hulteen March 31, 2023

Next week, The Super Mario Bros. Movie hits theaters and my whole family is psyched! To celebrate, I thought I’d show off as much of my own work as I can that’s been inspired by video games!

Starting off with the titular characters themselves… originally, the top left illustration was going to be an exercise in traditional animation but I wasn’t happy with the running sprite I had created (2018). Mario gazing at the star was for Inktober (also 2018). A fun Mario & Luigi sketch in the bottom left corner (2014). A dapper classic NES color Mario (2016). Digital painting inspired by the Luigi Death Stare meme from Mario Kart 8 (2014). And finally a fun Eastern European take on the famous brothers created in Adobe Illustrator (2019).

The far left 3 pictures are illustrations I did for my daughter to find in her lunchbox of Rosalina (2022), Racoon Mario (2022), and a smiley Simpson–esque Mario (2023). In front of those are the Bros. in their classic NES colors (2016). Mario tipping his hat immediately to the right was labled as “hot” when I first posted it (2017). Luigi in similar Simpson–esque design drawn in Procreate (2023). And overly stylized to look aggressively Italian on the far right are the Bros. digitally painted in Procreate (2021).

I’ve been a Nintendo kid since 1987, but my nibling eventually got me hooked on the Genesis, so starting at the top left we have Tails in colored pencil (2015) and an over–stylized Sonic in Adobe Illustrator (2017). The teenagers playing PlayStation and the older gang keeping up the tradition behind them were for a GTA IV release party my wife and I threw (2008). The little gamer girl was inspired by a picture my friend had posted of his daughter (2016).

I love Fallout New Vegas and Fallout 4… Fallout 76, not so much. However, the Vault Boy 76 on the left was very well received upon the game’s announcement (2018), The Vault Boy front and center is vector while the nuclear explosion background was digitally painted in Photoshop with way too many layers (2016). And as a fan of both the games and the meme, the Vault Boy in the top right is a vector drawing with digital effects painted over (2020).

Games like GTA IV and Left 4 Dead changed online gaming for me forever. On the left is me and my online friends IRL about to play both of those (2009). Sketches of Bill, Francis, Zoey, and Louis from Left 4 Dead (2015). Claude from GTA III comforting a bunny for some unknown reason (2008). A stylized Peashooter from Plants vs Zombies top right (2015).

Classic NES games are always a fun source of inspiration. From left to right: Bald Bull from Mike Tyson’s Punchout, digital sketch (2018). Bases Loaded, pen & ink (2016). Kung Fu, vector art (2022). a teddy bear as a Pokemon trainer (2016). Megaman vector art (2018). Contra, digital sketch (2018).

Vector art controllers (2018). NES with light gun and controller vector art (2017). Incidentally, the sprite on the NES cartridge is the main character from Lode Runner, my favorite NES game.

Left: a lunchbox doodle for my daughter of Hermoine from Lego Harry Potter—a game we were enjoying together at the time (2022). Middle: election humor for Inktober (2016). Right: a classic arcade cabinet, vector art (2017).

In 2019, instead of Inktober, I did Muptober where I made mash–ups of various pop culture fandoms with the Muppets. From left to right: vector art of Fozzie Bear from The Muppet Show & Pac Man, vector art of Rosita from Sesame Street & Minecraft, and a digital sketch of Kira from The Dark Crystal & Chun Li from Street Fighter. If you’d like to see the rest, check out my feature on ToughPigs.

What’s your favorite video game? Do you enjoy drawing protagonists from games? Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and let me know!

Thanks, Jim

Dave Hulteen September 23, 2022

How you define yourself is such a personal thing and yet it’s something you also want to put on blast. “This is what I like, this is what interests me, this is who I am.” Only, how difficult is it to categorize all those complexities into just one thing? Father, artist, husband, illustrator, son, writer, brother, designer, friend, gamer, CIS gender male, cheese–based snack enthusiast… I’m all of these things but none of them exclusively. This is a real hot button topic that can also both interest and infuriate people and yet all of us across every spectrum of life consider these things and consider them consequential.

Let’s play a game though for just a brief second and pretend you absolutely have to boil all those things down so that you can at the very least point in a general direction to who you identify as and so you can write a manageable blog post. That’s why today I want to briefly highlight my personal admiration for Jim Henson. Good God, I mean I’ve indirectly and directly credited his influence on my life so many times that I don’t even know which past post would even suffice to make that point. Tomorrow however—Saturday, September 24, 2022—would have been his 86th birthday. Side note: Can someone please tell me if referring to someone’s upcoming birthday in the past tense due to their death is grammatically correct? Maybe strike “writer” from my previous list of defining monikers.

Creatively, Jim is my ultimate true north. His sensibilities and ethos have all strongly influenced my own. When I was younger, I’d say, “If Jim started a religion, I’d convert.” A tongue–in–cheek joke even I wasn’t sure was true or not. But even that way of thinking was inspired by him.

The reality though is that I can’t even express those thoughts into a cohesive post. Not because I lack the ability to convert those feelings to text, but because I honestly don’t even know where I would start. I know someone who can though, and I’ll turn it over to them in just a second. First I want to share how I’ll be celebrating that upcoming 86th birthday.

I’ve teased about it, I’ve shared snippets on social media, but I’ve yet to actually talk about the work I’ve done for Craig Shemin on his newest book, Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Book. Part of this is because my involvement has evolved over the last few months, part of it is because it’s super gauche to discuss a project before it’s completed, and part of it is because this particular story isn’t quite complete yet. For the purposes of this post however, I’ll be at the Museum of the Moving Image with Craig and lots of other fans for the book’s release. Having been given that chance to be a part of this book has pulled my admiration full circle, and I’d like to believe that if Jim were still here and gearing up for this 86th party, he’d know my name—maybe even speak it out loud—and my Lord, what a euphoric, dopamine–inducing daydream that is!

It’s most likely moot at this point, but not being able to fully layout my thoughts on how to express what Jim did for me, all I can really do—and for the record—is say, “Thank you, Jim. Thank you for inspiring so many of us. You absolutely made this world a much much better place, and we are all so grateful that you did.”

Now while this post is an opportunity to share my thoughts and art that pays tribute to Jim, I have to turn it over to Julia Gaskill (I was going to label her a poet but as I mentioned before, we’re all so many different things and putting just one label on her would be a huge crime). Awhile back, she created an exceptional video entitled An Open Letter from Kermit the Frog to Jim Henson that just floored me. She said everything I wished I could in this post only so much better than I could have ever hoped to, and so, I’m extactic to give her the final word on this.

For more of Julia’s work, you absolutely must follow her on Instagram and Twitter @geekgirlgrownup. Also, if you haven’t ordered it yet, pick up Craig’s new book about Sam and Friends in either soft or hardcover and learn a little bit more about the guy who inspired so much for so many.

The Pros of Pigeonholing Popular Puppet Pencilers

Dave Hulteen September 16, 2022

“What the hell is up with that title?!” Yes, well it caught me off guard too and I’m the author. As has happened to me in the past however, I had an idea for a blog post that (in my mind) was very cut and dry. Then I reached out to a ton of very talented people who I was willing to bet paper money on would feel the same way I did, only to readjust my own thinking that was clearly just a pessimistic attitude. So if you don’t feel like reading this whole post, here’s the big spoiler: Muppet fan artists are the greatest human beings to ever walk the planet. Too bold? Okay, then read on.

If you know me or have read practically any post from this blog, you know I’m a big fan of Jim Henson. You’ll also know I draw a lot of Muppets, like a whole lot. So much so that there is a notable and huge difference in the amount of attention an illustration of Kermit the Frog gets over something like, say an illustration of a hotdog. Definitely not a good comparison but it’s really moot at this point. People love when I draw the Muppets, and care minimally when I draw anything else. Creatively it can feel stifling and push to create something absurd. That’s not just an opportunity to post a link to an old post, I’ve covered this purposely when I asked aloud “Why Did I Draw That?” and it inadvertently answers this question, I’d love if you checked it out.

So the hard line in the sand here is that while I do in fact love drawing the creative efforts of everyone involved with various Henson and Muppet adjacent projects, I have often felt obligated or at the very least pigeonholed into drawing them more than I normally would or even should. The basic retaliatory emotion that follows feeling pigeonholed is righteous indignation because the creative person in question feels like they can contribute more to the zeitgeist than what they are already expected to. Sure I appreciate the love and attention from that piece I did of Miss Piggy, but wouldn’t you guys also like to see this fun zombie kid? Or maybe these historical figures? Not so much? Ouch! My ego!

So with my personal gripes neatly arranged in a manila folder, I reached out to a bunch of other artists expecting to hear back nothing but, “Yeah! I feel that way as well!” only to feel the full ethos of Jim Henson personified that only true Muppet fans could deliver. I asked, “Do you ever feel pigeonholed to draw Muppets?” and here’s what these amazing people told me in response.

Toffe

I never feel pressured to only draw Muppets, it just happened to be the thing I want to draw most! But while it’s disheartening to see a personal art post flop in the Instagram algorithm, I always remember that 100–500 of my followers like this too! So I continue to draw and post whatever I want because someone out there likes everything I post. So I always keep that in mind.

Justin Piatt

If I post anything that's not Muppet related, it generally doesn't do well at all. That can include my own puppets. If I post anything with Uzzy, my main character, it gets zip. Other puppets do well, especially if I post a lot of pictures, but Muppet replicas and Muppet art seem to be the only things that really take off.

