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rocketdave — Rainbow Connection

#animal #beaker #bunsen #chef #clifford #constantine #deadly #dr #fiama #floyd #fozzie #gonzo #henson #janice #jim #johnny #kermit #muppets #pepe #piggy #pops #rizzo #sam #scooter #skeeter #statler #sweedish #sweetums #teeth #thog
Published: 2015-08-04 18:39:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 17530; Favourites: 169; Downloads: 0
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Description (5/12/16 EDIT: Fuck you, ABC.  Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you)


Done in pen and ink and colored in photoshop, like pretty much all my art.  The logo I got from the Muppet wiki.

I'm pretty jazzed about the new Muppets series that's premiering on ABC in the fall (Sept 22nd).  I watched the ten minute pilot  on YouTube and it elicited more genuine laughs from me than the last couple movies combined.  While I've remained a fan at heart, I'm afraid my enthusiasm for the Muppets has not been entirely consistent throughout the years, but watching that pilot helped to rekindle my fondness for them.

The Muppets had perhaps a greater influence on my tastes and creativity than anything else in my life.  The earliest fanart I ever produced was probably crude crayon drawings of Bert and Ernie or other Sesame Street characters.  I haven't really drawn the Muppets in a long time, though- hardly at all since leaving elementary school.  Maybe I was trying to make up for that somewhat by doing a piece with as many characters as I could fit into it as I could.

Even though some of them are only visible as partially obscured faces, this is easily the most characters I've ever crammed into a single drawing.  I had planned out which characters were going to be in this piece at the beginning, but then I just kept adding more and more as I went along.  And there are still more that I thought of that I ended up not having any room for.  

Characters pictured:

Angel Marie
Gorgon Heap
Mean Mama
Denise
Beautiful Day Monster
Zondra
Dr. Julius Strangepork
Happy yellow creature/Thingy-Thing
Constantine
Nigel
Lips
Big Mean Carl
Johnny Fiama
Yolanda
Statler 
Skeeter
Robin
Waldorf
one of The Mutations
Sweetums
Thog
Lew Zealand
Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
Beaker
Bean Bunny
The Swedish Chef
Camilla
Sal Minella
Bobo
Beauregard
Behemoth/Gene
Pops
The Snouths
Mahnah Mahnah
Wayne
Wanda
Mulch
Dr. Phil van Neuter
Marvin Suggs
one of the Muppaphone creatures
Chip
The Newsman
Walter
Uncle Deadly
Dr. Teeth
Pepe
Floyd Pepper
Janice
Zoot
Link Hogthrob
Crazy Harry
Clifford
a penguin
Jim
Rowlf
Gonzo
Miss Piggy
Animal
Fozzie Bear
Rizzo
Scooter
Sam the Eagle
Gaffer
Foo-Foo
Kermit the Frog


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EDIT: I've removed the two characters exclusive to Sam and Friends (Yorick and Sam) that were originally in this pic and replaced them with other characters (Denise and a penguin).  I thought it would be cool to include a nod to Jim Henson's earliest show in this pic, but part of me started to think that they felt out of place.  It would be different if I'd made this piece a tribute to various Henson projects- Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, etc.- but this was really intended to just encompass The Muppet Show and its spin-offs.  Sure, The Muppet Show might be considered a spin-off of Sam and Friends; Kermit got his start there, after all.  But imagine if I'd done a done a big group pic of the cast of Daria, but had also included Beavis and Butt-Head in the scene.  It would just feel slightly off.  Maybe I'm anal-retentive, but that's my main reasoning for making the change.  Also, after seeing the pics of Denise, I thought it would be nice for the new show (as I type this, just a few days away from it's premiere, August 22nd!) to have some representation.

The really tough part of this was finding someone to replace Sam with.  I'd drawn so many major Muppet characters, there weren't a lot of great choices left that would fit into that little space over Jim's shoulder, but penguins were pretty pervasive in the Muppet world. 


************************************************************

2nd EDIT: The flat coloring was making me kind of sick to look at, so I finally decided to add shading to this pic.  Also I added three more characters (Lips, Big Mean Carl and Yolanda), though I had to move Gorgon Heap and Behemoth to make them fit.  


