An Updates Post!

Earlier this summer, I set out with the goal to write more posts for this blog. Unfortunately, coming up with topics to write about that fit this particular format has been tricky. That’s not to say I have total writer’s block, the opposite actually! So instead, today I thought I’d share with you some cool things I have coming down the pike. I also thought I’d reach out to see if you had any ideas too! But don’t worry, this won’t be homework for you, I promise.

Big Projects

First up, I’m working on a piece for Raised by Rainbows Puppet Pals, a show curated by the very talented Luke Flowers to be shown virtually at Gallery 1988 this November. I am blown away by the caliber of other talented artists Luke has brought together for this, and I cannot wait to see what everyone brings to the table!

I’m also working on another project with Craig Shemin! It’s very exciting to get to be a part of another Henson related project and next year it should be available. I’d also like to take a minute to thank my brother–in–law and fellow monster puppet enthusiast Jerome Green for his help so far too.

Writing has become a bigger part of my personal life as well and I’m hoping to write a book! That’s the dream at least, but I only mention it now because hopefully soon I’ll be able to open up a bit more about it. In the meantime, I’m learning so much about how to properly do research, interview people, and (hopefully) become a better writer. It is most definitely a personal passion project and I hope that I can turn it into something for a more general audience.

This Blog

As I mentioned at the top of this post, coming up with articles that stay within the guardrails of graphic design, illustration, and inspiration create unique challenges while simultaneously providing a helpful road map of how to write. I am excited to let you know I’m currently interviewing an insanely talented artist that will hopefully be ready to post in the next couple weeks. I also have some fun ideas too. All of these posts should be coming out over the next few months and weeks.

That doesn’t mean I have tons of things planned to post, but I’m very curious if there are any topics you’d be interested in reading about. What about a tips and tricks article focusing on Procreate (the software I use to draw almost exclusively)? Are there any design trends you have strong feelings about? Step–by–step drawing guides? Are you a creative professional who’s interested in writing a guest article? Maybe you (or an artist you admire) would like to take part in an Artist Games back–and–forth like I’ve done with Will Carroll, Noah Ginex, or Justin Piatt?

I really would love to hear from you! So please comment below, or hit me up on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or Substack! You can also use the form submission page right here on my website to get in contact with me. Thanks again for stopping by!

Podcast Art: Solve for Gen X

For the last two weeks, I’ve been writing about podcast art I created for Muppet fan site ToughPigs.com and all the fun and opportunity projects like that specifically from ToughPigs have gone on to provide. Today, I’m talking about one of those opportunities, and how I was commissioned again by the very talented Matt Vogel. There probably aren’t many reading this blog who don’t know who he is, so here’s a quick refresher.

Matt began puppeteering for Sesame Street in 1996, and later joined The Muppets. He has inherited tons of legacy characters, mostly from the late Jerry Nelson. These include Big Bird, Count Von Count, and Mr. Johnson on Sesame Street. In 2011 he took over Uncle Deadly (also a former Jerry Nelson character) and Kermit the Frog in 2017 (initially created and performed by Jim Henson himself before Steve Whitmire puppeteered the amphibian from 1990 to 2016).

I am very honored that Matt has been a fan of my work for awhile too, and in 2020, Matt officially commissioned me to create podcast art for his first podcast, Below the Frame. I was ecstatic, so when he came a calling again earlier this year with a request for his newest podcast with cohosts Nate Starkey and Ashley Ward called Solve for Gen X, I was even more excited! Initially Matt was looking for something relatively straight forward like what I had created for Below The Frame, but as we discussed it more, I got inspired and mentioned that maybe we put aside the idea of a quickly recognizable graphic and just go for a big 1980s action movie poster. Matt loved the idea, and we started listing ideas, homages, and easter eggs that would look cool. As a Gen Xer myself, I was completely down to stuff a bunch of nostalgic references into the art as well! Matt shared the lyrics to the theme song he had written along with the actual music for inspiration and from there, I got way into the project.

For starters, Matt wanted all the hosts to represent classic John Hughes characters. For Nate, he suggested Judd Nelson from Breakfast Club and Michael Schoeffling from Sixteen Candles. I made Nate pretty much 100% "John Bender" with a fanny pack that both Nate and Matt really wanted included somehow. Ashley was meant to be a combination of Molly Ringwald from Breakfast Club and Jennifer Grey from Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but the character of Jeanie felt more dynamic. Ashley also requested some jelly bracelets like Madonna used to wear to bring even more authenticity to how well these hosts know their pop culture. Matt was dressed in Emilio Estevez’s letterman jacket from Breakfast Club but instead of the wrestling tank top, he has Anthony Michael Hall’s button down shirt from Sixteen Candles. I also gave Matt some personal nods as well. While he requested the cereal box he's holding in the illustration be an homage to Count Chocula, I stylized the chocolate–loving vampire to have softer features like Count Von Count, and green skin like a certain banjo strumming frog.

Nate, Ashley, and Matt

The background is a pretty stereotypical design that people often associate with the 1980s. As someone who lived through it, I can't say it was quite as ubiquitous as it is associated with the 1980s now, although neon and rudimentary computer graphics were part of the landscape, my personal opinion is that they've come to be more representative now than they ever were during the actual decade. On top of that is a neon cityscape that is definitely more of an homage to the movie Blade Runner than anything else. However, my personal recollection from that time period was a yearning for all things tropical. Every Andrew McCarthy flick seemed to have (at the very least) a beach resort backdrop of some kind, Paul Simon's music video with Chevy Chase You Can Call Me Al felt very Caribbean vacation themed even if it was filmed entirely in a plain pink room, and Miami, Florida might as well have been the pop culture capital of the 80s! Incidentally, that's also why there are so many palm trees too.

