ToughPigs Art: Gorch But Not Forgotten

A few months back, we spotlighted the incredibly talented Jay Fosgitt. At the end of said spotlight, I promised to follow-up with his "Gorch But Not Forgotten" comic strip. Sure, we may be a little late, but our timing couldn't be better.

Jay's first graphic novel, "Dead Duck", is being published by Ape Entertainment, set for release on November 25th. According to Muppet comics cover artist David Peterson, "Jay has a remarkable sense of humor, blending together the sensibilities of the Muppets, the Marx Bros, Monty Python and Benny Hill." Hopefully since you're on this website, you enjoy at least two of those things. Click here to preorder the book from Amazon.com and then brag that you were a fan of Jay Fosgitt before anyone else.

In equally exciting news, Jay recently pitched his "Gorch But Not Forgotten" series to Archaia Comics (the publisher of the upcoming Fraggle Rock, Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth comics), so the comics you're about to read may be just the beginning of this new Gorch saga. Hopefully Archaia will be smart enough not to turn a good thing down, and the success of "Dead Duck" will help get those Gorch comics into our hands.

So without further ado, I bring you Jay Fosgitt's "Gorch But Not Forgotten". (Remember, click for embiggening!)

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joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

ToughPigs Art: Characters, Controversies, and Cartoons!

After taking a well-deserved break (which may or may not have had anything to do with a broken computer), we're pleased as punch to welcome back ToughPigs' own Chris Smigliano to the round table! Let's see what Smig's got up his sleeve this time around...

First up, more character profiles!

The big news of last week was the D23 Expo, and it looks like Smig got in the mood with some wacky Disney satire (which is the best kind of Disney satire).

And the big news from the week before was Steve Whitmire's mysterious absence from Kermit's live appearances. Leave it to Smig to cauterize the wounds with more satire!

Lastly, a lesson in puppetry, followed by an illustration Smig made for the San Diego Comic con in 1990, shortly after Jim Henson's death.

A million thanks to Smig for all of his fantastic work!

Click here to bury Bean Bunny on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

ToughPigs Art: Ivan Guerrero

Let's take a quick spin in our WABAC Machine, all the way back to the first half of this decade. The early 2000's were plagued with ownership issues for the Muppets, some dim-witted cowboy living in the White House, and the horror that is Good Boy. But the glimmer of hope that we all held on to was the phenomenal action figures produced by Palisades Toys.

Aside from the high-quality toys Palisades churned out, they were universally loved for their willingness to reach out to the fans via their own message board. The Palisades board allowed the fans to pose a multitude of questions to the staff, as well as give their input on future figures and accessories.

One of their recurring outreach projects was an art contest, in which fans would create designs featuring the Palisades action figures. Many of the submissions were absolutely brilliant, but none as impressive as Ivan Guerrero's. Ivan created some of the most elaborate fan art I've ever seen, and he was kind enough to allow us to share his pieces with us, both to give the images a new home, as well as remind us of Palisades' legacy.

Remember, click on the images to large-ify them. You're gonna want to see these in full detail.

This first image is called "A Very Scary Muppet Halloween," and features over 300 Photoshop layers. The picture raises two perplexing questions: Is Lew Zealand inherently evil? and Who killed Rizzo?
The next image is the same as the first, but with its original framing. And no Halloween portrait is complete without Shifty-Eyed Sam.
"The Great Muppet Christmas Caper" sports over 800 Photoshop layers, plus animated fireworks. I had a feeling that Doozers worked in Santa's Workshop (because seriously, who believes in elves??). The detail work in this image is fantastic. For example, the stained-glass window in the lower right corner, or the Christmas specials on the TVs in the upper right.
The last image may be Ivan's best known, as well as his most impressive. "Muppet Monsters Ball" boasts over 1200 Photoshop layers and over 230 monsters, aliens, and otherwise creepy characters. Think you can name them all? If you can (and if you want to bother trying), you're a geekier fan than I.
Of course, I'd be remiss to deny you the legend for the above picture. And now you'll know exactly where to find the Flabberdragon.
Many special thanks to Ivan Guerrero for his fantastic work!

Click here to find out how many Photoshop layers we use on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

ToughPigs Art: Katie Cook!

Every so often, we're lucky enough to stumble upon a talented artist with a good deal of Muppet illustrations in her portfolio. And sometimes we're even luckier because she agrees to let us showcase her work here on ToughPigs.

We're pleased to present artist Katie Cook, who has a lot of geeky illustrations on her website including Star Wars, Harry Potter, DC and Marvel superheroes, and more.

First up is a group of trading card-style pictures of all your favorite Muppet Show characters (and Gonzo in that weird jumpsuit the Palisades folks put him in). The second pic is Kermit and Piggy dressed as DC Comics' Green Arrow and Black Canary. Or if you don't know who they are, feel free to pretend they're Robin Hood and a hooker.

Next up is Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem and the Riverbottom Nightmare Band. Can you imagine the two of them at a Battle of the Bands? My eardrums are already vibrating.

Lastly, we've got a quintet of Fraggle Rock illustrations. Now that we know Fraggle comics are on their way, I hope the folks at Archaia Comics are paying attention!

UPDATE: Looks like one more image slipped past my radar. Here's a sketch Katie did with a helmet wrapped in a bow (and, y'know, Gonzo and Camilla or whatever).
Special thanks to Katie Cook for being supertalented and superawesome!

Click here to discuss this article on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

The Mystery of the O-Sleeve: Results!

A few weeks ago, I called upon you to submit your own redesign to the upcoming Letters to Santa DVD, which will sport the mysterious and captivating O-Sleeve. Much to my surprise, a few of you actually sent pictures in! Well done, few-of-you!

Let's take a looksee at what ToughPigs readers think of Letters to Santa and that pesky O-Sleeve.

