Alice Through the Wine Glass.

I thought this one up while sitting through my daughter's High School production of Alice in Wonderland.

The Muppets' newest addition.

Here are the Muppets, fresh off of their movie Muppets: Most Wanted with the newest Muppet member, Ricky Gervais.

Duck Commander cornhole boards.

I was recently commissioned to re-work my original Duck Dynasty caricature to appear on a very limited-edition beanbag (or cornhole) game.

In fact, there were only 4 sets made. I was given one...

 ...and another was personally carried by Rick Kiesling, the board maker to give to the folks at Duck Commander.

 In the picture above, you can see Phil Robertson with Rick's family and the boards. The boards are sturdy and high quality. Even the bags are themed to match the boards. If you need boards made like this, give Rick a holler. He's the best!

Rick later asked me if I could design a "Ladies of Duck Commander" board, for his own personal use and possibly to give as another set if he ever visited Duck Commander again.

Go Go Gonzilla!

"♪♫Oh, no, they say he's a weirdo, GO GO GONZILLA! Oh, no, there goes Tokyo, GO GO GONZILLA!♪♫"  My latest illustration.

 Yes, those paratroopers coming down from the sky are chickens.

This design and many more is available on t-shirts and other merchandise here:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11621578-gonzilla

Birds, Bears and Automobiles

My latest illustration. Try not to linger too long on what the "Those aren't pillows!" scene would look like.

For those eagle-eyed (get it?) viewers, the stickers on the trunk are the same stickers included with the "Vacation Fozzie" figure from Palisades.

You can buy this image on t-shirts, prints and other merchandise here:

 http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11565241-birds-bears-and-automobiles

He-Man Cub

I just made this stupid thing just for you. You're welcome.

  You can get this image on shirts, prints and other merchandise here:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11555119-he-mancub

Sherlock analyzes Holmes.

Here's my latest caricature. Sherlock Holmes analyzes John Watson, from the BBC's amazing program Sherlock.

You can get this image on shirts, prints and other merchandise here: 

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11539116-sherlock-analyzes-watson

It's official, I'm a member of the National Cartoonists Society!

Well, I've received the decoder ring, learned the secret handshake and now I've been added to the member directory to the prestigious National Cartoonists Society. Check it out here: http://www.reuben.org/ncs-members/members-directory/

The Walking Dead - Cast Caricature.

This is a cast caricature I did of The Walking Dead as of mid-season 4. There are 6 cast members in the center, several of the iconic settings in the background, 10 deceased characters around the border and 60 unique “generic” walkers finishing it off. This is going to be an ever-evolving piece where characters will be added and changed periodically as the show progresses.

This image is available on prints, t-shirts and other items here:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11456231-the-walking-dead-by-kenny-durkin

The Ribbit

My latest Muppet Parody. Available NOW!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11354357-the-ribbit

Ernie and Bert

Couple of old friends I sketched out in ArtStudio on the iPad.

Hunting camp group caricature

Latest illustration I did for a hunting camp. This was a blast to do!

Winnie the Hutt.

Sometimes I have ideas that are so stupid, I just HAVE to do them.

Available on shirts, prints and other merchandise here:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/11053030-winnie-the-hutt

Zombie Garden Gnomes are here!

One of my favorite clients is Garden Gnome World. I've designed a series of political garden gnomes for them, which you can read about here: 

http://durkinworks.blogspot.com/2012/11/get-your-barack-obama-and-mitt-romney.html 

The Obama garden gnome is still available, as is the Romney garden gnome (reduced to $5).

I designed the latest line for the company. This time, I did Zombie garden gnomes as well as "survivors" who protect you from them. 

I developed each character, and did turnarounds of each one.

   My artwork was also used in the packaging.

There are three gnomes available in the first wave. The "Walker":

The "Crawler":

And the "Axe Survivor":

All three gnomes are available right now at GardenGnomeWorld.com Get them now in plenty of time for Halloween and the upcoming Season 4 of  The Walking Dead!

New Duck Dynasty caricature

I decided with the new season of Duck Dynasty coming out, to draw another Duck Dynasty cartoon as a thank you to the Robertson family and the fans just for fun. 

I could easily caricature these guys all day. Happy Happy Happy!

Duck Dynasty Caricature Cartoon T-shirts are EVERYWHERE!

Whew! A lot can happen in a month! After 12 1/2 years of living in Florida, I have moved back to Wisconsin. It's great to be back home. My wife Andi is 8 months pregnant, and I'm settling in to the exciting life of a freelance artist. My Duck Dynasty shirts have expanded to include more of my cartoon designs and more retailers! 