I'll give you an example—my last two posted drawings. One was the Muppets, one was [a commissioned] piece I did for the Girl Scouts. The Muppet drawing has 394 likes (and counting). The Girl Scout one, filled with cute little big eyed animals, has 55.
It does make me feel more obligated to draw Muppets. At the same time, I hate the impression that it gives. That I'm obsessed and that's all I think about. Because I have a lot of people who know me personally that follow me, and I don't want that to be all they know me for.

Danny Beckwith

I often feel that Muppet-based or inspired work is something that seems to get attention more often than not. If I fall down the chasing "likes" rabbit-hole/mindset, I will often come back to Muppets. But I don't really chase likes and have to remind myself that when I make Muppet art, it's sometimes for me. Perhaps I'll share it (I always do, lol) for others to enjoy. But I've recently realized that making art with Muppets should never be a chore or a contest. I only now do it when I have true inspiration or feel that the Muppets being including in my art matches my values but also the values of those characters and the theme of the piece.

Kenny Durkin

…If anyone tries to refer to me as strictly a “Muppet artist” I ignore it. When I post artwork I tend to rotate them. So I’ll post a Muppet thing and follow it up with something more caricature related, then I’ll do a Father of the Brood or something like that. I also do that to remind people that I’m not a one trick pony.

The time I did get pigeonholed was when I was doing Duck Dynasty stuff. I gained a lot of followers who thought that "redneck" artwork was all I did. I had to "break the cycle" by posting goofy monsters, or aliens, or Muppets probably, just to show them what ELSE I can do.

Noah Ginex

Noah has been doing a Drawing A Day primarily featuring the Muppets.

Yes. that's... what this whole year has been. There's at least two whole universes of original characters I have that I never draw any more. Not to mention an entire universe of other fandoms I'm into. I basically don't do any other art now, except commission work. In fact, several of the drawings this year have been birthday presents for people that I've only done because I needed t–shirt designs and stuff
I only pour “Drawing a Day” into the spaces around my normal life, so I'm often doing them quickly late at night. So really the thing that they're using up is sleep… or this morning… ha ha ha right now!

But to answer the question of do I mind, no I love it. My t–shirt sales have jumped a bunch too. The real trouble, honestly, is ideas. With rare exception I'm always fighting the clock on thinking of a new thing to do. That doesn’t make me seem like more of a crazy person than I know I already come off as, drawing the same frog and bear and pig every day.

Jonathan Brangwynne

I’m pretty self-conscious of how much fan art I do vs. original stuff. I think most online artists feel pressured into doing fan art so they can be seen, and it is pretty frustrating. I do maintain that any original work that you create is part of your identity, and whether you think it’s good or bad, you should still keep at it and try to mix it up. Ultimately, you’re doing it for yourself, if no one else, and you’ll be able to show more range in your art and have a diverse portfolio.

Nick Bondra

I kinda got pigeonholed on other subject matter I did years ago but I think that’s subsided now. It does kinda’ sting when I draw something more of my own creation instead of fan art and don’t get much response. Heck, people mostly react to my Gobo Fraggle photo poser pics.
So, I do know where you’re coming from. I guess it just depends on how you feel about it. I’d only do it if it’s still fun for you.

Dan Romens

It's my general lack of frequency that tends to cause the disproportion, as it pulls me out of the algorithm. At least that's my theory. In other feeds or accounts, when I was more frequent, I felt like I got more engagement on my random or original work.

In terms of the Muppets specifically, for as long as I remember, the Henson characters have always been my go–to subjects in moments of art block. They are familiar and drawing them or original characters inspired by them comes easy. So I don't mind in that regard. I also love the Muppet fan art community.

I think where pigeonholing comes into play may have more to do with fan art in general. Regardless of the platform, fan art has always gotten the most engagement, which makes total sense, but can also feel limiting or like I need to pander to some niche audience in order to be seen or acknowledged. Draw a great cartoon dog? Nothing. Draw a cartoon dog dressed as Doctor Who or some such thing, gang busters. Again, it makes sense, but c'mon guys.

Quentin Tracy

As an artist, I have never felt tied to the Muppets. I’m a big fan of them, and they have inspired me many times, but they’re only one of many inspirations of mine. On a more broad scale, I feel like fan art in general guarantees me a good reception from my fans. That fact has left me a little discouraged to work on original ideas of mine, in fear that I may pour my heart and soul into something not many other people will think much about or care for.

Mike Boon

I can put a bunch of work into a new design and get some likes/comments. But then I post an old Muppet one and it's about three times as popular with a faster response. I don't take it personally though—I know that the main reason most people even found me in the first place was because of one Muppet piece or another. It's a badge of honor to be part of this community. Plus, it is an extremely welcoming group to be part of.

I haven't spent enough time in the Muppet realm to really feel pigeonholed though. There are still some ideas kicking around that I would like to explore. But I do want to try to spread them out. Plus I like to think that if something appeals to a Muppet fan like me, it would appeal to other Muppet fans out there. It doesn't always pan out, but it's worth a shot. Ultimately, I do this just because I enjoy it. And if others enjoy it as well, it is just a welcome bonus.

Kevin Williams

I’ve never been one to really let myself feel pressured to do anything I didn’t want to. Nowadays I do leave sketches and napkin doodles’ around of Muley (my original character) with a Muppet or Peanuts character for attention. Even so, I’m surprised when someone finds my photos of napkin doodles online and says, “Woah, that was you? I took these home” or “I pinned them up in the kitchen of the restaurant.” It feels good. Though I wonder: would they have just kept Muley, or was his sketch kept because Oscar was on the napkin next to him? Looking back to when I would set up at conventions and festivals, I think one thing which hurt me was the decision to NOT draw or sell any other characters other than Muley the Mule and Friends. People asked if I would draw Peanuts, Muppets, Disney – anything other than Muley, but I would instead offer to draw Muley or his pals in those costumes. I felt it was important to my own self promotion to push my characters, not those which already had budget and promotion. Yet, I would see people flocking to booths where artists were selling their art of Batman and Scooby-Doo, Bugs Bunny and The Little Mermaid, and I would think, “Those aren’t even the actual artists or the real art. Why are they going there?” Stubbornly, I stuck only to my Mule. Many years now I’ve been out of the convention circuit. I look back and finally realized that people were buying those prints and visiting those artists because they enjoy the “retro memory” of the joy they felt watching or reading those characters, buying into familiarity rather than new, creator-owned properties. Looking back since I’ve been out of conventions the decision to stay away from other characters may have been a mistake. I could have used non–Muley characters to draw attention to my booth and thus more to Muley. If I could go back in time and do it all again I would add these other characters simply for the ‘draw.’ (Get it?)

Will Carroll

Often times it feels like all people wanna see from me and other artists is just one thing, over and over again. The most likes I usually get is my Muppet stuff, everything else gets very few likes as well. I draw what I wish and never think of the audience in mind.

Richard Gomez

I feel like this is an issue that follows all artists who gain popularity with a fan base. Usually I’m able to piggyback off of the Muppet wave with work that’s just Muppet inspired and more of the sort of thing that comes directly from my head…
But all my portraits of real people that aren’t connected to the Muppets almost always bomb. Sometimes, I don’t mind it. I know a lot of people are going to see my Muppet stuff, and only my close friends are going to see the sort of thing I make when I’m not thinking about the Muppets, and I like the intimacy that comes with that because virality is a little scary.

Final Thoughts

So to put a cap on all of this, there are three key things to remember here:

A fan artist is not solely defined by their fandom but being recognized specifically as one is not the worst thing in the world. For starters, the Muppets are a fantastic fandom to be associated with. Heck, it’s even landed me and so many others good freelance work!
If there’s a complaint, it’s that trying to come up with new ideas can be trying, but then again; what is a true artist without a challenge?
Finally, if you really dig what someone does and you found them through your shared fandom, be a pal and subvert the algorithms expectations by seeking out their other work and double–tapping that screen!

Just like you should with all the incredible artists who contributed today! Man, what a treat to get so many fantastic and talented people to not only share their thoughts but some excellent art too! I can’t stress enough how great these artists are, I respect each of them so much. Please be sure to check all of them out and again, thanks so much to:

And please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and check back here on Fridays for more Muppet and non–Muppet stuff!

The Redraw Challenge: Part II

Dave Hulteen July 22, 2022

Last week I talked a lot about growing as an artist, leveling up, getting more familiar with that growth, and recognizing when you’ve just exceeded your own expectations. None of that was possible without this week’s post which was truly an insightful exercise and the whole purpose of this two part series! When I tell you both last week’s and this week’s post almost didn’t happen, it’s not for dramatic effect. I thought I really had hit my apex and I experienced a level of frustration I couldn’t even comprehend! But we’ll get to all that. First, we need to travel back in time again. Not just to last week, but to 2009.

The iconic Alan Moore & Dave Gibbon’s comic, actress Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre II, and the 2009 Zack Snyder film

Watchmen is consistently one of the highest regarded comics of all times, and in 2009, Zack Snyder finally produced a film adaptation that has been recognized as being (in some cases too) faithful to the original source material. I’m not going to waste a lot of time on discussing whether or not it’s a good film as it’s a polarizing movie amongst fans. When I heard the announcement that it was being made however, I set out to read the comic for the first time. I therefore went into the theater with a very fresh understanding of the story and I was very thrilled with the flick. The casting in my opinion was perfect, especially with Jeffrey Dean Morgan as The Comedian, but the redesigned look of Silk Spectre II’s costume starring Malin Akerman was inspired. I had Watchmen fever and over the next couple of years, it served as a great inspiration when it came to drawing.

