Sammy’s Angels

In celebration of season 2 of Green Eggs and Ham being released on Netflix today, I created this new piece I call Sammy’s Angels featuring Sam I Am, his superspy mother Pam I Am, and Guy Am I.

The show is traditional (hand drawn) animation, so why not a hand drawn illustration? This was made with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil.

"Green Eggs and Ham" parody of Charlie's Angels silhouette.
Sammy’s Angels.

Has anyone started to watch the episodes yet? Since everything Guy seems to invent explodes, in the storyboards we made some of the explosions have a blast cloud that looked like Guy’s hat which is why I painted this explosion that way. Hopefully that detail made it into the final show.

Hope you all enjoy our hard work on the show! Soooo many people were involved to bring it to you.

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By the way, I realize something funky is going on with my blog. After a normal post I made last week, some of the look of the blog went haywire. In my attempt to fix it, I think I made it worse. So, for now, it looks strange. My profound apologies.

Pretty In Pink

Hoo boy. I’ve been pretty busy of late finishing up a big book project I’ve been on for the past nine months. Happy to say that the final touches were completed yesterday! There’s always a huge sense of accomplishment when you do that final paint stroke on something you’ve put so much time into.

I know you are curious, but I’ll not get into the specifics about the book until the publishers finish their part and start to promote it, which could be as far away as sometime next year.

So, to celebrate TODAY, how about I post a completely unrelated new image of Minnie Mouse created for a friend late last month? It came to life by way of traditional colored pencil and watercolor on paper!

Now to figure out what big project should be my next endeavor!

 

A smile from Minnie washes all the stress away!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

On this day of Valentines, grab your most cherished loved one and give them a good smooch and a squeeze.

 

Sam I Am is a true food lover.

Away in a Manger

As we enter the Christmas week of a second strange year in a row, I wanted to share with you my official Christmas card for 2021. The art itself was created with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil – a little handmade touch in this digital world of ours.

Away in a Manger is one of the most popular Christmas hymns ever written. Strangely enough, its origin is one of dubious distinction, for it is unclear as to who are the authors.

The first publication of the poem was in 1882 by an anonymous author, and only included the first two stanzas. Confusion reined as to authorship, because the lyrics were titled Luther’s Cradle Song, saying that the poem was written by Martin Luther for his children in the 1500s. Perhaps this was just a fanciful claim by “Anonymous” to lend importance to the words, because there has never been found any version written in Luther’s native German predating this American publication. People read it, believed it, and perpetuated the false Luther authorship idea in continued publications for many years. In 1892, the third and final stanza was published with attribution once again falsely going to Luther. Others later laid claim to writing the third stanza, so the authorship continued to be muddy.

Musically, this song has been performed in dozens of settings, however, just two continue to remain popular to this day. The version that starts on a high note and is sung by many in the United States was published in 1887 by James R. Murray who falsely claimed Martin Luther also wrote the tune. By 1914, the melody was attributed to someone named Carl Meuller, a man who is otherwise unknown to history. So, even with this, we really don’t know who the composer is!

The other popular melody we know today that starts on a deeper note was written by William J. Kirkpatrick and first published in 1895. It is his version that carried this Christmas song beyond America’s borders to become beloved around the world.

Kirkpatrick was born in Ireland, and later moved to America where he settled in the Philadelphia area, eventually becoming involved in being a church organist and composer for the Methodist Episcopal denomination. Whether written on his own or with writing partner John R. Sweney, Kirkpatrick published many hymns that richly live on to this day such as ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus, Blessed Be Thy Name, Will Your Anchor Hold, A Wonderful Savior is Jesus My Lord, Redeemed, O To Be Like Thee, Lead Me to Calvary, We Have an Anchor, and My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.

William J. Kirkpatrick passed away in 1921 while working on a new hymn at his desk. This past August, I visited his grave at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery near Philadelphia.

If only we all could leave behind such a legacy.

 

Adoration of the vermin.

Christmas Coal

Apparently Santa doesn’t have much love for discrimination.

 

So much for the Green New Deal. That’s his 38th bag!

 

A very Merry Christmas to ALL – no matter what your private health choices are!

The Con is On!

Walt Disney – “I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a…”

 

 

Today’s the day! After church, all you Disney fans in the San Francisco Bay Area should head on over to Mouse-Con in Concord. You can meet me, my pal and another former Disney artist Rick Law, the voice actors I mentioned in Thursday’s post, lots of other special guests, and lots of dealers with Disney merch!

Rick and I will actually be giving a talk together at 1pm on one of the stages telling stories of our times at the House of Mouse!

Details are at Mouse-Con’s website by clicking on this sentence!

San Francisco Mouse-Con

Does anyone in the San Francisco area like Disney? On November 7 (this coming weekend), I’ll be a guest at Mouse-Con, a fan-organized Disney-themed convention taking place in the town of Concord, CA. I’ll have a selection of original art available that I’ve created over the past few years like this watercolor and colored pencil piece of Mickey and Goofy! 

 

Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.

 

What’s kind of fun is that I’m actually looking forward to meeting a couple of other of the invited guests that will be there such as Irene Bedard (the voice of Pocahontas), Terry McGovern (voice of Launchpad McQuack in the original DuckTales and Darkwing Duck shows), and John Morris (the voice of Andy in all the Toy Story movies).

Interesting side note – I did a couple of Toy Story coloring/activity books back when the first Toy Story movie came out. In light of that early association with Pixar, it’ll be really neat to meet “Andy!” Should I have him sign the bottom of my shoe?

Oh, and for those of you who are new followers of mine, yes, I’ve worked for Disney off and on over the past 30 years whether in publishing or animation. Come on out and say “hey!” if you are in the area.

Details of the convention can be found at Mouse-Con.com!

Green Eggs For St. Jude!!!

Hey all you GEAH fans!

 

I wanted to let you know that this original watercolor and colored pencil piece is currently available as part of an online auction to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital sponsored by the National Cartoonists Society.
 
I was a member of the story crew for the upcoming season two of Green Eggs and Ham that airs on Netflix, so the art is not just some random fan art. And this scan is way more accurate than the blown-out scan on the auction’s website. So bid with confidence!

Click on the image to enlarge those green eggs and ham!

 
If you like the show, or you have been wanting a piece of my art, here is the unusual opportunity to try for one. The auction ends in TWO days (this Wednesday)! Happy bidding!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE AUCTION!!!

UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who placed bids. Whoever the winner was got a special deal with the final price coming in at $240, $200 of which goes to St. Jude. (The other $40 the auction house claims as their own.)