There are currently 5 of my designs available on 6 shirts at Walmart: 

This Duck Dynasty shirt of the boys in a boat and the "Boys Will be Boys" design are available on blue shirts in the boy's section at Kohl's:

...and this design, previously available only in light tan is now offered on an olive shirt in men's, as is the yellow shirt with Si for boy's at Shopko: 

My artwork is showing up everywhere! I'm so overwhelmed and humbled. Please contact me if you find other designs that you think are mine, or see these shirts at other retailers. As always, keep coming back for more updates!

Duck Dynasty by Kenny Durkin

It all started innocently enough…

A few months ago, when I was still a caricature artist at Disney World, I had yet another shift of endlessly drawing little girls as princesses and mermaids. Frustrated, I came home CRAVING the need to draw something I was satisfied with. I rarely watch TV, but decided to flip through the channels to find some interesting faces. I came upon a marathon of A&E's show Duck Dynasty. Now THESE were some great faces!

At first glance, I figured it would be pretty easy to caricature these guys. All of them had long hair, some sort of headwear, and long beards.  The challenge for me was to capture their differences. What became immediately apparent, was their unique personalites. They weren't just funny, they were smart and highly entertaining.

I watched episode after episode and decided to do a group shot of the four main characters and the matriarch of the family, Miss Kay.

I inked the piece.

Then, as usual, I scanned it and colored it in Photoshop.

I was pretty proud of it, so I posted it in the usual places, this blog, Deviantart, Twitter, and of course Facebook. A friend of mine shared it on A&;E's official Duck Dynasty Facebook page. And that's when it happened...

Over 98,000 likes, 20,000+ shares and over 1,300 comments. With every share, more comments, more likes and more shares. It went viral, permeating message boards, Pinterest, and even spawning bootlegs. The positive response was overwhelming! I received a ton of requests for prints and T-shirts of the caricature. I held out for the right response, and I got it when I was contacted by the official apparel licensee for the show. They wanted to use the image for t-shirts and merchandise and even wanted me to create all-new images based on the show. After some negotiations, we were on our way.

It was decided that the first image was to appear on boy's shirts, so Miss Kay, the hearts and the gun would have to go. I removed them and replaced the gun with a fishing pole and tackle box.

This image has actually been spotted in the WOMEN"S department of Walmart, on a khaki shirt. Let me know if you see it (and take some pics)!

The second image I created was Si, Phil and Jase in a monster truck. Here's the sketch;

Here's the final art:

 This image is currently available at Walmart. It's been spotted in the sporting goods section, in electronics by the DVDs and in the Men's department, both with regular merchandise and on special displays like this:

I can't tell you how exciting it is to have artwork featured in the #1 retailer in the world. It's very surreal and hasn't really sunk in yet. It's like an out-of -body experience.

So awesome to see one of my designs enjoyed by everyone!

Dead Charlie and Zombie Bob vs. The Zombie Brothers

A few years ago, I wrote and illustrated a short story called "Dead Charlie and Zombie Bob", which I first posted in Aug 2011 here:

http://durkinworks.blogspot.com/search?q=dead+charlie&max-results=20&by-date=true

It was featured in the horror comic anthology "Dark Mischief volume 2" available here:

http://indyplanet.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7724

Recently, an animated short was produced for Nick called "The Zombie Brothers", and the character designs look awfully familiar…

Loving tribute, blatant ripoff, or mere coincidence? (I'm guessing the latter).

I'm going to let this one go. The short is funny and well animated. I wish the creators the best of luck

 (but if they ever make Zombie Brother action figures, I'd love a set…) 

Muppet Madness 2013 Tournament winner

The 2013 Muppet Madness Tournament is over and the winner just happens to be my favorite Muppet, Rowlf.

I was asked by Steve Swanson, who heads the tournament to create art celebrating the winner. I did the art for the final two contestants, as seen in the post below, and so I decided to stick with the boxing theme, and do it in the style of the famous Rocky movie posters.

2013 Muppet Madness Tournament poster

This is a fun picture I did for Steve Swanson. He runs the Muppet-related podcast Muppetcast and organizes the annual Muppet Madness Tournament.

 "The Tournament is a parody of the NCAA March Madness Tournament, in which selected Muppet characters face off and advance in rounds, based on fans' online voting support. Muppet Madness begins on March 19, the same day as the NCAA tournament, and concludes on April 8, when the Muppet Madness Champion will be named."

The poster is of course based on old boxing posters. I was provided with the Muppet Madness logo and the final two contestants. I drew the characters and made up the rest of the text myself. Eagle-eyed Muppet fans will notice several inside jokes on the poster.