Of course I drew the Muppets as characters from the *Watchmen*! Originally featured on ToughPigs, December 2009 and Silk Spectre II, vector illustration 2014

Okay, so just to drive the point home again from last week; I found Silk Spectre II—a strong female comic hero—to be a muse and was also in the process of really honing my abilities with Adobe Illustrator, so in 2010 I had a leveling up moment by “inking” my sketches in Illustrator and then coloring them in Photoshop. This eliminated all digital debris that would be a causal problem from scanning. And hence I created what was at that time, a moment I recognized as a true level up point. I am beyond shocked now just how proud of this new drawing of Laurie Jupiter I was. Ladies and gentlemen, I am embarrassed to present to you the whole basis for this and last week’s post. Behold!

Thank you, BarbbarossaFrigyes for having the courage to say what everyone else was thinking

Looking back, I’m really struggling to understand exactly why I thought this was so great, but I totally did. I was still a few years away from taking those aforementioned figure drawing classes and I distinctly remember thinking how pleased I was that I didn’t use a model; backwards thinking at the time to compensate for a complete lack of understanding. I don’t need to break down how exceptionally off model she actually is here and the brush I used for the hair doesn’t even attempt to conform to the style I was going for. Still, I flaunted this piece everywhere and even used it in my portfolio! I wasn’t a young kid drawing this either! This is coming after I was thirty so I had no good reason to be so proud other than the line work. I have thought a lot about this piece ever since with an evolving curiosity in regards to everything I just mentioned and I have absolutely no good answer.

I wanted to justify my pride but eventually I couldn’t deny the best way to do that would be to redraw it. I even took a quick stab at it in 2016. This was a lot better but even my adoration of the movie was starting to wear thin. Then I started this blog and the concept immediately went into my ideas folder. “I’m a competent illustrator who’s miles beyond those days. This will be easy!” I thought. God I was so wrong. I ended up redrawing it THREE times and was completely unsatisfied thinking I hadn’t grown and maybe that doe–eyed Silk Spectre really was the best I could do.

Notice anything different between this first attempt and the original? Yeah, me neither! Initially I was trying to literally recreate the original with more realistic arms and newer color techniques but that was it. This wasn’t an exercise to show growth, this was modern day plagiarism from my initial drawing 12 years ago!

I realized I was being too literal with my reinterpretation. I just needed to relax and approach it from a figure drawing perspective. After sleeping on it, I had my wife pose and I quickly roughed out a sketch. I wanted to keep the hair big but not like a large bob as I had done previously. The second result isn’t a bad drawing but it ain’t a good one either. What was I getting so wrong?

This time I took a whole week off from trying and got out of my head. I went full body on the pose and went to town hard on the coloring. I finally had an illustration that I liked but with zero soul. I was devastated. I purposely wanted to prove to myself and anyone else who read this blog that I could redraw this stupid old illustration that nobody asked for but had been living rent free in my head for 12 years. I packed up everything related to this post and moved it to the sad “Abandoned Ideas” folder on my hard drive and walked away.

Often when you work on any project—especially one you take a close personal interest in and for an extended amount of time—you get tunnel vision. You can’t see your own mistakes and you lock yourself up in a windowless room of self doubt. The reality was I was trying to not just redraw an old idea, but specifically an old idea that I felt very differently about back in 2010. The Watchmen may have remained relevant with new comics and the HBO series, but Silk Spectre II—specifically as played by Malin Akerman—was a fanboy muse from a time before everything in my current life: the pandemic, political polarization, where I lived, who I worked for, what I watched, who I associated with, what interested me, how I draw, and my daughter! Of course, I’ve talked about my daughter a lot in the past, and she proved to be an even better muse than Laurie Jupiter ever was.

A Luisa doll, a doodle I left in my daughter’s lunchbox one day, and the cool kid herself

As I’ve mentioned repeatedly before, I can draw Luisa from Disney’s Encanto from memory. Why? Because that’s all my five–year–old ever asks me to do. She’s a huge fangirl and I love how excited she gets with anything Luisa related. Plus I really like Encanto and Luisa too, but when you draw a character so often, you really want to branch out and try something different every once in a while. So when my daughter got an actual Luisa figure, I could now use it for reference. One of my favorite artists is Charles Dana Gibson, and prints of his famous Gibson Girls adorn my home and work offices, and I (as seen in the previous attempts at Silk Spectre II) love drawing people in profile. And that is when it finally hit me. I wasn’t just missing the challenge of redrawing my old illustration, I was missing the whole point.

Now it may seem like I’m asking you (and myself) to make a huge leap here to quantify drawing a Disney character in place of a Zack Snyder re–imagined Dave Gibbons character from a very adult comic. The focal point of the subject though is fundamentally the same: a strong female super hero, specifically one with great design, well thought out character traits, and a wonderful arc that helps define and evolve their world view. Then take into consideration that part of my pride in the original drawing was also surrounded by honing a new technique. In the case of Silk Spectre, it was comfortably merging Adobe creative suite products to achieve a look I had only dreamed of up until that point. With my new inspiration focused on Luisa, it’s marrying the fundamentals I learned from figure drawing and fully embracing Procreate & the Apple Pencil. To cap off the epiphany, I was determined to take the fun and cartoonish design of an animated character and change the style to pay homage to the style of Charles Dana Gibson. In short, I was going to take all that I learned and loved and play with it in a new playground with the intentions of achieving something I had never tried before.

Luisa Madrigal (*voiced by Jessica Darrow*), some of Gibson’s famous *Gibson Girls* in profile, and my sketch of my newly inspired redraw challenge subject. If you are wondering, I sketched her nude to properly achieve weight displacement and to make sure her muscle structure and limbs were accurate in length and size.

As soon as I finished my sketch (which oddly enough I did in Photoshop), I knew I was finally on the right track. I was excited, I was pleased, and I was in it for the long haul. I wasn’t going to bust this out in a day or two, I was going to immerse myself in it and take all the time in the world to achieve my goal. I’ve been amazed with Procreate and the Apple Pencil’s intuitiveness, but I also wanted to limit myself with brushes so I stayed almost exclusively with it’s ink technical pen (a halftone brush on her skirt was the only exception). Each strand of hair would be drawn as opposed to using a hair brush (not a hair brush in the traditional sense but a digital brush used to simulate human hair). I shaded using the same technical pen brush as well, painstakingly keeping all my line art clean and crisp. I also wanted to avoid my own personal bad habit of spending lots of time on the subjects face and then rushing through the rest. This meant shading and properly recognizing folds in the clothing as well. I wanted to honor Gibson’s style and that meant a lot of time staying zoomed in tight and making sure it all worked up close as well as from a distance.

In the spirit of Charles Dana Gibson (and because of all the intricate line work), I originally intended to keep it black and white, but my daughter insisted it needed color. I digitally painted it with the understanding I would pull the colors way back and the final piece made me feel even more accomplished than Silk Spectre II did so long ago. My faith in myself and this entire blog entry was thus restored. The final illustration took just over 9 hours to complete (not including all the other nonsense I wasted trying to draw Ms. Jupiter).

Man, what a fun experience! I have a huge collection of my old art I’d love to tackle and redraw, but I think I’ll put it on the shelf for now. Please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and come back here every Friday for more creative thinking experiments, interviews, and stories.

[Nearly] Every Instance of Kermit the Frog I've Ever Drawn [More Or Less... I Think]

Dave Hulteen May 13, 2022

Confession: This week’s blog was supposed to be a tribute to vintage advertising art, but that fell through and I was hard pressed to scrape through my ideas list which had little to nothing I could just slap together. The problem then became, “What the heck do I write about?!” The answer came when I realized this past week was Kermit the Frog’s 67th birthday. Not exactly a milestone year, but then @StarmansArt Tweeted this incredibly sweet shout–out.

Who needs a Muppetverse of Madness when you’ve got all these parallel universe @davehulteen Kermits lying around? pic.twitter.com/GUErcqi7XX
— Richard (10/10 slots full) Gomez (@StarmansArt) May 10, 2022

Thanks, Richard!

I am a huge Muppet fan, and Kermit is my personal patron saint of sanity and my true north example when it comes to good leadership. Plus, I get a significant and disproportionate amount of likes when I post Muppet stuff so I thought I’d try and see how much Kermit the Frog art I’ve done that I can find. Let’s do this!

Now I drew Kermit a lot as a child, like a lot. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find anything before the 90s, so we’re starting there. Kermit appeared more in tribute rather than in focal portraiture back then because you didn’t get a lot of girls phone numbers like that. Lesson learned though: everybody digs the frog.

Top left: Kermit (*and Robin—not* ***that*** *Robin*) drawn with a mouse in Microsoft Paint, circa 1995. Bottom left: My Commercial Art semester final illustration in graphite, 1996. Right: Kermit makes a cameo in front of Wayne & Garth whilst I pretend to take notes in Community College, 1997.

2000–2008

Oofa, okay, please understand that every illustrator likes to experiment, especially when they are learning Photoshop for the first time and fresh from graduating. I was an avid member on the Muppet Central forums way back in the early aughts and was anxious to share some fan art. I was having a bit of an identity crisis as a Muppet fan and wanted to stand out so I drew a lot of weird shit. I’m sorry to curse, but you can see for yourself, even I didn’t know what I was trying to pull off.

