The Young Muppet Fans Art Extravaganza! Part Two

Welcome back to the Tough Pigs art gallery! It’s part two of the Young Muppet Fans Art Extravaganza (part one can be found here), and today we’ll be looking at works from the past, submitted by the artists now that they’re older and taller and can grow moustaches. Well, some of them can grow moustaches, anyway.

Leighanne M is going to kick things off for us, with this pair of pics of Bert and Ernie she made when she was 4 and 5, respectively.

Regarding the caption on that first picture, Leighanne offers this word of explanation: “I made Ernie’s and Bert’s torsos way too long so I solved the problem by calling them worms. Imagine the Muppet News Flash that would've ensued if Bernice the pigeon were a wormivore.” Leighanne called the second picture “Sharing Schmaring,” and I think it’s a pretty good snapshot of our favorite odd couple.

Hey, I like Sesame Street characters. Let’s see some more. Here’s Mary Catherine O's Big Bird, drawn when she was around 5 years old.

The cool thing about this picture is that it’s a great recreation of an illustration in The Sesame Street ABC Storybook, from a story in which a knightly Big Bird is searching the kingdom for things that begin with the letter A... or possibly for foods which keep the doctor away, I'm not sure which.

Speaking of Sesame characters and books, when Michael H was 7, he affectionately paid homage to – or as he puts it, “blatantly plagiarized” – the literary classic Oscar's Book by creating this three-page work.

It’s powerful stuff. When Oscar begs you not to look at the book on the first page, it only ensures that you must dare to look at the second page, where he begins to warn you that the book will make you crazy, only to think better of it and declare that it’ll make you crazy.

Finally, he asks you to play “mud drag,” whatever that is (the artist has no recollection as to its significance). And you’re right there with him.

It’s a pretty ambitious work, but Michael wasn’t the only one experimenting with long form techniques as a kid. Here’s another selection from 5-year-old Mary Catherine. It’s her adaptation of A Muppet Christmas Carol, complete with “Miss Piggy twins.”

Now I’m going to force you to look at another one of my own childhood drawings. It’s Rowlf the Dog, drawn around the same time as the Kermit I showed you in this original post. (And most likely on the very same day – I work fast when I’m inspired.)

Go for it, Rowlf! Play the heck out of that tiny piano with your differently sized arms!

Here’s something different. When Josh H was 13, he took shop class, where he was assigned to create a shelf. When the teacher said the shelf could take any shape, Josh says his “Muppet senses kicked in, and a light bulb went off,” and he knew he had to make the class’s only Gonzo shelf. Nine weeks later, he had this lovely piece:

Shifting our attention now from Gonzo to Gobo, here are some Fraggle Rock watercolors painted by Justin P way back when he was only three years old. The first one is Gobo flanked by Red and Mokey, and the second one is Pa Gorg.

I’m pretty sure Pa is dancing there. For more Fraggles, we turn back to Leighanne, who drew individual portraits of the show’s main characters.

I think seven-year-old Leighanne could have gotten a job as a portrait artist at Six Flags Over Fraggle Rock.

Wow. Lots of great pictures. But we’re not done yet! Here’s another one from the prolific Mary Catherine – it’s an adorable rendering captioned “One day, Kermit asked Miss Piggy to go to the prom with him.”

After seeing that, I can only assume Piggy is wearing her prom dress is Mary Catherine’s next picture.

And finally, let’s close things out with Stevie B’s shot of the Muppet Show cast, drawn when Stevie was five.

If that picture doesn’t make you smile, you need to pay a visit to the smile repair shop as soon as possible. And that’s what this whole thing was about… the Muppets make kids smile, and kids draw the Muppets, which makes everyone else smile. We all win.

Yikes… this might just be the least cynical ToughPigs.com article ever. What have I done?!

Click here to discuss this article on the Tough Pigs forum! And stay tuned for a possible follow-up exhibition for grown-ups!

The Young Muppet Fans Art Extravaganza! Part One

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen and everyone else, to the Young Muppet Fans Art Extravaganza! The Tough Pigs art gallery is now officially open.

A while back, I asked for samples of Muppety art from kids past and present, and I received some really great submissions. I said “Awwwww!” many, many times while going through these pictures. In fact, I may buy a new refrigerator just so I can display all these works of art.

I’m going to divide up the pictures into categories, and post them in two separate articles, so as no to overwhelm you with cuteness. First up, some art from the kids of the 21st century.

Let’s start things off with two drawings of Pino. Pino is Big Bird’s counterpart from the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street, and he’s rendered here by 8-year-old Ana and 7-year-old Anouk.

