Back to the blog!

 It's official. I'm back to the Durkinworks blog!

It's been a long hiatus. At one time, I was posting on this blog every single day. It was a great way to show off my artwork and chronicle what was going on in my life. But then social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky,Threads, MyGlue, and Cara came along, and I got on ALL of them.

The problem is, most of these sites don't favor artists like me. The gatekeepers tend to take posts linking to videos or selling merch out of rotation. The also, eventually, devolve into ad-driven posts with bot infused arguing and bullying.

I'm going to remain on these sites, they're a means to an end. But I miss this blog. Here, I'm able to share more long form or in depth posts. I'm a control freak, and I miss the control.

So welcome back, and please stay tuned. I've been pent up for too long, and there's a lot on the way!

Readeez: The soundtrack of our lives

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Readeez: The soundtrack of our lives.

As a seasoned dad, I've heard a ton of kid's music and seen countless kid's videos over the years. My two oldest children were preschool age in the late 1990's through the early 2000's. Their favorite things to watch and listen to were the Disney animated movies, Mary Poppins, and television shows like Bear in the Big Blue House, Roly Poly Oly and PB&J Otter. 

Fast-forward to 2010. I remarried and our son Jett was born. He was subsequently diagnosed with Down Syndrome. We had always planned on raising him through less "contemporary" means, (we practice attachment parenting, elimination communication, co-sleeping etc), and with the diagnosis, we doubled our strategy.

We wanted to give him every chance possible to grow and thrive. The biggest area of our focus was his brain. We wanted to stimulate and challenge his mind constantly every single day. 

When we were studying about teaching Jett to speak and read, we came across Readeez, the creation of  Michael Rachap. Readeez are short videos, usually musical, where you see and hear every syllable at the same time.(Michael calls this SyllableSync). Readeez are way to learn reading, spelling, math and more. Here's an introduction to the Readeez concept:

https://vimeo.com/367654861

We got Readeez volume 1 on DVD and we were hooked. The videos were simple, yet engaging. The music was infectious. We immediately got the entire Readeez catalogue and added it to Jett's daily therapy.

Immediately, there was a shift in Jett's comprehension and vocabulary. He began sight reading at 17 months, at 21 months he could sound out words at 25 months his reading level was late kindergarten (for those who haven't seen them, scroll through and check out the videos here). Readeez is always on in the car or playing on the stereo. They're on my iPod and I've even listen to them while mowing the lawn! I find myself humming the songs even when I'm not around Jett.

We owe a lot to Readeez. It's a gentle, smart way to introduce your child to learning, and the songs are instantly memorable. Because Readeez is such a integral part of our daily lives, I felt I had to do a tribute to Michael Rachap. For you Readeez fans out there, see if you can find all of the song references.

Big thanks Michael, Isabel, Julian, Miss Olivia and everyone else over at Readeez for everything you do.

Father of the Brood - The Brood Awakens! Now available!

Exciting news! Father of the Brood, my semi-autobiographical online comic has been compiled in a new book, now available!

Father of the Brood – The Brood Awakens is a collection of the first 130+ strips as they appeared online. This specially annotated edition, including the “story behind the story” features the cartoon for the first time in print.

Order yours today!

http://www.indyplanet.us/product/151117/

Hello Portland!

I will be travelling to Portland, OR May 26th 2017 for the annual National Cartoonists Society Reuben Awards Weekend.

 In addition to the usual seminars and activities, we will also be drawing for patients at the Doernbecher Children's Hospital Cartooning for Kids Day on Friday, and many of us will be participating in a public signing event Sunday, May 28th at Hilton Portland Executive Atrium Ballroom from 1p.m.- 4p.m where I will be debuting my new book Father of the Brood: The Brood Awakens! 

I hope to see you there!

Here's the latest garden gnome I designed for Garden Gnome World. Get it here!> https://amzn.com/B01HNUS326

https://amzn.com/B01HNUS326

Sty Wars: The Pork Awakens by Kenny Durkin

Here's my latest Muppet Parody. 12 characters, 2 iconic vehicles and 17 chickens. What was I thinking?