I was huge into Anime and wanted to desperately mash that with the Muppets. The kawaii Kermit front and center was the pinnacle of those efforts. I was so darn proud of him (*I still am now that I think of it*). It was the halcyon days of online interactivity, Photoshop held no serious or practical value, and ***i can has cheezburger*** was a staple of daily life.

Keeping with the Anime vibe, I pushed hard on this idea. 2008

2009–2012

Commissioned work from Joe’s wife, Sarah.

It was around this time I actually started to try and learn how to properly use the tools I had at my disposal to create art that was actually, you know; good. Adobe Illustrator was fast becoming a tool that I relied on heavily, but it also was a time that I got to know a very amazing human being by the name of Joe Hennes; Co–owner and editor at ToughPigs.com. Joe was instrumental in not only getting me online exposure (something I am eternally grateful for and remind him of regularly) but also to actually draw, you know; good.

Despite being over a decade old, *The Immaculate Jim*, 2010 remains one of my favorite pieces of fan art I’ve ever done.

In 2012, my wife and I went on a cruise. She said to me, “I want this vacation to be really romantic!” so I drew several cards that I gave to her each night. This was one of them (*and my favorite*). See? Ladies totally dig the frog.

The Muppet Madness Tournament kicked off in 2010 and it was a huge collaborative effort between myself, Joe Hennes, Ryan Roe, Steve Swanson, and Ryan Dosier. It also got decent press online, so understanding my work would be seen by a ton of people, I brought my A game to the table.

It was during this time I started using the full capacity of the Adobe Creative Suite to push my illustrative work further. Kermit was the natural guinea pig to test different techniques on.

Some of the attention the tournament got.

2013–2014

It was during this point in time that I was starting to get noticed. I don’t mean popular because that still hasn’t happened. I mean that actual Muppet people and Muppet adjacent people would make my acquaintance. It was an exciting time, and I was fully immersed in the fandom as I never had been before. The Muppets—I mean the actual people involved with the Muppets—started to know who I was, and I was getting opportunities to know them too.

Transitioning back to working almost exclusively in Illustrator again, I began keeping a consistent color palette for all the Muppets.

I always had a full bin of ideas, but many of them never made it to fruition. One day I plan to finish a tribute to Dan Jurgens Superman the Man of Steel # 37 (DC, 1994) Zero Hour comic cover.

One hundred thousand years ago in 2013, there was a very brief moment in time where an app called Draw Something rivaled the popularity of even Wordle today. I used every opportunity I had to draw the Muppets.

2015

In 2015, I began to steer more towards drawing Kermit my own way rather than on model. Now that didn’t necessarily set a precedent from there on out, but it marked a moment where I considered my fandom and my relationship with it completely my own. In many ways, I had arrived… Exactly where? I can’t say but it smelled a lot nicer and people stopped trying to trip me when I went to the mall.

At this point, I was also creating all Muppet art with the express purpose of showcasing it on ToughPigs.

The most exciting thing about 2015 was being commissioned by Bill Barretta to create individual pieces as gifts for the cast of The Muppets ABC television series. I’ve never ever shared any of those pieces until now. This was done for Steve Whitmire.

2016–2018

At this point I learned that drawing Kermit was becoming gratuitous. I knew if I posted an illustration of him, I’d get attention, so admittedly I was throwing stuff at the wall just to see what would stick.

The bottom right illustration was a thank you gift to Mike Quinn, the performer of Nien Nunb from Star Wars and Kermit’s regular “right hander.”

2019–Present

When I draw Kermit nowadays, it’s usually a therapeutic exercise. Drawing him off model or otherworldly is the next evolutionary step most of the time. My friend and fellow Muppet cupcake enthusiast Zach Woliner commissioned me to do a bunch of Kermits as various pop culture movie iterations for his KermDubs YouTube channel.

Muptober eventually replaced Inktober for me.

If this makes you uncomfortable, then I accomplished what I was setting out to do!

So that’s every Kermit I’ve drawn… that I could find… and “slap together a blog post” that effectively took 12 hours to create. If you want to see more illustrations of Kermit, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and stay tuned to this blog!

You can’t get a better model than this. 2016

Also, a big thank you to Richard for inspiring this post and being so kind. I’m more than twice his age and I’d wager he’s already drawn Kermit more than I have!

Dave's Muppet Collection 2.0

Dave Hulteen April 29, 2022

Unless you’re completely unfamiliar with me or my work (in which case, welcome to my blog and thank you so much for visiting!), I’m a huge Muppet fan. Well, that’s not exactly accurate, I’m a fan of Jim Henson, easily the most influential person to me as a creative professional and dreamer. That being said, I think “Muppet fan” is an acceptable blanket term for me and all my fellow fans, so we don’t take offense. Naturally, as a fan of anything, a collection of merchandise and memorabilia is one of the more defining traits every enthusiast of some form or another has.

Me and all around amazing human Ryan Dosier at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, NY for a tribute to Muppet Performer Jerry Nelson, October 27, 2012

Ten years ago (oh my God, TEN years ago?!) I made a nifty little video of my complete collection of Muppet things for my friend Ryan Dosier; then the founder and owner of The Muppet Mindset. I thought I’d cringe at it (more) today, but I’m still pretty proud of that video. It’s moot however, as I have almost none of it in my possession anymore. That’s not to say I don’t have any Muppet collectibles today, in fact I’d argue what I do have is more valuable, even if that value is more personal and sentimental.

Jerome Green, Lisa Bober, and I visit Puppet Kitchen’s Monitor Night with Paul McGinnis. A great time and experience with so many other fans! Photo by Michael Schupbach. December 6, 2016

First let me address what I don’t have and why. I’m willing to bet that most collectors tend to get pigeonholed by their friends and family in regards to their fandom. Not that loved ones define you by your specific likes—even if they are a domineering factor in life—but come birthdays and gift–giving holidays, things from said fandom are very easy go–to’s in that regard. In my aforementioned Muppet collection video, I’d guess that 60–80% of my collection from that time were given to me by very sweet and good intentioned people who love me. I’m very grateful for those things too, and they increased the size of my collection tremendously. The problem is displaying anything—especially a lot of things—can be difficult and impractical. The Muppets in particular are a brand that have had difficulty finding their footing over the last twenty years, so merchandise can be execrable or subpar at best. Yes, that paltry painted, bendable Gonzo dressed in an exercise unitard was very thoughtful, but my limited shelf space isn’t exactly where it should go. I want people to admire my collection, not turn my wall into a bargain basement curio shop. So most of that late 90s/early 21st century stuff (the bulk of my collection) went on eBay or to the Thrift Store. Thanks, I hate it!

J.C. Penniey in 1976. Photo from Birmingham’s Century Plaza

J.C. Penney at Monmouth Mall. Photo from Wikipedia Commons

One of the more prominent pieces I had were the Sesame Street mannequins formerly on display in J.C. Pennies back in the 70s and 80s. So a quick recap here as well; I was hired to work in the art department at the J.C. Pennies at Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey back in the mid 90s. Early on we had to clean out the old display storage area which had these life size Sesame characters of Bert, Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Big Bird (Big Bird being smaller than life size as he was only moderately taller than the other three). I took them all home with me (they were destined for the trash!) which was quite the sight as heads and limbs stuck way out the windows and trunk of my car. Cookie Monster and Big Bird were almost immediately damaged from a water leak in my parent’s basement but Bert & Ernie were fine. I even began to restore them, but it became clear very quickly that this was a skill that needed to be left to a professional. They then went up in my parents attic where they waited patiently for 18 years. My parent’s house is (to this day) possessed by water demons, and moisture damage ruined pretty much everything in their attic also, including the iconic duo.

We had fun placing the old pals all over my parent’s house on Memorial Day weekend back in 2010 before they headed back up into the attic

I was heartbroken. My goal was to eventually put them on display at Christmastime for everyone to see, but now I felt like I was also being a really bad fan having let two more very rare treasures succumb to irreparable damage. I reached out to a professional to see if they even could be repaired, but not only would it be costly, the black mold that had developed inside their heads just wouldn’t be worth the trouble. I think about them often as now I finally own a home and think how neat it would be for my daughter and the rest of my neighborhood (which is flush with kids) to see and enjoy something so special from over 40 years ago.

Five years later cleaning out our parent’s attic, my siblings and I discovered extensive moisture damage, July 2015

The stuff I kept are all things deemed high quality merchandise. My Palisades figures, books and toys from the 70s and 80s, and a few plush Kermits as well will be cherished forever. I’ve even added to that with vintage stuff from online auctions and good finds elsewhere. I still have my prized possession, my original Fisher Price Kermit the Frog doll that I’ve owned since childhood, but I also found one still in the box that I got at San Diego Comic Con! Talk about precious! Occasionally I’ll pick up something smaller and kitschy but that’s exceptionally rare. The last big Muppet item I bought was ironically the nail in the coffin for collecting physical merchandise for me. The Diamond Select bust of Animal is gorgeous and looks so great on my office bookcase, but it was also expensive, and as soon as I opened it up, I realized getting it was more exciting than having it.