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3rd EDIT: Added Chip.


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4th EDIT: Added Nigel.  Oy, this is getting ridiculous.  I swore I was done with this thing.

That brings the total to, um...  

Sixty six!  Sixty six Muppets!  Ah ah ah!
Related content
Comments: 49

Nayzor [2016-06-26 22:31:00 +0000 UTC]

This is amazing! As a lifelong Muppet Fan I bow down to your awesomeness!

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rocketdave In reply to Nayzor [2016-06-27 02:10:47 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Nayzor, that's very kind of you.

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disneyphilip [2016-06-18 03:25:57 +0000 UTC]

The Sam and Friends characters would not have been out of place in this piece at all. I suggest putting them back in.

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rocketdave In reply to disneyphilip [2016-06-18 05:36:26 +0000 UTC]

Sorry, that's easier said than done.  I'm now out of room.  I can't put them back without taking other characters out.

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Penguin927 [2016-03-07 16:14:26 +0000 UTC]

Amazing  

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rocketdave In reply to Penguin927 [2016-03-13 03:05:19 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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Penguin927 In reply to rocketdave [2016-03-14 14:47:06 +0000 UTC]

np  

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JillianNC [2015-12-29 05:36:33 +0000 UTC]

Love it1

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czolgolz [2015-10-17 12:42:39 +0000 UTC]

Glad you included Crazy Harry.

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Daphnesecretgarden [2015-09-19 14:04:31 +0000 UTC]

The new Muppet show is the only thing on television I'm excited (and worried!) about this season.  I hope it does well.  I also hope it is good.

Thanks for doing this.  Your passion really shows through!  

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rocketdave In reply to Daphnesecretgarden [2015-09-19 18:45:18 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for commenting again.  The Muppets and Supergirl are the only two new shows I'm looking forward to and hoping do well.  I know what you mean about being both excited and worried.  Nowadays, whenever I let myself fall in love with a TV show, there's the constant fear of getting my heart broken.  The world of television is more cutthroat than back when the original Muppet Show was on the air, and networks have yet to figure out that Nielsen ratings are an archaic system.  When The Jim Henson Hour only lasted one short season, it was a real blow to me to discover for the first time that something starring the Muppets could actually not be a commercial success.  I remember watching the very first episode of that.  My dad walked in and asked if I was taping it, and I replied, "It'll be on again."  Poor, naive David.  Well, fingers crossed.  

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Daphnesecretgarden In reply to rocketdave [2015-09-19 19:53:24 +0000 UTC]

Somebody said to me once, "If there's love in your life, there's pain in your future."  It's not just people and pets, but things that affect us.  

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rocketdave In reply to Daphnesecretgarden [2015-09-20 03:35:49 +0000 UTC]

Good quote.  

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NCWeber [2015-08-23 02:56:56 +0000 UTC]

Ahh, memories.   Another awesome pic.

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rocketdave In reply to NCWeber [2015-08-23 04:51:20 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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TheFlorifant [2015-08-10 20:46:07 +0000 UTC]

I'm probably printing this and hanging it on my wall. It's just a to great opportunity to pass up.

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rocketdave In reply to TheFlorifant [2015-08-10 21:29:59 +0000 UTC]

That's very flattering.

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TheFlorifant In reply to rocketdave [2015-08-11 15:29:42 +0000 UTC]

you're welcome

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lacentickles [2015-08-09 06:14:47 +0000 UTC]

sorry I am a few days late, but Yay Muppets!

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rocketdave In reply to lacentickles [2015-08-09 07:26:57 +0000 UTC]

Don't apologize for not commenting right away.  It's still nice to get comments days or weeks or even years after originally submitting something.

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lacentickles In reply to rocketdave [2015-08-09 22:49:17 +0000 UTC]

Oh, okay then.

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Chopfe [2015-08-05 17:21:56 +0000 UTC]

You did amazing here! They all look great in your style!

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rocketdave In reply to Chopfe [2015-08-05 20:24:23 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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Doctorwholovesthe80s [2015-08-05 13:27:09 +0000 UTC]

Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry.  THIS IS SO BEAUTIFULLY AWESOME!

