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.

Neatorama Neatoshop shirts now available!

I've joined the ranks as one of the exclusive artists at Neatorama. You can now purchase my t-shirts at the Neatoshop. Check out the announcement here,

 http://www.neatorama.com/2013/03/31/The-Wocka-Wocka-ing-Dead/ 

and follow the link to the store!

Prawn Solo

"Hola. Prawn Solo, I'm captain of the Millennium Falcon, okay?"

Pepe the King Prawn from the Muppets portrays that charming scoundrel Han Solo from Star Wars.

My newest piece of Muppet art, now available on t-shirts, stickers and prints.

Get yours HERE:

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/works/10130150-prawn-solo

Kenny Durkin Muppet Art.

Those who know me are fully aware of my obsession with the Muppets. I've done a TON of Muppet-related artwork, which you can see here:

 http://durkinworks.blogspot.com/search/label/Muppets

Apparently, the've gone viral. I've been swamped with messages and emails about sites and blogs that are now featuring my collection, and I couldn't be more flattered. Here's just a short list:

http://www.neatorama.com/2013/03/03/The-Muppets-Mash-Up-Artwork-by-Kenny-Durkin/

http://youbentmywookie.com/wtf/kenny-durkins-awesome-muppet-movie-mash-ups-18421

http://hiconsumption.com/2013/03/the-muppets-pop-culture-mashup/

http://designyoutrust.com/2013/03/kenny-durkin-fuses-the-muppets-with-our-favorite-shows-movies/

http://www.themarysue.com/muppets-walking-dead-lord-of-the-rings-jaws/#0

http://fiz-x.com/the-muppets/

http://www.howitshouldhaveended.com/news/muppet-movie-mash-ups

http://laughingsquid.com/the-muppets-illustrated-as-popular-film-tv-show-characters/

http://www.moviecitizens.com/what-if-the-muppets-had-starred-in-some-of-your-favourite-films/

http://randommization.com/2013/03/07/muppets-as-other-pop-culture-characters/

http://www.fakeblog.de/2013/03/05/kenny-durkin-illustrationen-der-muppets-als-bekannte-filmstars/

I've created a store which you can order prints and apparel featuring my Muppet inspired art. Check it out and buy some stuff!

http://www.redbubble.com/people/durkinworks/collections/193348-kenny-durkins-muppet-henson-art

DSFF's 2013 Valentine's Bowl-a-Thon

DSFF's 2013 Valentine's Bowl-a-Thon

Our local Down Syndrome Foundation of Florida is having their 3rd Annual Tour of Champions Valentine's Bowl-a-thon event. The Foundation is all about "striking" Down barriers to inclusion and I'd LOVE for you to sponsor our bowling team, Durkin's Dragons!

 

Simply click this link to sponsor us:

http://www.bowlathon.net/event/DSF_Florida_2013/donate/bowler/6639.  All donations are tax-deductible.  

The first year, Durkin's Dragons raised over $1,000, and we'd love to do it again this year! The Foundation is run 100% by volunteers so all proceeds go directly to families for scholarships and programs!  It is their goal to raise record money this year so they can support the growing number of scholarship requests and implement some additional programs such as Lose The Training Wheels and iCan Work program. 

Jett has gotten many scholarships from DSFF for his Talktools evaluations, neurodevelopmental evaluations, swimming classes and therapeutic Gymboree classes.

Photo Highlights from previous bowl-a-thons

 Volunteers, in light green shirts, were there to help the families when needed.

 

Jett was irresistible, as usual, and at one point we had FIVE volunteers "helping" with Jett.

Here's Kathy, and the "Valentine's Day Bowling Ball of Destruction"

 

 Alex, and "Goldie the Demolisher"

 And, me with "Kermit the Annihilator".

Please help those who help us and donate today!

The Wocka Wocka-ing Dead.

It's Fozzie, Bear on Patrol from the Muppets in The Wock

a Wocka-ing Dead. Pen and Ink, digital color.

Duck Dynasty Caricature

This is a caricature of the cast of Duck Dynasty. I love this show. It's unlike most other "reality" shows out there because it's never mean-spirited. It shows a family that, despite their dysfunctions, at the end of the day love and respect each other. I drew it with pen and ink and colored it digitally.

Durkinworks is MOVING!

After over 12 years of living in Florida and drawing caricatures at Disney World, I have decided that it's time to move back to Wisconsin. This decision is the result of years of deliberation but was accelerated rapidly due to recent personal events. Once in Wisconsin, I will be a full-time freelance artist as
well as performing caricatures live at parties, festivals and other events. One major benefit is that I'll be able to access all that places like Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison have to offer. My two oldest children, Alex and Kathy are already there and attending my alma mater, Westosha Central High School. My wife, Andi, son Jett, and I plan to move up the first half of March. For those of you in Florida, I will still be visiting several times a year and would love to meet up when I visit. And finally, for my friends and family in Wisconsin and Illinois, I'm returning triumphant, ready to take on the challenges and opportunities of this next level of my career. I'm eager to see you all again (and who knows, maybe even DRAW you). Stay tuned to Facebook and my blog as more news surfaces.

Kermits I've Known.

I like to draw all of the time. All. Of. The. Time. I figure the more I draw, hopefully the better I become. In the case of this picture, I was trying to show diversity in shape, form and style while still maintaining the distinguishing features of the character. This would make a great T-shirt.

Happy New Year Everyone!