Getting a pristine Fisher Price Kermit at San Diego Comic Con, July 23, 2014

It was at that moment I fully realized what I had been partially aware of for a few years: experiences are more valuable collectibles than material ones. Getting to be on set with and even commissioned by Muppet performers and production & crew members is way more satisfying and special. Now this could be a 21st century mindset in a day and age where we take pictures of everything for proof of the moment, but while there’s definitely credence to that, I think it’s a little more nuanced. The memories I have of my Muppet experiences are far more special because the photos just can’t encompass everything. For starters, they’re shared experiences. The people I was with make them memorable. Whether it was goofing off on the subway on the way to someplace or dinner afterwards; the full day from start to finish is precious. I don’t want to be pretentious here, and all of those experiences are not just dreams–come–true but also personal. That’s why I’m not littering this post with tons of pictures of me and Muppets. They are mine and they are so special.

On set with my best friends, Hollywood, CA, February 4, 2016

Heading to a puppetry class by Muppet performer Marty Robinson with new found friends, September 20, 2014. Photo by Mike Slawinski Jr.

It’s not just direct Muppet and Henson interactions either, but especially fan occasions that are really fulfilling. The Great Muppet Mural alone is a perfect example of this. Not only is my physical print arguably the nicest collectible I have, but getting to know and work with so many other fans was the penultimate venture. The Museum of The Moving Image in Queens is sort of a Muppet Fan Mecca where I’ve been able to spend so much time with so many incredible people. Yes, it’s always a chance to meet your heroes, but it’s the shared moments with people just as fanatic as you that really make those instances unforgettable.

Inside the Museum of The Moving Image for A Tribute to Jerry Nelson, October 27, 2012

Hanging with Austin Michael Costello (*and Artie*) at The Museum of the Moving Image for Brian Jay Jones’ biography on Jim Henson. October 1, 2013

All that being said, there’s one special anecdote I will share because the total experience is a sweet story. Back in 2013, Gene Barretta took me and my future brother–in–law to the set of Sesame Street for his son’s birthday. Again, truly an epic day that I have tons of pictures and video of but I’m not going to flaunt them. All I will say is that Gene gave me an adventure I am truly grateful for. Before we left, performer Ryan Dillon rushed over handing me one of Big Bird’s feathers that had fallen off (this happens a lot apparently) that he picked from the set floor. Wow, what a treasure! I held on to it tight and was relieved to have a place for it when we stopped at Midtown Comics on the way back home (another high note adding to the personal nature of the day) and placed it in the brown paper bag with the comics I bought.

With Gene Barretta, his son Ben, and Jerome Green just outside of Midtown Comics after a great day. December 4, 2013

The whole day was crammed with truly humongous moments so I was exhausted when I got home and crashed. The next day I was rushing around, straightening up our apartment and still riding on cloud nine. Just a few days later, I decided I wanted to find a way to display my Big Bird feather… now where did I put it? I looked everywhere and started to panic. Did it fall behind my dresser? Did a rogue breeze from an open window blow it away? Had a cat burglar stole it away in the night as I slept? I tried to think back. I had shown it repeatedly to my wife and everyone else that came by and then… then what? I would put it back in the brown paper bag with the comics. Yes! It’s still in the brown paper bag with my comics! Only my comics had since been removed and put in a long box and the bag, the bag had been thrown away! That was days ago! I ran out to our dumpster tearing open garbage bags furiously but that was futile because the waste management company had already emptied it. My Big Bird feather, the physical totem of that wonderful day was now lost and gone forever. Man was I crushed.

Over a year later for my birthday, my wife surprised me with a very special gift. She had pulled some strings and managed to get a hold of a brand new authentic Big Bird feather! The source confirmed it was just like the previous one—felled from a day of shooting and plucked from the floor of the set. The whole point of this being that the story of how I got the feather is just as remarkable to me as the feather itself. That’s not something a manufacturer can create in resin from a mold or sell on Amazon. True, there are still some collectibles I’m gunning for, but the potential for making more and new memories have been opened wide, and as a result, I just don’t think a Fozzie PEZ dispenser will hold up anymore.

My Big Bird feather and 4’ wide print of The Great Muppet Mural in my home office

So as cheesy as it sounds, it’s being able to exist in the world with the Muppets and other fans rather than collect whatever the Disney store deems marketable. And if I’m being really honest, I think I’ve always known that was the case. When I was a kid, my Muppet fandom was practically what defined me. In the late 90s, early 2000s when the internet became a more community driven vehicle, I was initially upset to learn that not only were there so many more Muppet fans, but that a lot of them rivaled my own fandom and I had a temporary identity crisis! Thanks in part to that breech, my fandom has been brought to a new level and my fellow fans and the niche corner we all exist in has not only introduced me to some really amazing people, but I’ve also formed genuine close friendships and been able to do actual work for the frog and some of his associates!

Hanging with Tough Pigs Ryan Roe & Joe Hennes and Unboxing cool stuff at the Jim Henson Company in Queens NY, with Karen Falk and Cheryl Henson. March 13, 2015.

I have a lot more Muppet stories that I’ll share in the future, so make sure you follow me on Instagram and Twitter and stay tuned to this blog!

Time Lapse Art And The 3 Ways I Use To Create It

Dave Hulteen April 15, 2022

One of the more popular things I post besides Muppet fan art are time lapse illustrations of my work. Time lapse art do two things for me: provide additional content and show my process (the latter being arguably more important). That being said, there are three different ways that I create said time lapse videos, so this week I thought I’d share my actual process as well as some examples.

Various ways to traditionally capture footage for time lapse art. Spoiler: None of these work great.

The first is the most basic. All things start with a sketch, and while I tend to work exclusively digitally, I still lean towards the traditional when it comes to sketching. The following Cookie Monster drawing is an overhead shot of me drawing the blue monster with traditional mediums like colored pencils and a Bimoji ink brush pen. I love watching other artists in real time create art like this (Kim Jung Gi is, in my opinion, the master at this). The problem with this is set up. I’ve talked to so many artists about how they manage to float a camera over their work space without it being too intrusive. Yes, I know there are devices available to purchase but they’re either too cheap and unreliable or way over priced. As you can see, I’ve rigged up several different things to try and make do but I like to draw close to my pad and that can create problems as well.

The second setup is easier and sticks to using only my computer. I’ve actually been asked how to do this a few times and it’s very easy. If you use a Mac, just open QuickTime and you can do a screen recording! This is a great way to capture everything you do in real time and when it comes to programs like Adobe Illustrator, it can really show off how to use the various tools and brushes.

Now the problem with the first two types of recording time lapse art is it records in real time. You can use the time–lapse camera feature if you have an iPhone, but you’ll probably still need to play around with timing, so both of those videos require a bit more editing when it comes to putting out your final product. Procreate is a very popular digital painting program for the iPad and it automatically records your process for you. The big leg up here is it only records when your stylus (Apple Pencil) is actively drawing. In other words, if you stop and take a phone call or take a break, unlike set ups for my previous videos, the recording stops. There have been more than a few times I have had to either cut out giant chunks of down time or stop and restart my other time lapse recordings, but Procreate only records when you’re actually actively working. The double edged sword is that Procreate records everything at full constant size, so there’s no inclination I’m zoomed way in or out. Is it a pro or a con? Who knows.

I edit everything in Adobe Premiere for a few reasons. Number one, I know how to use Premiere and as an old man I fear editing using Instagram. Two, I like to try and keep time lapse videos to one minute nowadays so Instagram and Twitter don’t have a fit. I also like to use royalty free music so there’s no copyright infringements.

This was a light fun post this week so I hope you enjoyed a break in reading. As always, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and check back here every Friday for a new blog post!

Everything I Learned About Making A Documentary

Dave Hulteen February 25, 2022

Or The Making of The Making of The Great Muppet Mural

I aspire to be a good storyteller and have a relatively decent understanding of structure so I admit that initially I thought making a documentary—something I’d never done—would more or less hit all the familiar beats of other video essays and projects I’d done before. First, there’s the realization or desire to create something; inspiration is an old friend we all know well… And that’s about as far as I got before understanding this was a very different kind of project.

So here’s a quick rundown to catch everyone up. In January 2021, my very dear friend Jamie and I were looking to collaborate on a project with another couple talented artists (Kenny Durkin & Stuart Reeves) and settled on creating a massive mural featuring as many characters from the various worlds of the late Jim Henson as possible. This would act as the penultimate celebratory centerpiece for fan site ToughPigs.com. That’s as much as I’ll divulge on that as you can literally watch the entire story in the documentary that this article is referring to. To try and get as much mileage as possible out of the project and generate even more content for ToughPigs, it was suggested we try and show the process of how the mural was being made as we were already neck deep in everything and recognized how much effort was being put into it. We were all in a Zoom meeting and I instinctively started to record us. This fortuitously turned into a moment I used in the opening credits where co–owner and editor–in–chief Joe Hennes talks about sharing our story. Here’s an extended version of that clip:

My main focus at that time was obviously on the production of the mural itself, but I took notes here and there and saved various odds and ends I assumed would be useful in making a documentary, but didn’t really start to focus on anything seriously until we were nearly finished and ready to present the final art. I asked Joe to reach out with a couple additional requests for materials from the artists who contributed and was pleased with what was submitted afterwards. I then realized the story needed an actual narrative, so I began interviewing those closest to the project. This was primarily Jamie and Joe at first. We had tons of fun rehashing everything, but I was still really stuck on how to tell this story. I also realized that when a group of friends talk together, it’s off–the–cuff and spontaneous. A blast for us but it lacked the chronological qualities I knew was needed to tell an actual story. I had to have a narrator, but that meant I needed a script and I didn’t have a clue about how to get either.

