A Charlie Brown Christmas

The 60s/70s were a great time for Christmas specials on TV. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), Frosty the Snowman (1969), and Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970) all made their debuts then. Even the second tier specials like The Little Drummer Boy (1968), The Year Without Santa (1974), and Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) came out during those decades.

They are all available on DVD now but there is still something special about gathering the family around the TV to relive the memories of Christmas' past.

Where are the new Christmas specials that my kids will be nostalgic about in 20 years?

Happy Belated Thanksgiving

I know it's a little late but here's an image from Tex Avery's "Jerky Turkey". I had something besides my friends and family to be thankful for this year....the time to draw.

Here's hoping you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the tryptophan from the turkey wore off in time for you to get up for work today.

Snagglepuss

This one is a request from one of my visitors (ok...it was my sister-in-law) for that other pink panther, Snagglepuss. I don't remember Snagglepuss that well except for his two catchphrases, "Heavens to Mergatroid!" and "Exit stage left!"

If any other visitors have requests, I'd be happy to try and draw whatever characters you can come up with.

Alternative Monster Cereals Part IV: Creature from the Froot Lagoon

Here's the last drawing in my alternative monster cereal series. I hope you all have a safe and spooky Halloween.

Alternative Monster Cereals Part III: Raisin the Dead

This drawing shows what happens when a California Raisin comes back from the dead. I imagine him shuffling around and moaning, "Brrrraaaaaannn"

Alternative Monster Cereals Part II: Nosferatutti Frutti

This one is based on the silent vampire movie 'Nosferatu'. I guess this guy would be related to Count Chocula.

Alternative Monster Cereals Part I: Giant Ape Grape

I thought I'd try my hand at some original monster art. The next few posts are my ideas for alternative monster cereals.

Monster Cereals Part V: Yummy Mummy

Wikipedia helped me remember this discontinued monster cereal. Yummy Mummy was introduced in 1987 and discontinued in 1993. I vaguely remember this one being on store shelves but don't know if I ever tried it as I was in high school/college during it's run.

Monster Cereals Part IV: Fruit Brute

I have to be honest, I don't remember this one at all. However, doing my diligent pre-drawing research I found a wikipedia entry for each of the monster cereals. Turns out this cereal was introduced in 1974 and discontinued in 1983.

According to wikipedia, Quentin Tarantino is a fan of this cereal as a box appears in both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Monster Cereals Part III: Boo Berry

This is my least favorite of the monster cereals, though my brother Eric swears by it. Like Franken Berry this cereal is only available around Halloween now.

Monster Cereals Part II: Count Chocula

This is my second favorite monster cereal, though mainly because there are so many other chocolate cereal alternatives. This is the one monster cereal that remains available year-round, though I have to say I don't see it advertised very much any more. (and with three kids I watch enough kid vid to see lots of cereal commercials)

Monster Cereals Part I: Franken Berry

In honor of the upcoming Halloween festivities I thought I'd post some drawings of the various "Monster Cereals" from General Mills. First up is my personal favorite: Franken Berry.

Franken Berry is hard to find these days. However, Target and Wal-Mart seem to carry it every year around Halloween. I buy a box every year to relive my childhood, but my kids have gotten hooked on the cereal so I usually only get one bowl a year. (sigh)

Popeye Part V: Poopdeck Pappy

Popeye's father also appeared for the first time in the "Goonland" cartoon. In the cartoon he's called 'Pappy' but I believe his full name is Poopdeck Pappy.

Popeye Part IV: The Goon

This guy came from the 1938 cartoon "Goonland" in which Popeye rescues his Pappy from the Island of Goons.

Popeye Part III: Eugene The Jeep

Yet another character who's background story I don't know. As far as I know this guy's only job was to track down Swee'Pea when he wandered away. He could turn invisible, walk on the ceiling, walk through walls, and fly.

Rumor has it the military nicknamed their 4x4 truck 'Jeep' because the vehicle could go anywhere, just like the cartoon character.

Popeye Part II: Swee'Pea

I have to admit I don't know the story behind Swee'Pea. Who's kid is it, Popeye and Olyve's? (gasp....out of wedlock)

Popeye Part I: Wimpy

I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. I must have had a worse case of workis interruptis than I thought. (sigh)

The next few posts will be black and white drawings of various Popeye characters in honor of the new DVD, Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Vol. 1

Here's Wimpy (full name - J. Wellington Wimpy) who's catch phrase is, "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Tony the Tiger

I know that Frosted Flakes are 'Grrrrreat!!!', but I never understood why Tony the Tiger looks so fit. If all he eats are Frosted Flakes shouldn't he be a chubby, hyperactive tiger? However, if you look closely you will see that he has no teeth.

Johnny Bravo

I believe Johnny would say, "Whoa mama!" to the last few posts.