I'm disappointed to admit that many of the background elements are stock images, but I tried to use those aesthetics as a balance of harmony to all the other elements I illustrated myself. A charged particle beam from an unlicensed nuclear accelerator shoots behind the hosts as a reference to Ghostbusters. While the planes and bombs are not period specific, they are meant to represent the fear brought on originally from the Gulf War during Operation Desert Storm

The background composition created from stock images.

The kid on the BMX bike (I illustrated him) represents both a very novel and popular mode of transportation back in the day, but its placement over an abnormally large moon is meant to evoke memories of the Steven Spielberg opus E.T. Hiding behind those bomber planes and being so immense in size, that moon may make one consider the Death Star from Star Wars more than the lunar body itself.

The space shuttle was my personal contribution as the Challenger disaster and Nasa in general (thanks to a trip to Kennedy Space Center as a young boy) were hugely impactful to my childhood. The arcade cabinet is a direct reference to Space Invaders and the popularity of arcades in general back in the 80s. Personally I would have preferred Rolling Thunder, but niche titles can't communicate a universal understanding quite as deliberately or quickly as the 1978 Taito classic.

While Henry Winkler as The Fonz from Happy Days and Lou Ferrigno as The Hulk occupy the screen of the TV as per Matt's request, the old, ornately designed television set is a direct homage to the one my grandmother had in her living room in Ocean Grove, New Jersey where I would very anxiously wait daily for The 700 Club to end so I could switch it over to Nickelodeon.

Matt had suggested a big old family type car that was representative of his family vacations be present as well. I used my dad's 1986 Lincoln Continental (that he eventually sold to me for a dollar) as my inspiration. While ours was a sophisticated tan, I made this one a Gremlin green like the one Matt had as a kid. The boombox is also based on the one my siblings and I used to play and record everything on back when we were kids. I wanted this to look a little more dynamic than the gray and pale blue one we had, but I went overboard and felt it almost looks like I used AI to make it. I absolutely did not use AI for this or anything else, but I didn't have the time to change it afterwards. I'm happy with how it came out but simultaneously disappointed as well with how gaudy the colors are.

I threw an explosion by the wheel well of the Lincoln to try and capture that 80s action movie feel like Die Hard, Commando, or Escape from New York. Finally, I tossed in a crowd of concert goers just so we all knew that despite any chaos happening, there's always time to party!

Matt's initial idea for the title design was more inline with the title for Back to the Future. I loved the idea, but I thought that would be a little too on the nose. Instead, once Matt had sifted through some initial concepts, I started to finagle the design to be more of an homage to the original Unsolved Mysteries television show title card. To sock it even further into the time period, I tossed a small rainbow flash over the top as a reference to the popular The More You Know series of public service announcements on NBC.

The final artwork

Thank you again Matt for such a super cool opportunity that was a ton of fun to do! And thank you to everyone else who checked out this post! Make sure you check out Solve for Gen X on YouTube and everywhere else you get your podcasts. Please follow me on Instagram, TikTok, Substack and X!

Drawing Muppets at NYCC

There are two fundamental things that I have loved my entire life: The Muppets and comics. So when my dear friend and ToughPigs Editor–in–Chief, Joe Hennes asked if I wanted to draw Muppets at a panel for New York Comic Con back in October of last year, it was a complete no–brainer. Remember that for later!

From left to right (starting at the podium): Joe Hennes, Jay Fosgitt, Richard Gomez, Dave Hulteen (Hi!), and Christopher “Smig” Smigliano

Wizard World Philadelphia, 2003

Let’s talk real quick about Comic Con and Comic Con panels. In short, they’re great! Moving on! Oh okay, fine. A comic book convention is the ultimate fan experience. Whether it’s in the basement of a VFW or a sprawling convention center in a major metropolitan city, comic cons are safe, fun spaces where people are encouraged to nerd it up and be fanatical. Panels are the glue to that experience. In my personal opinion, there are two types of panels: functional and absurd. Both are so much fun but represent different experiences.

Functional panels are like live interactive updates. They usually feature creators connected to a fandom talking about upcoming story arcs, characters, and news. These panels can become news worthy like when the Avengers cast members first come together before you see them assembled on the big screen in full costume. It’s a great opportunity for fans to come face to face with their heroes and ask them burning questions that only matter to them.

Sam and Friends panel from NYCC, 2022

Functional panels can also be informative or educational. Ever wonder how your favorite voice actor comes up with how they want a character from a video game to sound? They can tell you! Want to write and publish a book? There’s a writer’s panel that has tips! Maybe you just want to hear music from your favorite YouTube creator. There’s a concert in Ballroom 7!

Absurd panels are everything else and they are my favorite. Want to see the most offensive cartoons from the 60s? There’s a panel for that! Have you ever contemplated the religious nature of the Smurfs? No, neither have I, but if you wanted to see a bunch of Tough Pigs guys draw obscure Muppets for an hour, Room 408 at the Javit’s Center is the place for you!

Now ToughPigs themselves have written about this entire event in much better detail that you can read about here. If you don’t want to read about it though, you can just watch the whole panel for yourself!

Panel art I created for promotional materials

So enough has already been covered about the event, but I want to expand on the experience from a more personal standpoint. The main takeaway being that I was by far the low man on the totem pole. I’m not disparaging myself so much as building everyone else up, but drawing well and drawing quickly are two very different and distinct traits, and I only have the former. The other guys though? They’re powerhouses! And they’re really fast.

Just to give an overview; Joe would turn to the panel audience for suggestions, but the overall concept was to give us artists a prompt, and then we’d get to work and crank out something in around a minute.