I knew I couldn’t narrate it. My voice was already too prominent in the interviewing process and I wanted the tone of the underlying story to be consistent. I felt asking the audience to differentiate between “your old buddy Dave who’s cracking jokes and waxing poetic onscreen” and “omniscient voice of off–screen Dave” was undesirable. Shortly before The Great Muppet Mural was presented to the public however, I got an early Christmas gift from a man I’ve admired for awhile. Lucas Ross is exceptionally funny, super talented, and truly one of the most kind and beautifully spirited people I’ve ever met. Trust me, I am not saying this simply because he contributed to this project in a major way. I am genuinely in awe of this guy and I wish with all my heart the world had a few more just like him.

I was so stunned, I forgot how language works.

Lucas reached out wanting to be a part of anything related to the mural, and when I mentioned I needed a narrator, he jumped at the notion. Keep in mind, at this point in time, the only thing I really had was the idea for a documentary, a folder of recorded Zoom & Skype calls, and a couple of rough sketches. This would not be the last time serendipity intervened, but it was proof I needed to really start to dig in and make this thing. I figured I could get it done in about a month.

I was interviewing Joe in early September when I hit upon the idea of telling the story in three parts or acts like an actual stage play or movie. From there I was able to make a rough layout of the film and then direct my interview process better. I realize this seems like a no–brainer, but when you work on something and just move through everything because time is linear, you deal with things as they happen. Even with the mural finished it takes real introspection to compartmentalize things. The artists we worked with, the problems we dealt with, managing our team; these are all things that happened sporadically or all at once so categorizing them was a huge epiphany for me and that’s when things really started to fall into place.

It doesn’t look like much, but this unlocked *everything* for me.

Suddenly I not only knew what I wanted and needed, but how I wanted and needed it. First things first though, I had to manage the interviews I had done and continued to do in a way that could actually tell my story. As I mentioned before, our chats were conversational, so if we didn’t make the point the way I wanted to or there was an excess of “uhs” and “ums” or we beat around the bush too long or stuttered; that’s when I could clearly write out what needed to be said and have Lucas deliver it with full confidence and in an even cadence.

Turns out it’s a good time to present a documentary as seen in the genre’s rise in popularity creatively shown in this infographic by Bo McCready

Again, this is way easier said than done. I wanted to rely on telling our story firsthand as much as possible, and that meant going through 10 hours, 44 minutes, and 49 seconds of interviews and team meetings, 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 5 seconds of artist submitted clips, 50 minutes and 38 seconds of time lapse process videos, and approximately 5 hours of miscellaneous stuff like web screen recordings, stock footage, animation, vodcasts, and old Tough Pigs interviews. Added up, that’s nearly a full day of footage alone, and that doesn’t even include Lucas’ scratch tracks and onscreen footage! That arbitrary month long deadline was dead in the water.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned when it comes to cinematography of any kind, there is absolutely no such thing as too much B–roll. For those not–in–the–know, B–roll is secondary (usually background) footage that helps keep a film interesting and brings context. For example, if Jamie and I are talking about artist Peter Savieri's amazing work, rather than just having us two onscreen chatting him up, it would be visually more appealing (handsome as we may be) to show some of Peter’s work. That’s B–roll. I was provided with a lot of great stuff, but it never felt like it was enough. I had the brilliant idea to not use any photos of the Muppets or Jim Henson at all, instead choosing to showcase some of the contributing artists’ previous works. I asked everybody for everything and was not disappointed at all. Everyone came through and I’m so grateful I could pester them weeks and months later for stuff and they always delivered.

The insanely talented work of Peter Savieri

Credit Where Credit Is Due

The next big lesson I learned was simpatico with that same idea, and that is that I needed a lot of help. I had a very big and clear picture (eventually) of what I wanted this thing to be, but there was some stuff I just didn’t know how to do or how to do well. Again, I was very lucky to have friends to step in and dig me out of the hole I was in. Amanda Duncan facilitated almost all the music and also helped set the tone when I didn’t know how. Jerome Green hammered down the sound which fluctuated wildly, especially between the artists who took the time to record themselves. He also color corrected the film; a nightmare when none of us were in a studio with any sort of proper lighting and on a split screen more often than not as well! Recording websites is tedious and can be jerky, so James Smith thankfully took that burden from me as well.

I need to sing Lucas’ praise a bit more as well. Lacking in B–roll and understanding his comedic sensibilities plus the fact that he works in a television studio, I reworked the script to give him some onscreen time as well and encouraged him to do whatever he liked and have fun with it. He surprised me to no end when he sent me all of his onscreen dialog with himself placed within the background of the mural! Even he couldn’t have done all that by himself either and relied on his staff at NBC, KFOR-TV Oklahoma City. Man, he was just so perfect, and I really mean it when I say if Morgan Freeman himself approached me to be our narrative voice, I would still easily choose Lucas and I’m so grateful to everyone who stepped up and pitched in.

Along with those directly involved with helping to make the documentary, I am very fortunate to have such an incredibly strong support structure. I will never take 100% credit for anything, even something I worked on by myself. I firmly believe that I owe credit to the people that support me and have helped blossom my abilities and creative drive, even if they weren’t directly involved in the actual process. My dad and grandmother lovingly fostered my love for the Muppets and my mom encouraged my artistic endeavors throughout my life. In regards to this particular project, I was overwhelmed with the excitement and encouragement from my family, friends, and neighbors. People were genuinely excited that I was working on such a unique project.

My sister Morgan made her own version of the mural (with compositional help from Jerome) for my birthday. My mom cried happy tears when I showed her a rough cut and my dad has been proudly sharing it all over Facebook. My wife has always been my biggest fan and supporter and never sugarcoats anything. Not only was she extremely supportive of this project, she gave me honest and helpful feedback. Coincidentally, she was my target audience. I wanted to make something that someone like her—limited knowledge or appreciation of the fandom or creative process—could watch and even enjoy. I was overwhelmed when she reacted with so much pride over the film. Bottom line: any passion project with such a demanding workload requires mental and emotional support. It will make whatever you are doing less burdensome and even more worthwhile.

My sister Morgan—A multi–gold medalist gymnast for The Special Olympics, NJ—surprises me with a very special birthday gift.

Hurdles

There are a few things I wish I had thought to do or have known better. Promotion for one thing somehow became a last minute realization. This was really my baby and Tough Pigs was providing the platform to show it off. In other words, I wanted to help them any way I could as opposed to completing the thing, handing it over, and saying, “It’s your problem now!” That meant creating lots of promotional material. I’m a visual guy, so my go to were fun images and clips from the film. Creating those things, helping to schedule them, and work out the best way to send them out through social media was a huge job in and of itself. I think I began to understand on another level the reasoning behind these massive theatrical releases in regards to their advertising and why there are whole divisions within studios that spend millions upon millions of dollars. It would have definitely benefited us to reach out to someone with more understanding of online marketing as well.

I relied heavily on Tough Pigs pushing everything as they have the bigger audience, but they were also covering the Fraggle Rock revival series, and their attention was understandably split. Jamie helped pick up the slack, but the biggest surprise was Lucas himself who not only posted his own content but even plugged the documentary on his morning show on Central Oklahoma’s NBC affiliate, KFOR–TV!

The other problem I had with promotion is that I never felt that I was engaging properly. This goes hand in hand with being more social media savvy, but rather than promoting something, I started to feel like I was beating people over the head with, “COME LOOK AT THIS!” The people that wanted to see this were going to see it regardless. Trying to extend that to an audience who wasn’t aware felt out of reach. The benefit of this smaller world is communicating to a niche group, but ultimately that can prevent you from targeting a larger and more diverse group. I’d like to claim I was shadow banned but I don’t think that was the case, despite abusing #muppets over and over and over again.

Putting faces with the art was by far my favorite thing to do.

I certainly learned my way through Adobe Premier a lot better too. I was acceptable at best before. Now I’m much more hyper–aware of its tools and how to better organize everything. A documentary uses a lot more assets than a few video clips. My interest to learn After Effects and other video media programs has also peaked and fleshed out some unique resolutions for the new year. Finally, speaking towards that ridiculous one month deadline I foolishly gave myself, I learned time management on something like this can never ever be underestimated.

In the end, I can’t say that the way I went about crafting The Making of The Great Muppet Mural was the right or even the best way, but it sure was the most satisfying way. Every tiny thing I figured out or problem I solved felt like it was just meant to be. It became this giant jigsaw puzzle with millions of pieces that eventually all fit together and man am I so proud of it. I tried really hard to not let my ego get in the way, be respectful of everyone’s input, and above all else; tell an interesting story that people who have little to no knowledge of any of the subject matter would enjoy.

Please check out The Making of The Great Muppet Mural and as always, follow me on Instagram and Twitter!

2021: Year in Illustrative Review

Dave Hulteen December 31, 2021

Way back in 2013, I started on a mission to draw every single day. Flash forward to becoming a father who completely gave up on trying to properly manage his creative free time and it should be no surprise that mission went out the window. Now that being said, I still try and draw as much as possible and maintain the guise of a “daily sketch” if in organization only. I aim to really illustrate at least a solid 100 pieces that I can post and I managed to do that this year (even though I still haven’t even finished up Inktober!).