You can get it from Redbubble here:

 http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/20789904-the-pork-awakens?ref=recent-owner

or Neatoshop here:

http://www.neatoshop.com/product/The-Pork-Awakens

Copyright © 2016 by Kenny Durkin. All rights reserved. This artwork or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the artist / publisher

Father of the Brood.

Against my better judgement and despite the mountains upon mountains of actual work I have, I've decided to do an online comic. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present Father of the Brood! 

A few years ago, I started drawing cartoons that depicted my family. They were mostly for my wife and I, as a light-hearted therapeutic break from the stress and frustration we were feeling as parents of a baby. I shared them online and called them "Durkin's Droppings". I did about 40 of them, and they were received well. Then life got in the way. We moved, had another child, and the cartoons were put on hiatus. But I kept writing them in the hopes of bringing them back someday. I'm happy to say the cartoon has returned. It's been renamed "Father of the Brood" and I've redesigned the characters to something more appealing and I've been redrawing the first batch of cartoons to reflect the change and hopefully be more consistent looking from panel to panel. For those of you who have seen "Durkin's Droppings" I apologize. You will be seeing some cartoons you've seen before. But once I get caught up, it will be all new. I hope to post three a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'll have them here and on the website fatherofthebrood.com. I'm still working on the site, there's a lot of bugs and issues, but I'll get it all sorted out. Be sure to go there, poke around, check out the blog and ask questions. I don't know where this journey is going to take me, but I appreciate you joining me on the ride!

Today's Muppet performer: Dave Goelz.

 

Dave Goelz began his work for the Muppets in 1973 as a puppet builder, but over time, he began to puppeteer exclusively. Although he has operated a few minor characters on Sesame Street, he's primarily known for his work with the Muppets, performing such characters as Gonzo, Bunsen, Zoot, and Beauregard. He performs those characters to this day. He also took over the role of Waldorf after Jim Henson's death. Dave also performed Boober on Fraggle Rock and Figment in the "Journey to Imagination with Figment" attraction at EPCOT Center in Walt Disney World.

Muppet/Sesame Street performer: Kevin Clash

Today's Muppet/Sesame Street Performer: Kevin Clash 

 Kevin Clash was born in Turner's Station Maryland in 1960. He began his puppetry career in the early '80's on such non-Henson projects as Wake Up with the Captain and The Great Space Coaster. He officially began working on Sesame Street in 1984 performing Hoots the Owl and his breakout character, Elmo. 

He became one of the main performers on The Jim Henson Hour, where his character Clifford emerged as a major cast member.

  Kevin performed for the next two decades for both Sesame Street and with the Muppets, until he resigned in 2012.

Muppet/Sesame Street performer: Richard Hunt

The next Muppet/Sesame performer in my series is Richard Hunt. 

Richard Hunt was born in 1951 and began working with Jim Henson in 1970. In 1972, he was hired full-time as Sesame Street, mostly performing background characters. Soon he began performing more high-profile characters like Don Music, Gladys the Cow and Forgetful Jones.

 For the Muppets, he quickly moved to the forefront with characters like Scooter, Janice, Sweetums, Statler, and Beaker, and his beloved antics both on and off camera delighted his fellow performers. 

Richard Hunt left us in 1992, but his characters live on in the capable hands of the current Muppet performers

Football caricature cards.

From the "Never made it past the developmental phase" file, here are several illustrations used for a client who was pitching a trading card series centering around caricature depictions of NFL players. This is an example of the many projects that an illustrator can do work for that never make it off the ground. The client gave me the players and ideas and I was allowed to embellish on my own a bit. I figured with Troy Polamalu retiring, this would be a perfect time to share these. 

This is Troy and his trademark hair...

...Adrian Peterson playing no matter how injured he gets...

 

...and Aaron Rogers with a cannon for an arm.

Muppets/L.A. Clippers T-Shirt designs.

I was recently hired by Disney/Muppets to do a series of T-shirt designs for the Muppets' appearance at the L.A. Clippers game March 15th.

 

These were sold exclusively at the Staples Center for that game only. Exciting to work for the Muppets in an official capacity!

Mad Pen.