With Richard Gomez

Richard Gomez might have been the youngest on the panel, but he’s clearly the heart. Richard has grown in prominence a lot over the last couple years and it’s so easy to see why. Aside from being exceptionally talented, he brings a whimsical element that elevates everyone else. A talented puppet builder as well, Richard sees the world around him in a unique and colorful way. Whether it’s turning a paper towel roll into a singing sensation or converting the ELMO brand projector into Elmo; Richard is brilliantly imaginative. He’s also really fast!

An old comic strip I drew of myself, Smig, & Joe (2016)

Chris “Smig” Smigliano is ToughPigs resident artist and is easily the funniest artist on the dais. Smig was the cartoonist for the Salem News where he developed a keen ability to visually tell a gag with limited space. Also an avid fan of MAD Magazine, Smig harnessed his inner Don Martin to create very funny comics that easily leaned right up against the line of being inappropriate without actually crossing it. Smig is so fast that the amount of art he produces is just as staggering as how fast he created it. I have always admired Smig, but he stepped up his entire game for this panel and truly showed he has exceptional comedic chops.

With Jay Fosgitt at San Diego Comic Con, 2014

The biggest name on the panel though was Jay Fosgitt. If ever there was an artist that this panel was made for, it’s Jay. As a professional comic artist and writer, Jay consistently drew really funny and crisp illustrations. Truth be told, if he was the only artist on the panel, the event would have been just as great as it already was. Jay’s take on classic characters is distinct, well refined, and just perfect. Jay has the added bonus of being able to draw really obscure characters from memory. Like the others, Jay is also really fast, but Jay is fast because that’s his job. I know that Jay has self doubts and concerns that every artist has, but to watch him draw is a treat that would convince you he could do it in is sleep. Watching the entire time he was up there was magical. He would take a beat to compose his idea before laying it down effortlessly. If this were a game, Jay would have been the MVP every single round.

From left to right: Shane Keating, Joe Hennes, Bruce Connelly, Chris Smigliano, Will Carroll (Will was the alternate for our panel), Matthew Soberman, Richard Gomez, and Dave Hulteen (me!) after our panel, October 2023.

As an added bonus, in the audience was Bruce Connelly, Muppet performer of Sesame Street’s Barkley the dog since 1993! So it was very apropos when Joe suggested we each draw the lovable pooch in honor of having Bruce at our panel. Afterwards, ToughPigs staff handed out all the illustrations we did to people who attended the panel. Bruce wanted the drawing I had created of Barkley holding a banner that said, “We love you, Bruce!” but it had been picked by someone else already. My brother–in–law and I had met Bruce 9 years earlier at NYCC when we were promoting our own YouTube production of The Bang and Bump Show which Bruce was very supportive of. So I promised him I would draw a better version of my Barkley tribute—this time at my own speed and not in front of a live audience (I know my weaknesses). Six months later and I finally sent it to him too!

Bang and Bump at NYCC, 2014

I had the best time with my friends at Comic Con even if that particular setting wasn’t the best match for me (alternate Will Carroll can cover for me in 2024!). I don’t know if we’ll do another panel this year, but I do plan to be at NYCC again. In the mean time, I’ve got some more posts planned for this blog, so stay tuned and follow me on Instagram too!

My art proper created for Bruce Connelly

Celebrating Jim Henson the BEST Way!

Back in September on Jim Henson’s birthday, I got to be a part of a fantastic fan celebration with wonderful people, puppets, and music. Today I’m sharing those memories!

Joe Hennes with Heather Henson—our guides for the day.

Pulitzer Fountain at Grand Army Plaza with Bergdorf Goodman on the left and the Plaza Hotel on the right, as seen in The Muppets Take Manhattan. (MuppetWiki)

The day started out meeting up with Heather Henson from Ibex Puppetry (and Jim’s youngest daughter) at the Plaza Hotel just across the street from Central Park. The exterior of the building facing Grand Army Plaza was featured in The Muppets Take Manhattan for the scene where Miss Piggy spies on Kermit the Frog and Jenny after Kermit pitches Manhattan Melodies to Leonard Winesop. After Piggy is harassed by a trio of cat-callers, she returns to her job next door at Bergdorf Goodman (from the MuppetWiki).

Will Carroll helps Heather Henson show various clips that were filmed on location.

Heather Henson & Joe Hennes.

We then headed into Central Park where numerous Muppet related projects were filmed like the previously mentioned The Muppets Take Manhattan, a National Wildlife Federation spot starring Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear, and various segments from Sesame Street.

Heather takes a selfie in front of her dad’s bench

John Papovitch and his pal with yours truly

Jim’s bench all decked out!

A motley crew of Muppet fans!

Eventually we all made our way to the mall section of Central Park, specifically along Literary Walk—a wonderful spot I’ve visited numerous times before that has benches remembering many great historic figures. Legendary Sesame Street director Jon Stone has a bench right next to one for Jim. All of us decorated the benches with flowers, puppets (built by Richard Gomez), and chalk drawings before joining in an impromptu performance singing Happy Birthday and The Rainbow Connection. It was magical, or as our fearless leader Joe put it, “You all just had your own New York moment!”

The townhouse at 117 East 69th Street. As you can see, this is a holy place for us fans.

Heather draws an outline of Kermit’s feet just beyond the still visible foot prints.

We left Central Park and made our way past the old Henson Townhouse and the old Henson Workshop which is now a gym. However, as Heather pointed out, the impression of Kermit’s heels are still partially visible on the sidewalk!

Will Carroll, Lucas Ross, and Richard Gomez.

From left to right: Me, Heather Henson, Lucas Ross, and Joe Hennes. Heather & Joe’s shirts also designed by the talented Richard Gomez!