Cartoon Women Part III - Olive Oyl

Who better to post after Betty Boop and Red Hot Riding Hood than Olive Oyl? Popeye and Bluto couldn't resist her when she struck a pose like this.

Cartoon Women Part II - Red Hot Riding Hood

This is from the Tex Avery classic 'Red Hot Riding Hood'. You may remember it as the one where the wolf does dozens of crazy takes. (e.g. eyes popping out of his head, jaw hitting floor, etc.) Overall this turned out OK, but I'm not happy with the eyes.

Cartoon Women Part I - Betty Boop

I've never been very good at drawing female characters so I thought I'd try practicing a little. Who better to start with than Betty Boop. Betty was the first female character to be the star of her own cartoons. She was a very popular character in the 30s for the Fleischer studio.

Speedy Gonzales

Foghorn Leghorn

And now back to our regularly scheduled color drawings...

Black and White Drawings Part III - Mr. Magoo

Black and White Drawings Part II - Garfield

Black and White Drawings Part I - Felix the Cat

The majority of my posts are color drawings. I thought I'd branch out and post some black & white images.

The Evolution of Woody Woodpecker Part III

The Evolution of Woody Woodpecker Part II

The Evolution of Woody Woodpecker Part I

Here's a picture I drew based on a series of Woody Woodpecker mini-maquettes. (http://www.electrictiki.com/classic%20toons/woody.html)

Porky Watson

The partner of Sherlock Daffy...

Settle down Beavis!

Here's Butthead's partner in crime. (I'm working on getting a better scan...don't know why the color came out so funky)

Another Blog Entry

Huh huh....he said blog...huh huh huh...

Sam Sheepdog

This is one of work-a-day Sam Sheepdog. I always loved that he and the wolf would become friends once they punched out of the time clock each day.

A Pup Named Scooby Doo

This is from the cartoon "A Pup Named Scooby Doo". Someday, when my kids have kids, they may want to own all the epsiodes of this on HD-DVD or whatever the preferred video format is in the future.

Hong Kong Phooey

Keeping with the theme of cartoons you can buy on DVD (Amazon.com link)....here's my not so great attempt at Hong Kong Phooey. I think this cartoon had the best theme music of any TV cartoon. (link to theme) Can you think of a better one?

Danger Mouse

Danger Mouse is a British cartoon that aired on Nickelodeon in the 80s here in the US. It's one of those cartoons that was meant for kids but had verbal jokes that were aimed at adults. All the seasons of DM are available on DVD. (Amazon.com link)

With all the terrorist activity going on in the UK these days, they could use the "greatest secret agent in the world".

Woody Woodpecker

I'm anxiously awaiting the release of all the theatrical Woody Woodpecker cartoons on DVD. Currently release date is July 24th. (Amazon.com link)

Elmer Fudd

Elmer's happy hunting wabbits with his trusty shotgun at his side.

Cornelius Cat

Here's the cat I created to go along with Biff Bulldog. (shown in an earlier post)

Filmore

Here's a drawing of Filmore from 'Cars'. It was a brilliant bit of voice casting to have the "hippie dippy weatherman", George Carlin, voice a hippie VW microbus.

Daffy Dragnet

This one is from the cartoon 'Rocket Squad' in which Daffy and Porky do a futuristic spoof of Dragnet. My favorite quote from the cartoon is, "My name's Monday. My partner's name is Tuesday. He always follows me."

Happy Father's Day

Sylvester is the only major Looney Tunes character that has a kid. Here's to all my fellow Fathers out there in cycberspace.

Old Fashioned Cartooning IV

An old time baseball player from 'How to draw cartoon animation'.

Old Fashioned Cartooning III

Here's my drawing of the classic cartoon tough guy, a bulldog named Biff.

Old Fashioned Cartooning II

My half-assed attempt at drawing a cartoony Heisman pose....at least the cleats look good.

Old Fashioned Cartooning

I received a Walter Foster book, as an Xmas gift, called "How to draw cartoon animation". It has a lot of useful info on drawing but the characters shown are very much from the 1930s style of animation. The image above is my take on the bear cub included in the book.

Droopy

In keeping with the Tex Avery theme, here's a drawing of one of his creations....Droopy.

Tex Avery

Tex Avery is one of the greatest animation directors of all time. He worked at several major studios (including Disney, Warner Bros, and MGM) and he's responsible for creating several famous cartoon characters. (including Daffy Duck and Droopy) While at MGM he did a series of cartoons featuring a black cat. These were among my favorite cartoons growing up. I'm not 100% sure but I believe this drawing is from the cartoon 'Ventriloquist Cat'.

Update - I double checked and this image is indeed from 'Ventriloquist Cat'
(see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rI1eU399ao)

The Seven Dwarfs - Sneezy

The last of my Seven Dwarfs drawings...an appropriate one given that my allergies have been bugging me lately.