Here's another silly idea I had. 

A parody of the Mad Men logo.

 On sale here: 

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/14534092-mad-pen?grid_pos=33&p=t-shirt

Wedding Cornhole boards

One of my wonderful repeat clients is Rick Kiesling. Rick is an attorney out of Texas who makes cornhole boards on the side. I've provided him with graphics numerous times over the past few years. He asked me if I could do a special set for his daughter, who was getting married.

 I did one of the bride and a separate one for the groom. 

ToughPigs interviews Kenny Durkin!

Dave Hulteen interviewed me for ToughPigs. We talked about Muppets, art, life and cake. I love the way it turned out. See it here!

http://www.toughpigs.com/kenny-durkin/

Muppet/Sesame Street performer: Martin P. Robinson

The next Muppet/Sesame Street performer is Martin P. Robinson. 

Martin P. Robinson began working with The Jim Henson Company in 1980. Although he assisted on many Muppet performances, he's best known for his contribution to Sesame Street. 

He's been performing the character of Snuffleupagus (the front half and voice, that is) and Telly Monster as well as other characters since he started at Sesame Street in 1981. He still plays a vital role in the cast to this day.

Muppet/Sesame Street performer: Fran Brill

Today's Sesame Street/Muppet performer: Fran Brill.

Fran began working with Jim Henson in 1970. Although she did some puppetry for the Muppets, she's best known for her work on Sesame Street where she performed Prairie Dawn, Little Bird, Zoe and other characters. 

She's also acted in numerous television shows and films. In 2014, she announced that she was retiring from Sesame Street.

Office party caricature gig.

Throwback Thursday: These are photos from a gig I did last December. It was for an office party. They had requested that I draw a few of the coordinators in advance to use for the invitations to the party. When I arrived at the event, they had also used the caricatures for the balloons and light-up souvenir cups!

Leprechaun Fireman.

Perfect post for St. Patrick's Day. This is a design I did for the Montgomery MD Fire Department. Whenever I draw a leprechaun, I always think that I'm drawing some distant Irish relative of mine.

The Muppet Performer Series: Jerry Nelson

The third in my Muppet/Sesame Street performers series is Jerry Nelson.

 Jerry Nelson was born in 1934. He began working with Jim Henson in the mid-1960's and started on Sesame Street in 1970. There, he performed such characters as The Count, Herry Monster, Sherlock Hemlock, Mr. Snuffleupagus, The Amazing Mumford, and Grover's frequent foil, Mr. Johnson.

For the Muppets, his main characters were Floyd Pepper, Lew Zealand, Robin, Uncle Deadly, Dr. Strangepork, Crazy Harry and many more.

 In 2001, Jerry slowly handed his characters over to other performers, although he did occasionally provide voices for them until August 2012, when Jerry passed away.

Meeting Gigi Edgley

 I got to meet host of Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge and Farscape actress Gigi Edgley. She signed a bunch of my artwork and took tons of pics. What a sweet and generous soul. I'm sure our paths will cross again!

Meeting Caroll Spinney

Recently, I had the good fortune to meet the legendary Caroll Spinney. We talked about Muppets, art and life. He was very generous with his time and even signed the caricature I did of him. He's a kind, and wonderful person and I'm fortunate to have met him.

Kenny Durkin on Tall Tale Radio

I was a guest on the most recent episode of Tom Racine's Tall Tale Radio. On it, I talked with the panel of other dad cartoonists, which included Tom Racine, Lucas Turnbloom and Justin Thompson. about Muppets, television and being a dad. Takes an hour, but it's a good listen and I had tons of fun. Check it out: 

http://www.talltaleradio.com/episode-206-kenny-durkin-and-mighty-dads-roundtable/

http://www.talltaleradio.com/episode-206-kenny-durkin-and-mighty-dads-roundtable/

The Muppet Performer Series: Frank Oz.

Here he is, the second entry in my Muppet Performer series. This time it's Frank Oz.