Oh look! Promotional items for Craig Shemin’s book, Sam and Friends: The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show!

Next we all filed into the Henson Carriage House where we ate lunch, mingled, and geeked out to the extreme over our shared fandom. It was then that Lucas Ross—oh yeah, did I mention he was there too?!—played his banjo and had us all singing and laughing.

Front row: Will Carroll and myself. 2nd row: Tau Bennett, Richard Gomez, Joe Hennes, and Gav. 3rd row: Tori from Muppets No Context, Chris Stulz from Muppet Stuff, and John Papovitch.

Lucas Ross performing various Muppet fan favorite songs.

With Tori from Muppets No Context and Will Carroll.

With Chris Stulz from Muppet Stuff

Lucas Ross and Kermit read the Sam and Friends book while Shane Keating contemplates all of this.

After we left the Carriage House, the real party started over at The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens—a place I’ve referred to as the mecca of Muppet fandom—where Craig Shemin showed an amazing collection of clips featuring Rowlf on The Jimmy Dean Show!

It was an incredibly magical and wonderful day and a reminder how much I not only love being a part of this fandom, but how much I love all its fans too. Special thanks to Ibex Puppetry, Lucas Ross, Joe Hennes, Chris Stulz, Will Carroll, and everyone else who took and shared photos with me. Follow me on Instagram and thanks for stopping by!

With Kenny Durkin at The Museum of the Moving Image. Kenny wasn’t at this event, but him and I did visit two weeks earlier and I wanted to share that here!

The Life of a Caricature Artist Featuring Kenny Durkin!

Drawing ain’t easy. Drawing something recognizable takes effort. Drawing people is overwhelming. Exploiting peoples’ unique features in a fun and exaggerated way for their entertainment is downright insane. That’s where Kenny Durkin comes in.

Kenny Durkin by Kenny Durkin

I’ve sung Kenny’s praises before and he’s no stranger to this blog or me pestering him for all sorts of things. He graciously agreed to me bombarding him with questions again, but before that, let’s take a quick refresher course. Kenny is a cartoonist who studied Illustration at Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He’s performed live caricature entertainment at events across the United States for over 20 years, and drawn caricatures at Walt Disney World retail locations and special events for 15 years. He has his cartoons on apparel for AMC's Duck Dynasty, Disney's The Muppets,  and The Jim Henson Company, writes and illustrates his own online comic strip Father of the Brood, and is a proud member of the prestigious National Cartoonists Society and an award-winning Gold member of  the International Society of Caricature Artists. On a more personal note; Kenny was one of the key heads of the design team for ToughPigs Great Muppet Mural, and has been a patient and wonderful friend who has helped me out personally with tons and tons of other projects. I cannot hype this man up enough because his artistic talent is only matched by his kindness and sense of humor.

Kenny and I hanging at Gene Barretta’s home, May 2015

So let’s start with the basics: how did you get into drawing? And how did you get so good?!

Kenny: I've been drawing for as long as I can remember. The first drawing I can recall was of Kermit and Grover. I was born in 1971 and back then, there was no way of recording a television show to watch later. When the Sesame Street episode of the day was over, I still wanted to spend more time with my "friends", so I drew them. I found that was a great way to express myself creatively, and why Kermit still pops up in my drawings to this day.

Kermit the Frog as Indiana Jones and gorgeous caricatures of Frank Oz and Jim Henson

All that said, I still don't think I'm "good" at it. I think it's like having an athletic ability or being a musician. You're born with an inclination, but you still have to work at it. You have to put in the time and practice every day. And you have to be willing to fail a lot. I'm obsessed with learning to draw better, so I watch instructional videos, take courses, look at art instruction books, and I'm friends with a lot of other artists so I can push myself to soak up as much info as I can. And I've trained myself to when I'm not drawing, I'm OBSERVING. I'm looking at trees, buildings, people, animals, vehicles, clouds, everything I see and deconstructing them. I'm breaking them down into simple shapes and filing them away in the visual encyclopedia in my brain. Then I can pull them out to work out later on paper. In a way, it's a thing that I can't shut off and won't leave me alone!

We all know Jim Henson is a major creative inspiration to you, but who else inspires your artistic talent?

There are a whole lot of people who inspire me. It would be impossible to list them all. I think starting out, it was newspaper cartoonists like Charles Schultz, Walt Kelly, Hank Ketcham, Dik Browne, Jim Davis, Mort Walker, Lynn Johnston, and so many others. Later it was Gary Larson, Berke Breathed, Bill Watterson, John Hambrock, and WAYNO.

MAD Magazine was huge for me. I gobbled up everything I could from artists like Jack Davis, Sam Viviano, Paul Coker, Mort Drucker, Sergio Aragones, Don Martin, Al Jaffee, and Tom Richmond. I wasn’t much of a comic book guy, but I sought out more cartoony titles like Uncle Scrooge, Groo the Wanderer, and Zooniverse. For animation, it was of course Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Chuck Jones, Fleischer Studios, Hanna Barbara, Don Bluth, Richard Williams, etc.

But beyond cartoons, I suppose there’s not much that DOESN’T inspire me. Anyone involved with the process of creation interests me. Musicians, singers, actors, directors, costume designers, prop builders, effects artists, folk artists and so many others. I’m all over the place.

The casts of Seinfeld and Stranger Things

When and how did you realize your knack for caricatures?

