Happy Hallowee... huh?

Right in time for Halloween, I present a new post. Check these out!

Whilst visiting the Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth a few weeks ago, I came across these festive window decals in the zoo's Safari Cafe. I didn't get a chance to photograph ALL of the decals, but what I captured should be adequate. My apologies for the blurriness - I took 'em with no flash and on an empty stomach. I suggest clicking on each image to enlarge for better detail:

As you may or may not have noticed, these costumed critters seem familiar. But I can't quite put my finger on it... hmmmmmmm.

Hey, wait a minute! I know now! Whad'ya know...

If you haven't figured it out by now, witness the BLATANT rip-off of cartoon animals taken from the famous Preston Blair Animation instructional book. The 'artist' behind these cute little Halloween characters isn't alone, unfortunately. Check out some of these old posts - here (Ohio lottery ticket), Here (an Ohio school mascot), and HERE (Australian restaurant ad) - over at Cartoon Brew, and you'll totally see what I mean! Of course, what I'm about to show you triumphs over all of these aforementioned one-offs. Not only do these Halloween drawings steal from Preston Blair in mass quantity, most of them might as well have been traced directly from the book itself, they're that obvious. And even THEN the artist managed to lose whatever perfect form the original drawings possess in the first place.

I have included scans from the Preston Blair book for comparison/double vision.

Look at that. EXACT pose, EXACT head shape, EXACT everything. Except for the lengthened tail on the mouse, the costume, and the pitchfork. Oh, and just to be on the safe side, a halo is added to ensure us that this cute little guy isn't promoting satanism in any shape or form (artist pun intended!). I should also point out that you will notice all of these Halloween drawings have altered scary giant green-colored iris eyes.

Hey, at least this one looks like the artist didn't do a direct carbon copy... although that's not really helping the situation. It now looks like a slightly melted version of Blair's, colorized! Badly!

Wow, huh? This one, on the other hand, IS a direct carbon copy. OH, but hold the phone!!! That darn cat is looking UP in the Halloween version! And that major alteration alone gives it character (pun!) all on its own. I noticed his eyes don't follow the line of action either (not saying it HAS to), but if you're designing crude non-animation holiday decals, who needs line of action anyway?

This one is rather interesting. It's some kind of super hybrid Franken-dog! He gets the special treatment - not ONE Preston Blair reference, but TWO! I included both references. The curve of the front leg, the expression of the dog's face. If you're gonna do direct copying, you might as well go nuts and mix it up a little. And look at that - instead of attaching the earring to the dog's actual ear, it's just part of the pirate hat! And that's safety. Kids, don't be piercing Rex's ear now! Do what the decal says!

And, is that an oak leaf sticking out of his hat? Well, it IS changing colors just in time for Halloween I guess! This artist realizes that the little details matter.

Here is the other dog. And he's just as amazing as the previous pup! Another mashup of dogs! If only dog breeding were this easy in real life. Wouldn't it be cool to have a German Shepherd body, with say, a Chihuahua's head? Anyway, the artist took a big gamble by drawing the standing ear a SECOND time, and creating an ALL-NEW tail! And how about that nose? Seems fitting for a clown-dog. By the way, I hate clowns.

This one wasn't as obvious, and is the least noticeable... but I THINK I found the proper references in the Preston Blair book. First, if you look at the jester cat on the left, the mouth kind of gives it away for me. There are plenty of other drawings of this 'faux-Tom' cat in the book, but the Blair cat I included seemed to be the closest match. Now take a look at the bodies. The jester cat has the same legs as the Springer Spaniel on the right... likewise, the Elton John kitty seems to rip off the foundation of the Boston Terrier (or whatever it is). At least we have S-shaped cat tails, though. If those hadn't been drawn I don't know what kind of animals I'd be looking at!

I don't even have to explain this one. Sheesh.

And this one's just as bad! But what's going on with its hands? If you look at the Blair version, you can see that they're a cat's HANDS/PAWS. In the Halloween version, they look like grotesque webbed claws. I'm sure it's because he keeps getting his dirty little paws too close to that boiling cauldron of bubbling brew. See, even the pumpkin is trying to warn him not to make that mistake again.


So there you have it. I'm sure some of you out there are speechless.

Now, while I let you finish shaking your head in disbelief, I have one last Halloween SCARE for you all! But be careful! It's not for the faint of heart. Here's the link. Just remember, I warned you...