Frank Oz began working with Jim Henson in 1963 when he was 19 years old. On Sesame Street, Frank performed such characters as Grover, Bert and Cookie Monster. Currently, his characters have been adopted by the next generation of performers, with Frank occasionally stepping in when his schedule permits. For the Muppets, Frank's main characters were Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal and Sam the Eagle. Frank began to distance himself from the Muppets in the mid-1990's to continue his directing career. His characters have been taken over by other performers since. Frank Oz is one of my heroes, not only for his contributions to Sesame Street and the Muppets, but for his other work as well. He's directed movies such as The Dark Crystal, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and What About Bob?. He's acted in one of my favorite movies The Blues Brothers, and he voiced and performed one of the most iconic characters of our time, the Jedi Master Yoda from Star Wars.

You can see where I'm going with this.

The Muppet performer series: Caroll Spinney.

This is the beginning of a pet project of mine that has been on my artistic bucket list for as long as I can remember. I've always wanted to showcase the Sesame Street/Muppet performers by drawing a caricature of each of them with a few of the characters they are best known for. I'm going to focus first on the original performers, then move on to the current group. This is strictly a labor of love. I want to highlight these talented people who have inspired me so much over the years, and who sometimes don't get the credit and recognition they deserve. The first one is of 81 year old Caroll Spinney, who has been performing Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird on Sesame Street since the show debuted in 1969.

We want MORE Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge!

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge was a remarkable show that ran for only one season last year on SyFy. It was a reality competition show, where the contestants created puppets and animatronics and were eliminated one by one every week. The winner received prize money and a contract to work with Jim Henson's Creature Shop for a combined total of $100,000.

The show was received well, and garnered a large amount of fans. But it was never renewed. 

Recently, I came in contact with Russ Adams, one of the contestants from the show who runs the Facebook page We Want More Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge. I created this image to contribute to his campaign to bring the show back for a second season.

Please be sure to like the page at We Want More Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge, and give them your support. Thank you!

WBSD radio interview

Author Tom Ryan and I were interviewed recently by WBSD Community Focus host Matt Nie about our book Peeve, My Parents' Pet. It's my first in what I hope is many more interviews to come.

AT-IG

Strange ideas fill my brain, and every once in a while I have to let them out. Here's the latest, the IRON GIANT riding an AT-AT while visiting Hoth.

Available here: http://www.neatoshop.com/product/AT-IG

ChordBuddy Jr. Duck Commander edition NOW AVAILABLE!

A while back, I was contacted by Travis Perry, Shark Tank success story and musician/entrepreneur to do some Duck Commander artwork for his ChordBuddy Jr. guitar line.

 It's just been announced that the guitars are now available. Check out this video from Travis:

Here's a bonus video of Travis with Willie Robertson of Duck Commander playing the ChordBuddy:

 You can order yours ChordBuddy Jr. Duck Commander edition by following the link here:

http://chordbuddy.com/combo-packages/duck-guitar

Peeve, my Parents' Pet is now available!

Peeve, my Parents' Pet is a new book, written by author Tom Ryan and illustrated by me, Kenny Durkin. The book, aimed at 3-6 year olds is among my latest jobs, and I'm quite proud of it. In the book,

"A young boy is determined to hunt down Peeve, the mysterious and mischievous pet his parents talk about so often. Although his parents' pet is apparently quite small, Peeve certainly causes a lot of trouble. Peeve leaves chocolate finger prints on the piano, toys all over the house, water on the bathroom floor, mud on the carpet, and crumbs on the couch. What kind of unusual pet is Peeve? And why do the boy's parents let such a wild pet live in their home? Both children and adults will relate to this humorous story, which will likely lead to a discussion about their own pet peeves."

You can purchase it here on Amazon.com:

 http://www.amazon.com/Peeve-Parents-Pet-Tom-Ryan/dp/1612252443/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414082309&sr=8-1&keywords=peeve+my+parents%27+pet

Bridge to Healing

Bridge to Healing is a wonderful organization that will be of great benefit to my youngest children, Jett and Oliver. They provide a Matching Gift Program, which matches up to $1,000 for donations made through Bridge to Healing. Your donation will go toward vital therapy and treatment for my sons, so they can grow and thrive. Learn more here

http://bridgetohealinginc.com/project/jett-and-olivers-journey/