There was a magazine for kids called Dynamite that had celebrity caricatures by Sam Viviano. That was my gateway to the art of caricature. I followed him over to MAD Magazine which was a caricature–heavy publication. I studied what those artists were doing. I would ask myself, “The caricature looks like the person. Now WHY is that so? What is the artist doing that makes the likeness so strong?”. So I’d try drawing actors I’d see on T.V., friends and family, and teachers in school. My parents would get notes from my teachers saying what a great student I was because I was always taking notes. Little did they know, I was actually drawing them!

Caricatures of Muppet performers Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Frank Oz, Jim Henson, and Louise Gold

What kind of lessons or classes did you have to take to go pro?

I was fortunate enough to have art classes all through grade school. In high school I took every class that was even remotely connected to art, like printmaking and drafting. I did a lot of scenery and prop building for school plays and musicals. I took classes when offered at museums like mask making.

I went to Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and studied Illustration and Graphic Design. I also took classes there on Photography, Sculpture, Figure Drawing, Color Theory and Early German Film for some reason.

I’m still constantly educating myself. I watch videos, take online courses, read art instruction books, go to seminars, and take workshops. If you want to EARN, you’ve got to LEARN!

How quickly does it take to draw a single caricature?

It depends. When I’m drawing at events, the task is to draw as many guests as possible. I can draw a shoulders–up caricature in black and white in 1–2 minutes if I have to. At most events I draw faces and bodies in black and white, which take about 5 minutes.

A retail caricature face and body in color is about 12–15 minutes. Studio caricatures, depending on what the client and I have worked out, can take days. 

Steve Buscemi and Daniel Radcliffe

Drawing people well enough to recognize them is hard. Drawing their more prominent features to the extreme and still be able to recognize them is ludicrous. Drawing people with exaggerated features so that they’re still recognizable and doing it fast is impossible. How do you do all of that?

Practice. It takes time to get your speed up. When you first start out, your instinct is to pencil everything in, ink over the top and then erase the pencil.Once you develop a system that works, you won’t need to rely as much on the pencil (or at all). Experimenting with materials, (paper, drawing implements) that can improve your speed. Recognizability is more important than speed. In the end, it has to resemble the person you’re drawing.

Have you ever drawn someone and they reacted negatively because they felt you offended them?

Thankfully not often. One time when I was only a couple of years in, a subject got so mad at how I drew him that he lurked around until I had closed up and he followed me out to my car. Luckily security took care of him.

I did a studio piece for someone one time and after repeated redraws because she claimed it didn’t look like her, I actually TRACED her photograph. When she still insisted it didn’t look like her, I told her what I had done and she went with the first drawing I did.

You have to go into drawing caricatures knowing you’re not going to please everyone all the time. Statistically, it has to happen. So I’ll still get the occasional eye roll, but for the most part, people are pleased. They know what they stood in line for.

Is being sensitive to how someone might react to your caricature something that you consider when you draw them or is that mindset too restrictive and it’s better to believe that they should be aware it’s your job to exaggerate their likeness?

It’s tricky. When someone hires you to draw at their event, you don’t want to be the one insulting their guests, or making the host or booking agency look bad. It’s just not professional. You also don’t want to fall into the trap of drawing “genericatures” or drawing the same way over and over. You have to be sensitive and have empathy. You need to know when to lay back and be “safe” and when to kick it into gear and go for it. It’s an important skill that you have to develop over time. 

Father of the Brood 2023 and 2018 when my daughter and I made a guest appearance!

Wow! And there it is! Proof that Kenny Durkin isn’t just really good at what he does, but why he’s the best there is! Make sure you visit Kenny’s website for more great art, but also follow him on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube too!

Thanks so much again, Kenny for taking the time to share your story and talent! I am so grateful for you and our friendship. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and come back on Friday for a new blog post!

My Story with Sam and Friends, Part III

I was hired by Craig Shemin to work on promotional materials for his new book, Sam and Friends – The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show. Then he brought me on to fine tune the book’s cover. This week I’ll be talking about how it all ended up!

Right off the bat I need to be honest and tell you this post is rather self–serving as I will be gushing about how I got to be involved with some of the promotional events for the book, but I promise I’ll keep the arrogance level low… low–ish. Somewhat modest for sure. You know what? It will have nice pictures if you want to skip reading, deal?

Heading to the Museum of the Moving Image with my family, Sept. 24, 2022

I’ve written about my fan experiences and how the Museum of the Moving Image is kind of a mecca for Muppet fans, so when Craig asked if I would sign the Sam for President posters I created next to him at the book launch on Jim Henson’s birthday, I was ecstatic. For starters, being on the other side of the table was huge. Getting to have moments like meeting Bob McGrath, or chatting with other fans I only knew through Instagram or Twitter @’s was so much fun. I was also grateful to have my wife, daughter, sisters, and my parents all there as well.

Top left: Craig Shemin, bottom left: Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Heather Henson, top right: with Craig and Ryan Dillon, and meeting Bob McGrath

Top left to right: ToughPigs’ Shane Keating and Matthew Soberman, @gollygeemel and the beautiful Dr. Teeth key chain she gave me. Bottom Left to Right:Richard Gomez and the Snerf he built and gave me, Will Carroll, and finally Joe Hennes and Peter Savieri.

Two weeks later, I got to attend New York Comic Con and be on a panel with Craig, Muppet performer Ryan Dillon, and Henson Company Archivist Susie Tofte. Getting to chat with fans, fellow artists, and friends again tops finding any merchandise or rare treasure. It was a real blast and something I will never forget!

Please follow me on Instagram and Twitter and you should also totally buy Sam and Friends – The Story of Jim Henson’s First Television Show at Bear Manor Media in soft and hard cover.

Thanks, Jim

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.

Illustrations © DaveHulteenDesign.com

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.

Illustrations © DaveHulteenDesign.com

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.

Illustrations © DaveHulteenDesign.com

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.”