Scott H.

Phil

Rob Z.

Ryan R.

Eli C.

Joe H.

Anthony S.

Allison

Special thanks to everyone who submitted a picture! You guys are all aces in my book.

Click here to discuss Stephen King's level of talent on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

ToughPigs Art: More Character Spotlights!

In honor of our new fancy Twitter icon (Twidder? Twitterbug?), let's check out some more art by ToughPigs' own Smig!

First up, Smig is continuing his character spotlight illustrations with a few familiar faces (and one whose face might not be the first thing you notice).

And here's a few comics about the three H's: History, Hell, and Henson. Unfortunately, there is no comic about Halitosis.

Click here to discuss this article on the ToughPigs forum!

joe.toughpigs@gmail.com

ToughPigs Art: Ali Spagnola

This is a True Story:

In June 2008, I caught wind of an artist who was doing something unusual on her website: Ali Spagnola was offering to create paintings and ship them to people for exactly free. That's zero dollars free. I poked around and saw it was no hoax (she subsidizes the work with PayPal donations), so I dropped her an e-mail asking for a painting. I asked for something Muppet-related, and Ali could be creative with whatever she'd like to paint for me. About three seconds later, I completely forgot about sending the e-mail.

Eight months later (to the day!) I received an e-mail from Ali saying that my painting was finished and ready to ship. It seemed that 750 people were in line ahead of me, and free paintings are first-come first-served. A few days later, the painting below was delivered by the US Postal Service.
The day after getting the e-mail from Ali (but before receiving the painting in the mail), I got an e-mail from friend-of-ToughPigs, Thomas, who runs the Superman blog Say It Backwards. Thomas thought I'd enjoy hearing that he also received a painting from Ali. He requested a picture of his favorite Muppet, Beautiful Day Monster. Was it coincidence that put both of those e-mails in my inbox within a day of each other? Yeah, probably.
Jealous??? Click here to request a painting from Ali Spagnola (but keep in mind that she has a 400-person waiting list), and don't be stingy by ignoring her PayPal icon!

Special thanks to Ali and Thomas for their hard work!

Click here to discuss Doozers, Monsters, and watercolors on the ToughPigs forum!

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Muppet Rawk 2009, Part 2

Continuing our saga of rock-inspired Muppet parodies, we now bring you the second half of this year's Muppet Rawk series. If you missed the first part, then give this link a click or two to enjoy the pictorial goodness.

And once again, if you're in the Seattle area, stop by the Ouch My Eye gallery to see these works in person. The Muppet Rawk exhibit will be on display until May 31.

Don't forget, click the pics to see them in Large Vision (tm)!

Artist - Anton Bogaty / The Doors - The Best of the Doors

Using Beaker in this picture really captured the gauntness of Jim Morrison. It also raises the question: Was Beaker born without nipples, or were they burnt off in a horrible Muppet Labs experiment?

Artist - Marc Palm / Big Brother and the Holding Company - Cheap Thrills

This picture is already really impressive, but it's doubly so when you can compare every frame to its counterpart on the original album. Of course, we all know that Sesame Street already called dibs on that parody.

Artist - Jordan Kotzebue / The Clash - London Calling

This picture makes a lot more sense when you know that Gonzo is smashing that guitar as a part of his act. He just got finished reciting the lyrics to the M*A*S*H theme song with a mouth-full of M&Ms.

Artist - Bill McEvoy / Kiss - solo albums

These three pictures were the only ones of the bunch that stumped me. The best I could figure is that they're parodying the KISS solo albums from 1978. Fozzie in particular has got to be a parody of Gene Simmons, but the other two I'm not so sure. If anyone has any insight, please let me know. Especially if you're Bill McEvoy.

Artist - Christine Bian / Madonna - Like a Virgin

Once again, Piggy is parodying Madonna's Like a Virgin album. I should just cut-and-paste my comments from the last Muppet Rawk article. And I'm lazy enough to do it too!

Artist - Maxx Marshall / Funkadelic - Maggot Brain

I feel bad for the model on the Funkadelic album cover. First she's buried up to her neck just for a photo shoot, and then she's parodied by a pig with an afro.

Artists - Aaron Jasinski (Kermit) & Noah Maas (Bunsen) / Nirvana - Nevermind

Double points go to the Bunsen image for being anatomically correct. And they say size don't matter!

Artist - Tim Gillette / Ol' Dirty Bastard - The Definitive Ol' Dirty Bastard Story

Old? Check. Dirty? Check. A bastard? Check. Looks like Oscar fits that role pretty well!

Artist - Rafael Calonzo / Janet Jackson - janet.

I am equal parts disturbed and turned on right now.

Artist - Adriana Ferguson / Radiohead - Pablo Honey

That's a pretty good look for Big Bird. I think he'd make a good coaster.

Artist - Jodie Niss / Robert Wotherspoon - Music to Massage Your Mate By

This image is interesting because I could only find the original album on the "bizarre records" blogs. But is the parody more or less bizarre than the original? You decide.

Artist - Memo Diaz / Mötley Crüe - Theatre of Pain

If you asked me, both Statler and Waldorf are comedy. If you asked them, they'd both be tragedy.

Artist - Marsh Rollinger / Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard of Ozz

This is the second best Gaffer fan art I've ever seen.

Artist - Ben Walker / Ramones logo

When I run for President, I will make this my official seal. Also, watching Studio DC will be considered treason.

Artist - Lawrence Ruelos / Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

"This show is so terrible, I had to set myself on fire! Doh ho ho ho! OK, now seriously, put me out. It burns." (Note: This is why I'm not a writer for the Muppets.)

Special thanks to Lawrence Ruelos for being my supercool Muppet Rawk liason!

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joe.toughpigs@gmail.com