Obviously I’m not going to post everything I did in 2021. My daughter and I like to draw together a LOT and I’ve gotten pretty good with crayons and sidewalk chalk (if I do say so myself). I also went to a couple life drawing classes at duCret, but I won’t be showing any of that off today (although I hope to write and share more about those things in the coming year).

The Great Muppet Mural by over 70 artists, illustrators, and industry professionals which I not only contributed to but was privileged to be Assistant Art Director on as well.

Of course the work I’m most proud of is on The Great Muppet Mural but that’s something I’ll be sharing about in droves in a month. For now, I’d really like to showcase the other things I did this past year that I’m proud of and learned so much from.

Gaffer and Robin from *The Muppet Show*, and the “Why not both?” girl meme originally from an *Old El Paso* commercial.

Granted there’s nothing particularly fresh or even that great about these pieces, but drawing Muppets and memes is fun, and isn’t that what creating art is really about?

Christmas in July for The Salvation Army, Asbury Park Citadel Corps and my daughter.

The surfing Santa was a commission, and just like any other time I draw Ol’ Saint Nick, I base him on my dad. The quick sketch of my daughter was one my wife loves so much she made it the home screen on her phone! If the person who knows you and what you’re capable of best does something like that, it’s a big deal when they praise a piece of work. My wife is my greatest critic but in an actual constructive way, so I consider that a huge win.

The only reason thicc Kermit makes this list is because he did exactly what I wanted him to do: make people very uncomfortable! Look, I said I love drawing Muppets—it gets more likes and attention than literally anything else I do—but often I feel pigeonholed into doing so. If I can subvert expectations and change the narrative for my own sake, then you can bet the farm Leg Day Kermit is going to walk all over your socials and make you stare awkwardly while you fidget in your seat.

Things that I think are cooler than they actually are.

Other artists can really relate to this, but sometimes you’ll post something that gets next to no attention, even though it means the world to you. My Dorkus Malorkus (a tribute to Lisa Simpson) and Drunk Dolly did acceptable numbers (for me), but they were favorites of mine that I was so excited to share on Instagram and Twitter. The Skull Woman in particular was a pose I’ve been trying my hand at for years.

Animation created in Procreate.

I’ll go into depth a little more in awhile, but I leaned in hard to drawing almost completely digitally on my iPad using the Apple Pencil and Procreate. These pieces were early explorations into different brushes, techniques, and even features I was curious (albeit hesitant) to explore. Bottom line: An old dog can indeed learn new tricks.

My friend Amanda Duncan is a very creative person whom I try and shoehorn into every really big project I take on, and in this case, she approached me to create something for her live online show Soft Pants Nation. I created several time lapse illustrations of Ella Fitzgerald, but this one was my favorite. No matter what new things I learn, Adobe Illustrator will always be my raison d'etre.

Commission work and a concept I keep pushing without luck.

I’m always happy when I get a commission and create something I’m truly proud of (although I should probably be happiest knowing the client is satisfied instead). Fortunately, the family that hired me was also really pleased. I actually did this Rosie the Riveter Sally very late last year, but I posted it early on in 2021 and have been pushing it every chance I get for any concept that even remotely relates to it. Maybe next year.

Sticking with stuff that found its genesis in 2020, this poster was a pet project I started during quarantine to relax. I found catharsis in free drawing and using just Sharpie markers. It sat in my attic (then garage) for months before I finally finished it. This is one that’s only special to me.

My friend and cupcake enthusiast Zach Woliner commissioned me to do various Kermit illustrations for his KermDubs Youtube videos. I did a lot, but Kermit Borat was my favorite. I also find lots of inspiration on Instagram, and the very creative Dilpreet Kaur Walia has some great posts and allowed me to draw this one.

Believe me when I say I had much bigger plans for Inktober, aka Muptober, but I burned out fast. I was pretty pleased with these in particularly though.

Selling out for the Apple Pencil, iPad, and Procreate!

Okay, so I’m about to schill for Apple products, but I swear I’m not part of the cult… well, not full–time at least. I was encouraged to get an iPad and try the Apple Pencil and I gotta’ say, these are some seriously intuitive products. The above pieces aren’t anything special (although PePe in Squid Games is dope, right?!), but they mark a turning point for me, particularly how I color digitally. Almost every digital artist I follow on Instagram also uses Procreate and the power between this trinity have been so exciting for me.

I would really love to go into the ludicrous debate about digital artists not being real artists here, but I’ll save that for another entry. The short and sweet version is that these products work more like traditional mediums and I am finding real joy drawing with them. I’ve used tablets, a Cintiq, and various stylus pens in the past, but they felt awkward and lacking a grounded or practical sensation when it came to drawing. I really can’t explain how excited I am to learn more in 2022.

Every year for Black History month I like to learn about amazing people and difficult history and this year I read all about Bessie Coleman. As the first African-American woman to hold a pilot license and the first Black person to earn an international pilot's license, I wanted to capture her likeness as it might have been seen illustrated in the early 1920’s when she was a high-profile pilot in notoriously dangerous air shows. It’s simple, but this is my personal favorite illustration I did in 2021.

As always, if you’d like to see all my work, please follow me on Instagram or Twitter. I’m really looking forward to 2022, so stick around and have a Happy New Year!

What No One Will Tell You [But You Should Know] About Art Theft

Dave Hulteen November 12, 2021

When I was in my early twenties, I drove my dad’s 1986 Lincoln Continental that I “improved” by attaching a cheap portable CD player (featuring the latest anti–skip technology) with velcro to the dashboard that then ran a cassette adapter to the stereo system. It was the early aughts and I had a humongous portfolio of homemade mix CDs thanks to Napster and Limewire. I know, I know; I’m even cooler than you ever imagined.

Less than a week after pimping my ride, someone crashed a brick through the window and ripped the CD player and portfolio from inside the Lincoln. The door was unlocked, the CD player retailed for $!0, the window replacement cost me $400, I was picking shards of glass from the car for the next three years, and truth be told I was more embarrassed how much Spice Girls the thief would discover on my CD mixes than anything else. This is a relatively mild case, but theft is such a personal crime that it’s hard not to feel extreme anger and frustration over even minor infractions.

The irony is how little we all think about that individual connection. I just admitted the hardest part was getting over the theft of the music I illegally downloaded (and still had the MP3s on my hard drive back home anyway). So this is all to say no one is truly blameless, and to my topic at hand, we’ve all taken part in online art theft in particular to some degree. Maybe you downloaded something from Google to put in a PowerPoint presentation or make a fun birthday card for a family member. I’ve seen tons of Facebook and Twitter banners or avatars that certainly weren’t created by the user or credited to the artists that did. Consider this blog post your public shaming and absolution on the matter. May the almighty and merciful Lord grant you indulgence, absolution, and remission of your sins. Amen.

Seriously though, the main reason I want to write about online art theft is to show you just how poorly the odds are stacked against the creators, why it affects everyone, and how you can help. There are so many insanely frustrating and infuriating stories that I reached out to four of my artist friends who have experienced art theft so that I could get help to paint you a picture of how common this actually is and submit real experiences for your consideration.

Justin Piatt is a young up and coming artist who was flabbergasted to find someone else he did not know selling his art on various merchandise on RedBubble.com

“I feel frustrated, helpless, and taken advantage of. I was slightly flattered at first because I've never had this happen before and it almost feels like validation that my artwork is finally good enough to get stolen, but that quickly faded.
Now I just think about how any money, however little it might be, that these thieves receive from this is money that could have gone toward my rent or taking care of my wife. And it makes me mad because my struggling so much to make a career out of being a ‘starving artist’, and I'm literally having the food taken out of my mouth.”

The theme of being flattered at first is definitely a running one, but similarly most artists also know how difficult it is to sell their own stuff. People who just steal content tend to be a lot more savvy when it comes to online sales and can turn a profit quickly. I should mention that Red Bubble is actually pretty quick when it comes to taking down stolen art, but that’s where the good deeds stop. The seller is usually free to continue using their shop and whatever sales they’ve made using stolen art does not affect their remittance. Red Bubble also insists you not put these sellers on blast but rather let them handle things.

“Handling things” is where $#!t really hits the fan. There’s basically two ways to go about calling a thief out. Neither works well. The first is old west style, contacting the individual directly. Now keep in mind you’ve just found some schmuck who is openly and arrogantly selling your art, so realistically, you’re most likely in a foul mood. “Hey buttface! That’s mine! Take it down or I’ll call my lawyer!” Yeah right. Often, the seller can actually file a claim against you for harassment and now you’re the one on trial. Plus, hostility is usually met with more hostility. When you have art stolen and the chance to confront the seller directly, you have to eat a larger–than–humanly acceptable slice of humble pie and politely ask them to remove the stolen item for sale, “Please and thank you, hugs and kisses.” Barf. My personal experience is that 9 times out of 10, they’ll play nice… for the time being, but now you have to keep vigilant watch on this kleptomaniac, because they will almost certainly do it again.

Now to be fair, there are very rare instances where online art theft turns out to be a misunderstanding, or at the very least, a lovely kind of ignorance. My good friend Jamie Carroll tells this sweet story:

“Someone was printing a Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem image (a licensed piece that I created for Disney and Acme Archives' Dark Ink department) and putting it on socks. I contacted the site and the person responsible. It turned out to be a couple of kids raising money for some school thing. They were just using Googled images. There's a lot of that. They took it down, I received an apology and a pair of socks.”