Illustration © DaveHulteenDesign.com

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

“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:

  1. 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!

  2. 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?

  3. 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:

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

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

Starry Eyed & Tongue Tied

Last Friday I ended a 25 week streak posting my blog and while the world did not end because I didn’t post, I was bummed out. The problem is I am over my head with freelance and full–time work and some of what I’m working on is super cool and very loosely and indirectly related to this post and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Anyhoo, starting in the early aughts, I began attending comic cons regularly. Before I go any further, if you have never been to a comic con, you absolutely need to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re 8 or 88 and it also doesn’t matter if it’s a humongous convention like SDCC or a tiny one in the basement of a VFW hall. Of course, comic cons back in the first part of the 21st century were slightly different than they are now. For starters, they really were all about comics. Today they tend to be more of a “pop culture convention,“ but they are still a blast.

Wizard World Philadelphia. May 30, 2003

Over 20 years ago, they were also primarily populated with mostly male attendees. When my girlfriend (now wife) would accompany me and our friends, there would be somewhat of an awed hush for a moment when she would first walk on the convention floor. This was more of an initial reaction to her sex over her radiant beauty, but times slowly changed and soon conventions became a much more homogeneous experience. Now that we are married, she will often mention she no longer does comic conventions because she “served her time.“

Anyway, in 2006, I dragged her along yet again to Wizard World Philly with my primary goal of meeting comic artist Skottie Young. He is a well renowned artist today, and while he was certainly hot back then, he was arguably still an up-and-coming creator. This can be proved by the fact that he had his own table with no line of swarming fans or even an assistant! It was just Skottie hanging out and drawing alone all day and excited to talk to anyone. 

At the time, he was working on a run of Venom, continuing Marvel’s unconventional trend at the time of showcasing more cartoonish and exaggerated styles on Spider–Man titles along with other artists like Humberto Ramos. I was a super fan, constantly visiting his site to see all his sketches and drawings of any and everything. He wasn’t just an incredible artist, but a super cool guy as well who seemed to have similar pop-culture interests as myself. Not a surprise considering he’s barely 2 months younger than me!

Checking our convention guide, I located where Skottie’s table was and we made a B line so I could ask him to sign my Venom comic and maybe even take a picture with him. As I mentioned, he was alone and just drawing away. When we approached, he lit up like a Christmas tree with excitement. What a fantastic guy! I was so pumped and excited to gush over how great he was. I opened my mouth to greet him and introduce myself only to discover I had completely forgotten the English language. 

Skottie’s table was our very first stop at the con and the one and only thing I truly wanted to do and now that we were finally here I was so star struck that I literally couldn’t speak. I was like Ralphie Parker meeting Santa Claus at Higbee’s in A Christmas Story. I stood with a dumb, open–mouthed smile for a ludicrously long time that made Skottie and my wife shift awkwardly as they waited for me to do absolutely anything. Finally my wife stepped in to save me with a prompting and encouraging, “Hello.” Yes! Hello! What a novel way to start a conversation! I will try saying that, and so I blurted out much too loudly and abruptly, “HELLO!” “Hey! How’s it going!” Skottie replied with renewed energy and a warm friendly smile. I resumed my blank admiring mannequin face as if I was a Make–A–Wish patient who no doubt suffered severe injuries from his love of drinking gasoline straight from the pump. My wife—now staring at me incredulously—saved my bacon again with another encouraging prompt. “He really likes your art.” she said sweetly as I stepped over her last word obnoxiously, “I REALLY LIKE YOUR ART!” 

For the next few minutes, this was pretty much how we communicated. My wife patiently told Skottie what I admired about him and his work and then I would loudly repeat her words in the first person. It was like a bizarre avant–garde ventriloquist act where I was the dummy, my wife the puppeteer, and Skottie as the beleaguered volunteer pulled randomly from the audience. What a complete and total $#!t show. Somehow I managed to get my comic signed and a picture as well. Skottie was polite, patient, enthusiastic, and so kind. He was exactly the type of person I anticipated him to be and I blew it. 

Me still in complete disbelief that is indeed Skottie Young. June 2, 2006

As soon as we were out of earshot from Skottie, my wife turned to me shocked and somewhat exasperated. “What in the world was that?!” she asked. I had returned to earth at that moment as well and was equally stunned. “I have no idea!” I admitted. It was at that exact moment that I had a very serious problem on my hands and I needed to rectify it immediately. My main concern at the time was the realization of just how much this could hinder my own illustrative career. Thanks to sites like ToughPigs and the exposure I was getting from such a niche fandom, I was sure it was only a matter of time before I would have the opportunity to meet actual Muppet performers and maybe even work for them. At my core I knew it was vital they saw me as a peer and not just a fan. Of course if I couldn’t chat up a fellow artist just because he was successful, how would I speak to someone who was partly responsible for molding my childhood, affecting my overall trajectory as a creative person? 

It turned out it was even worse than I imagined as not long after that, I bumped into a family friend—yes, a family friend—whom I greatly admired. Now I had never met him prior, but I had seen pictures and heard recordings of him (he was a very talented musician) so imagine my horror when I got tongue–tied chatting with him as well!

I took the “Face Your Fears” approach by attending every book signing I could find, hung outside every service entrance after a concert, waited in autograph lines at conventions, and attended any speaking engagements featuring celebrities that interested me; all in the hopes I could act like a normal human being around anyone with a modicum of fame so that one day I wouldn’t completely lose my mind if I met someone really famous.