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rocketdave In reply to Doctorwholovesthe80s [2015-08-05 20:23:16 +0000 UTC]

Heh, thanks.  I don't know if I should admit this, but there was a moment as I was working on this early on when I got a bit overwhelmed by the nostalgia and got kind of emotional myself.  And then later I was more like, "Holy crap, why did I add so many characters this is going to take forever."

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Doctorwholovesthe80s In reply to rocketdave [2015-08-06 06:05:45 +0000 UTC]

That's the problem with shows/movies like these. You want to salute them, in one art form or another, but you get so involved that it ends up like dominos and before you know it, you put in several more hours work than what you originally planned. LOL

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rocketdave In reply to Doctorwholovesthe80s [2015-08-06 06:39:12 +0000 UTC]

I had the same problem with the last piece I submitted to dA as well- my Red Dwarf fanart.  I was just gonna draw the cast from the show, but then I somehow ended up drawing all the ships as well, and it took probably around twice the time it would have originally.  I kind of wish I'd had the patience to do more detailed coloring on this Muppets piece, but I shudder to think how many more hours that would have taken.

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hooksnfangs [2015-08-05 06:29:10 +0000 UTC]

Great groupshot of the muppets!
Rather interseting to hear that there's a new one

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rocketdave In reply to hooksnfangs [2015-08-05 20:27:29 +0000 UTC]

Thanks for commenting.

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LintySkittle [2015-08-05 03:44:16 +0000 UTC]

 

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rocketdave In reply to LintySkittle [2015-08-05 03:53:34 +0000 UTC]

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Daphnesecretgarden [2015-08-05 03:40:12 +0000 UTC]

Holy cow!  What a great collection of classic characters!    The attention to detail really shows your passion for our favorite gang of fuzzy folk.  Great job!  

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rocketdave In reply to Daphnesecretgarden [2015-08-05 03:47:36 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!

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jimsupreme [2015-08-05 02:28:18 +0000 UTC]

very nice work Dave.. having done promotional work for Henson studios as Kermit (in Canada)  it's nice to see some lesser known muppets get noticed... though, a few will be on The Muppets starting Sept 22nd on ABC... *waits for cheque*

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rocketdave In reply to jimsupreme [2015-08-05 02:44:55 +0000 UTC]

Thanks a lot, Jim.  I believe I once saw a video on YouTube of you performing as Kermit.  You were pretty good, as I recall.  

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EchoWing [2015-08-05 02:11:54 +0000 UTC]

They did just what they set out to do...

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rocketdave In reply to EchoWing [2015-08-05 02:18:16 +0000 UTC]

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brianmacX [2015-08-05 01:42:16 +0000 UTC]

Fantastic piece Dave - one of your best ever.

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rocketdave In reply to brianmacX [2015-08-05 02:08:00 +0000 UTC]

Wow, thanks so much.  

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GuyBcaps [2015-08-05 01:37:50 +0000 UTC]

Wow. That's fantastic.

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rocketdave In reply to GuyBcaps [2015-08-05 02:08:14 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.

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Centurion030 [2015-08-04 22:11:58 +0000 UTC]

They're coming back?????????????????/ Yeah!

    

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TGTony [2015-08-04 22:08:15 +0000 UTC]

AWESOME !!!

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saintfighteraqua [2015-08-04 19:33:11 +0000 UTC]

Ah! Adult Skeeter! XD

This looks great!

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rocketdave In reply to saintfighteraqua [2015-08-04 19:40:47 +0000 UTC]

Thank you.  Since the Muppet Show comic book featured a grown-up Skeeter not that long ago, I couldn't resist adding her.

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saintfighteraqua In reply to rocketdave [2015-08-04 19:52:37 +0000 UTC]

She deserves to be seen. 

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coredumperror [2015-08-04 18:48:19 +0000 UTC]

Wow, this looks super great! I didn't even know there was a new series airing soon, but I'm glad to hear it!

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rocketdave In reply to coredumperror [2015-08-04 19:03:32 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!  Here's a link to the pilot presentation, if you're interested: youtu.be/x2B5d-8H588

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Centurion030 In reply to rocketdave [2015-08-04 22:16:09 +0000 UTC]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Funny!

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