They also just might not respond. Why should they? There’s the likelihood the site they’re selling your stuff on doesn’t allow direct communication anyway, so now it’s on you to report theft to the web host. Man, get ready to have even more of your precious time taken from you. As mentioned, Print On Demand (POD) sites like Red Bubble have links to submit Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Takedown Notices that don’t even question things. If someone says it’s a problem, they’re not interested in pursuing the matter further and you’re more or less done. Larger corporations however have the time and power to let sellers sell, and that’s more money for them! When I contacted Amazon about someone selling my art without my permission, they required I prove the art was mine. I sent the original link I posted the art to, a ToughPigs article showcasing the work, and this website as proof of my identity and profession as an artist. They proceeded to tell me that this was not enough to verify my claim and insisted I refill out their exceptionally long and tedious form again for re–submission. When I protested, the email chain closed and suggested I apply for Amazon Brand Registry—something that might work if the thief wasn’t selling my fan art of Kermit the Frog who is already trademarked with the Walt Disney Company and if I was willing to pay between $225–$400. Thanks, I hate it!

The amount of time one has to devote to fighting online theft is exhausting. As Jamie explains;

“I get pretty cheesed, but there's little I can do most of the time. Trying to get justice for art theft is like a full time job of whack-a-mole. I report the ones I can, but then let it go.“

Of all my artist friends, Kenny Durkin probably gets ripped off the most. He has told me he finds his work being sold without his permission on a daily basis, even going so far as to say, "I can teach anyone how to get their art stolen. I'm really good at that." Like Justin, Kenny was initially flattered and even encouraged by others to view any theft as flattery, but his view on the subject changed very quickly.

"I went through a huge phase where I got really angry every single time it happened, even to the point of never wanting to post artwork ever again. Basically 'taking my ball and going home'. Now I see it as a minor annoyance, it seems like most of the time the stealing of my artwork is done by bot accounts. So I try to shut them down the best I can."

Photo taken by Kevin Williams and Lin Workman, 2007

Another form of online art theft doesn't even take potential money from the artists pockets, but rather goes viral and takes away something arguably more important: their name! I always get a kick when someone on Instagram (especially an official account or someone with lots of followers) posts my art, but then feel like a drowning rat trying to get the account to credit or even just tag me. I'm willing to bet paper money most people reading this blog have seen this very touching tribute of Kermit reaching out and touching a photograph of Jim Henson. It's so good that it's just assumed it was created and owned by The Henson Company or Walt Disney Studios. In fact, it was staged and shot by my friend Kevin Williams and his associate Lin Workman. This picture has been passed around so much that Kevin actually wrote about its origin and continued life around the web that I strongly recommend you read.

"I guess the first thing was getting over the shock that so many people liked it that they were sharing and sending it all over the world, ignoring that it originated with our little team here in Memphis.
Friends noticed the image getting posted everywhere and would tag me in it, and I would follow through with 'Here's our story.' Eventually, I wrote the article to link to just because it was easier than repeating the story every time."

Kevin basically threw his hands up and said, "Here, please read this!" Jamie again succinctly explains how discovering online art theft over and over again weighs an artist down:

"Friends notify me all of the time about bootlegs and, to be honest, I'd rather not know. It just puts me in an angry and helpless place where I want to do something, but can't."

Online art theft is so burdensome to creators that they feel helpless to a point of giving up or changing their online presence completely. That can lead to creative slumps or a desire to not grace an online audience with something that can truly make someone else's day. And none of that even comes close to dealing with the stress and frustration over what to do when an artist learns their work has been stolen. Just finding the time to fight a battle that will usually end in defeat is more than should be asked of someone who didn't even want to take part in this problem in the first place.

So what can you do? First and foremost, support artists directly. If you want something specific, either commission your favorite artist via DMs or email or find out if they have an online store. Those that do will have links readily available on their own websites or in the descriptions of their social media accounts.

My dad wanted a coffee mug of a bootleg Chef, so I made him one myself instead.

Try and avoid products from ads on social media. They almost always sell stolen art. Even items that look official usually have no affiliation with the intellectual properties (IPs) they're selling or especially the artists that created them. Facebook in my experience is infamous for selling stuff like this. As a hardcore Muppet fan, I can tell you no official merchandise of The Swedish Chef saying, "Vert Da Furk" would ever get approval from any board of directors associated with the property. All they need is a clean looking website and no one thinks twice.

Finally, if you see someone's art being sold that you know does not belong to the seller, don't just notify the artist, submit a DMCA Takedown Notice yourself! The more voices fighting an issue tend to get noticed quicker. If you see someone post art they didn't create (primarily because they're not an artist), politely ask them to credit the artist. If you want to post someone else's art, most artists will be thrilled at the attention but only if you make it clear who the creator is.

Many thanks to Justin, Jamie, Kenny, and Kevin for contributing to this post. Please check out their stuff and follow them on social media because they are super talented and genuinely wonderful humans the world could use more of.

Justin Piatt: UzzyWorks.com and @uzzyworks on Instagram
Jamie Carroll: jvcarroll.com and @jvcarroll4 on Instagram
Kevin Williams: muleycomix.blogspot.com and muleyshow.com
Kenny Durkin: kennydurkin.com and @thekennydurkin on Instagram and @Durkinworks on Twitter

The Making of The Great Muppet Mural

Dave Hulteen October 29, 2021

Have you ever had a really big project that you’re working on that you’re extremely excited about and proud of? Has that project ever taken up so much of your time that you haven’t had a chance to do much of anything else? And has that same project been either a secret or required you to sign a Non–Disclosure Agreement (NDA) so you can’t even tell the world about it?

Awhile back, I was involved with The Great Muppet Mural and I checked off all three of those boxes and was super–hyped when it was finally time to share it online with everyone. Here’s the clincher—I’m still not done with it! Yes, ToughPigs 20th Anniversary has come and gone, and while people are still singing the mural’s praises, that moment has more or less passed too, but there’s actually more of the mural to share!

Let’s go off on a tangent first, okay? Earlier this year, ToughPigs spotlighted (spotlit?) some of my Muppet fan art again, and like an ego–maniacal lurker, I dipped in on the forums to see what people thought of my stuff. Everyone is always so kind and says wonderful things, but one post really hit me hard.

I used to be very descriptive whenever I would post anything anywhere; whether it was on social media, a featured spotlight, or even a concept to a client. Then, between a combination of being lazy and assuming people just didn’t care, I took a page from the book of minimalism and stopped saying anything. So when I saw Scott and my boy Joe (of all people!) call me out, I was infuriated and surprised at how on point they both were.

So now we get back to the present and The Great Muppet Mural. Early on, I had the idea that there was more to tell about this huge project other than the fact it had, “lots of Muppets and took a lot of work from a lot of people.” That thought was shared and encouraged by ToughPigs co–owner Joe Hennes (yes, that same Joe who put me on blast back in May!), and for the last several months, I’ve been making a documentary about the whole project!

I’ve ignored a lot of other things that should have been a priority, and I basically quit on Inktober; but so many great people and artists got excited about this project and helped contribute to it that I think (when it’s finished) you will get a real kick out of it. The very talented and funny actor/banjo playing, Lucas Ross is also narrating the short film and my Hulgreen bro Jerome Green is cleaning up all the audio, so it’s going to have a pretty nice professional varnish over top when it’s done!

So when is it going to be done? The best answer I can give you is “soon.” I have some professional video editing experience, but a documentary is a very different beast. That being said, the lion share of the work is done, and I’m neck deep in final post production. There’s more I could share, but I really want to hold off until it can be promoted properly. In the meantime, here’s the title card and a promise that a very good story beyond “artist made a thing” will be coming soon with all sorts of fun times attached too!

The Great Muppet Mural

Dave Hulteen September 14, 2021

Over six dozen artists came together to create The (amazing, humongous, colorful, diverse, fun) Great Muppet Mural for ToughPigs.com 20th anniversary. My good friend Jamie Carroll headed up the massive project and I was honored to be the assistant art director as well as a contributor.

I really can’t explain just how big of a project this was… but I’m currently trying by putting together a documentary about the whole thing! So stay tuned.

I want to also thank Kenny Durkin and Joe Hennes and all the other fantastic talent we had working on this. Please also check out the artist spotlights of all of them on ToughPigs.com!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Artist Games Featuring Justin Piatt

The Rules

Video Game Inspired Art

Thanks, Jim

The Pros of Pigeonholing Popular Puppet Pencilers

Toffe

Justin Piatt

Danny Beckwith

Kenny Durkin

Noah Ginex

Jonathan Brangwynne

Nick Bondra

Dan Romens

Quentin Tracy

Mike Boon

Kevin Williams

Will Carroll

Richard Gomez

Final Thoughts

The Redraw Challenge: Part II

[Nearly] Every Instance of Kermit the Frog I've Ever Drawn [More Or Less... I Think]

2000–2008

2009–2012

2013–2014

2015

2016–2018

2019–Present

Dave's Muppet Collection 2.0

Time Lapse Art And The 3 Ways I Use To Create It

Everything I Learned About Making A Documentary

Or The Making of The Making of The Great Muppet Mural

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Hurdles

2021: Year in Illustrative Review

What No One Will Tell You [But You Should Know] About Art Theft

The Making of The Great Muppet Mural

The Great Muppet Mural

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