Weird Al Yankovic (2/2/2011), Jesse Ventura (4/7/2011), and Gary “Baba Booey” Dell'Abate (11/9/2010)

I very quickly realized “fame” wasn’t the crux to my star struck nature, it was admiration. If I somehow found myself face to face with someone like Hugh Jackman—something that actually happened —I was excited but maintained my composure easily. However, if I met the likes of Trace Beaulieu, Lorraine Cink, Doc Hammer, Louise Gold, or Stanley Lau, I’d start to choke up. Interacting with them at events did become easier and was also very safe. I was able to see them as actual people and before you knew it, I could at least fake acting casual. When I finally met those lofty Muppet people, at the very least I wasn’t a hot mess. 

MST3k’s Trace Beaulieu (11/27/2010), Marvel’s Lorraine Cink (7/24/2016), and Doc Hammer (4/19/2008) co–creator of The Venture Bros.

I still get very excited when I meet someone I admire—famous or not—and on the inside I’m fan freaking out. If I ever meet Lois Van Baarle or Frank Oz or Jamie Hewlett I think my heart would still explode. At the very least, my wife knows I can control my basic bodily functions without her by my side the entire time. 

Skottie Young, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for being so pleasant and patient and inspiring. Not just to draw better but to get my act together and focus. It changed my career. You really are the GOAT!

I’m not posting much now on Instagram and Twitter but follow me anyway so when I clear my slate you’ll see what I’ve been up to! And come back here every Friday for more creative thinking!

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Whether it’s freelance or work from my day job, I usually work for one client per job or with a very small team. This allows for good collaboration but without causing too many unnecessary problems. A couple weeks ago I wrote in depth about how unnecessary opinions from other peoples can influence a client, especially when they’re not even directly involved with the project to begin with. 

Occasionally I will work on a project that has to go before a committee for final approval. Where I work, they are known as “the cabinet.“ The cabinet is a substantive collection of management that needs to review larger projects that will have a national or even international audience. Fortunately, by the time a project goes before them, they aren’t necessarily making changes or suggesting frivolous design choices, but rather ticking off all the boxes to make sure the project is ready for final approval. Things like making sure there is proper representation, a clear message, that there’s no misinterpretation, and that it includes all necessary information. Of course there have been a couple nightmare situations in the past, but for the most part, the cabinet exists as a good eye for checks and balances.

“The Cabinet” sounds like an NBC crime drama series, right?

Joe Hennes and Cookie Monster

As I love to do, I reached out to some creative professionals to see if anyone had any unique stories when it came to dealing with a situation where there were just too many cooks in the kitchen as the old axiom goes. Writer extraordinaire, co–owner & editor of ToughPigs, and my dear friend, Joe Hennes responded with the penultimate and quite literal interpretive telling of having too many cooks in the kitchen. Here’s his fantastic story:

I have very rarely been a project-based "work for hire" type. For most of the projects I've been involved with, I've either created it for my own needs or been a part of a larger, corporate production company. For the latter, it can be very difficult—and yet, very easy—to get a creative project off the ground. Confusing!

There's an unspoken rule on the business side of production that creative choices should be left to the creatives, especially if we're paying them money for their talents. Sure, there are internal think tanks and approval processes, but it's surprisingly difficult to scratch that creative itch when those responsibilities are handed off to the artists. On the flip side, being on the other side of the table means that you have a better idea of what's possible and what's not, what the company really wants, and how to cut every cost before an idea gets too big.

Back in 2014, I was working in an administrative role at Sesame Workshop, and constantly trying to find ways to be a part of creative projects. A truly bizarre viral video hit the internet that year - "Too Many Cooks", an 11-minute long spoof of sitcom opening sequences that originally aired on Adult Swim. And as all viral videos do, it was the hottest thing for a few days.

Part of my (unofficial) role at Sesame Workshop was to try and brainstorm fun content for grownup fans like myself. Very few of my pitches came to fruition (the most notable being "Big Birdman" - a spoof of the Oscar-winning film "Birdman", starring Caroll Spinney), but when "Too Many Cooks" hit our radars, it seemed like it'd be a HUGE opportunity to develop a "Too Many Cookies" spoof starring Cookie Monster. I mean, the joke was right there in the name!!

Joe with Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch performer Caroll Spinney

This is where that "business side of creative" stuff comes into play. What's the pecking order for getting something like this approved and made? As always, money comes first. Since this would be aimed toward adults, that meant it would be released on social media, so that division of the Marketing Department would be paying for it. I pitched the idea to the head of the social media group, and he agreed that we should do it. But he also recognized that there's no predicting how long things can be viral, so we had to act FAST.

Literally running down the hallway, we went to the Production Department, as they'd be the ones actually putting the video together. The Executive Producer wasn't in her office, but since time was of the essence, one colleague volunteered to start pulling videos of Cookie Monster and editing them together. Once this thing was approved, at least the work would have already started.

Our next stop was with Curriculum & Research, as all things at Sesame Workshop need to be approved through them. It took some convincing (there was literally nothing educational about what we wanted to make), but since there was nothing harmful, and the video would be aimed primarily toward adults, they reluctantly gave us the go-ahead.

Looping back around to Production, the Executive Producer was still absent. We couldn't do anything without her approval, and the clock was ticking. By the end of the day, we couldn't get in touch with her and the social media director made the call to cancel the project. Understandably, if we couldn't get it all approved and created by the end of the day, there was no guarantee that this little video would still be relevant 24 hours later.

Feeling a little dejected, I went home that evening and realized that there was no reason I couldn't keep moving forward with the project on a smaller level. I wouldn't have the resources of a big production company, but that's never stopped me before. I quickly wrote lyrics for a spoof of the "Too Many Cooks" song and recorded myself playing it on the ukulele while my wife Sarah sang. I ripped some videos of Cookie Monster off of YouTube and edited a short video together. (In case you were wondering, I figured out that the original "Too Many Cooks" video featured the "Full House" font.)