He certainly looks happy to have achieved the dream of seeing his name in blocks. Next up, let’s take a look at a trio of Kermits. Inspired by a Fisher-Price puppet, 8-year-old Sofie drew a Kermit who seems to be saying, “Make love, not war:”

Next, 12-year-old H. used the time-honored medium of pencil to create this Kermit:

And 12-year-old J. drew our favorite flippered fellow chillin’ in the swamp. Note the accurate depiction of Kermit playing banjo left-handed, a detail some professional illustrators don’t even get right.


Speaking of Kermit, how about a picture that tells the timeless story of love between a frog and a pig? The pig’s little doggy is there too, in this work of art by 6-year-old Gillian.


The text reads: The Muppet Party Cruise: The Muppet Show

They love each other. They are family forever. They lived happily [ever] after.

Piggy: “I love you Kermit”
Kermit: “I love you too Piggy”
Piggy: “I love you Foo-Foo”
Foo-Foo: “roof-roof roof-roof”

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Thank you for coming to The Muppet Show.

A happier work of art I’ve never seen. You know what else makes me happy? The Electric Mayhem. And here they are, rendered by 8-year-old Sara. (Eight seems to be a good age for Muppet art. Maybe that’s when we reach our Muppet-drawing peak.)


I especially like Sara’s artistic choice of leaving the whole picture black and white except for Dr. Teeth’s gold tooth. Very striking. Also: Just how cool is Floyd? He’s so cool he can play in the band without his bass. Continuing with Sara’s theme of Muppet Show musicians, here’s Rowlf, joined by some singing chickens.


Say, those are some nice-looking Muppet chickens. It’s a good thing, then, that Sara continued the Chicken Period of her career with this flattering portrait of Camilla.


Among the e-mails I received in response to the call for entries was one from a Mr. Hai hoa, who writes:

“hihihihi”

Well hello to you too, buddy, but I’m afraid you forgot to include any Muppet art. Maybe next time get your kid to whip up a picture of Harvey Kneeslapper, or something.

Let’s close out this category of the exhibition with a series of Sesame Street character studies by 5-year-old Miles. First up, two Caroll Spinney characters – Shivers the Penguin and Bennett Snerf. Just kidding! It’s Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.


That’s a nest of baby birds accompanying Big Bird there. Perhaps he’s babysitting for his Uncle Slim. Next, Miles gives us one of the biggest Sesame characters and one of the smallest. It’s Snuffy (joined by a baby snuffleupagus) and Slimey (puppet wire included).


Finally, here’s an image I’d like to have on a T-shirt: It’s Miles’ depiction of Cookie Monster.


What’s the matter with kids today? Not a thing, judging by these fantastic pictures. Muppet fan spirit is alive and well in the current generation, and I don’t know about you, but that gives me hope for the future of mankind.

Now that we’ve been amazed and inspired by those works of art, here’s some silly stuff just for fun. When I posted the call for entries, I suggested that those without access to pictures by actual kids could create some new artwork using kid-inspired techniques. I got a handful of entries… all of which came from my friends from the Tough Pigs forum… and myself. But here they are.

I want to mention that the next ten pictures you’ll see here were drawn wrong-handed, to simulate childhood motor functions, thus ensuring authenticity. Here’s a Sam the Eagle, drawn by me. In the interest of maintaining the joke, I’m going to say that I was eight when I drew this.


Here’s an obscure character and an old favorite – Marlon Fraggle from Fraggle Rock and Scooter. I’ll say I was 10 and 12, respectively, when I drew these.


And here’s my portrait of the Count with his girlfriend, the Countess. I think this looks like the work of a 5-year-old Ryan.


Next up, a series of fake childhood drawings by Joe. Here are three monsters – Cookie Monster, Telly, and a very specific Beautiful Day Monster (from a season one Bert & Ernie sketch.)


And here's fake young Joe's take on a Honker:


And now, from Michal, here are three Sesame Street characters: Herry, Guy Smiley, and Lefty the salesman.


And here’s Michal’s crayon drawing of a Doozer. It’s worth noting that Michal drew this upside-down in order to further the kid aesthetic.


Finally, we’ll close out this category with Shawn’s vibrant portrait of Kremit. I mean, Kermit.

I’m not sure whether Shawn used his right hand or his wrong hand to create that, but it captures the kid aesthetic nicely.

That’s it for part one, but click here for part two, featuring lots of great vintage fan art by kid Muppet fans who have since grown up to become mature, well-adjusted grown-ups who occasionally sing Rubber Duckie in their cars.

Click here to discuss this article on the Tough Pigs forum!

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