In the end, we were right - the video needed to go up at that exact time to benefit from the viral buzz. "Too Many Cookies" currently has over 74k views, almost all of which came in those first few days. Naturally, those numbers would probably be in the millions if Sesame had created it, but I got to keep all that attention for myself. Sure, I didn't make any money off of it, and it didn't do much to help increase my clout at work, but it just goes to show that when the kitchen truly has too many cooks, it just takes one absent sous chef to bring the whole thing crashing down.

For what it's worth, the next day the missing Executive Producer said that she absolutely would've greenlit the project. Oh well!!

Me, my daughter, and Joe, January 29, 2022

What a blast! Joe busts his hump over at ToughPigs, so I am very grateful he took the time to retell his experience here. Make sure you are following ToughPigs everywhere: on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube! If you like, you can also me on Twitter and Instagram and check back every Friday to this blog!

A Gonzo Father's Day Gift

For the first nine years of my life, it was just my dad and I. As a child, he was a superhero to me. As a teenager, we certainly had our ups and downs and I can’t say I was his biggest fan. As an adult (and especially now as a father myself), he is again a superhero to me. The ultimate superhero. 

I very vividly remember going to something of a book fair when I was in kindergarten and getting him the first gift I ever bought; a coffee mug with “Dad“ repeated over and over which he still has today.

I mentioned before that my dad is largely responsible for my love of the Muppets. Being the two swinging bachelors that we were back in the early 80s, we would have dinner together in our tiny guestroom where our television set was and watch The Muppet Show or Fraggle Rock. We would laugh and look back and forth at each other—him on the couch and me nestled in our green and blue shag carpet—musing over a gag or song (Quick parenting pro tip: actually watch TV with your kids. Don’t go on your phone or whatever. Bond over your child’s interests in that program. I know it’s hard, I struggle too sometimes. A lot of kids shows today are actually pretty good though!).

My dad and I in the ball pit at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania, circa the early 1980s

I would often draw pictures of the Muppets for my dad including the above, nifty picture of Gonzo which is the focal point of the story I am sharing today. I had found this crude drawing a while back and thought it was so funny how I’ve essentially been drawing these characters my whole life. I knew I wanted to do something else—something new—with this fading illustration on dot matrix printer paper, but I wasn’t exactly sure what. 

A few illustrations of the famous weirdo a few years after the original drawing I had done for my dad

Not too long after, I was lucky enough to be invited to the set of the 2015 sitcom, The Muppets. What an absolutely amazing day in my life, but the real opportunity was to use this old illustration to my advantage. Like most dads with their kids, my father is very proud of me, and the opportunities I’ve had to work for the Muppets have been a super fun subject for us to focus on. I decided I was going to give this drawing I did of Gonzo for my dad back to him, only this time with an upgrade. So on the day I went to the set in Burbank, I tucked my old art away until I could show it to the muse who inspired it.

On set talking to Dave Goelz (and Peter Linz hidden behind me). John Kennedy looks on from the side. February 4, 2016

I had briefly met Dave Goelz before, and I was very grateful he remembered me. Goelz has been The Great Gonzo’s performer since 1976 and he is incredibly kind and gracious. Getting to hang out with him and the rest of the crew is easily one of the greatest moments of my life and I wanted to make sure I used my time well. After lunch, people were just hanging out, so I took my chance and approached Dave with my very old, very crude fan art with one request, “Please sign it.” Dave was floored that I would ask him to “ruin” something so special I had made for my dad so long ago. “These things are so precious to me!” he protested. “I can’t!” Here’s where I was able to tell this man who inspired me creatively so much as a child—and well into adulthood—about my father. How we watched everything together when I was a kid, how much we both love the Muppets, how proud he was of me that I was there and having the opportunity to be commissioned by them, and how special it would be now if Gonzo could circle back and justify not just the trajectory of my career, but our entire fandom.

Dave Goelz acquiesced and then asked, “Who should I sign it to?” I explained my father and I both had the same name and are both artists, so it could effectively be for both of us. Dave then added, “Hope this art thing works out for you!” Signed by both Dave himself and everyone’s favorite Whatever. Perfection!

Four months later, I not only gave this newly autographed art back to my father, but included a picture of me around the age I would have been when I first drew it holding a Fisher Price plush Gonzo dress up doll, the Gonzo illustration that was included in one of the commissioned pieces I did for the performers that hung in Dave’s dressing room, and a shot of me holding the old art alongside its subject matter—Gonzo himself.

Little me with my plush Gonzo on top of the Howard Johnson’s in Asbury Park, NJ circa 1983 on the far left

One could make the argument this is a slightly cooler Father’s Day gift than that mug I first got him, but for me it’s confirmation that my dad is really the one who gave me such an incredible gift: a loving superhero of a dad who inspired me just as much if not a whole lot more than the Muppets themselves ever could.

Dad and I with a certain Frog (Christmas 1980), my whole family going to see The Muppets (November 24, 2011), and my dad and Abby Cadabby on the set of Sesame Street (November 1, 2018)

Happy Father’s Day to all you amazing dads who make your kids feel like they can do anything, especially my own father and Dave Goelz too! Follow me on Instagram and Twitter and tune into this blog every Friday for more fun and creative thinking.

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

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.

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

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’s cool, but that’s about it

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!

Everything I Learned About Making A Documentary

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

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.

Sheesh.

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.

Ella Fitzgerald

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.

Sharpie markers, angst, and patience.

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.

Dr. Teeth and Bert & Ernie

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.

Bessie Coleman

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!

The Making of The Great Muppet Mural

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!