Muppet Kids Plates

[frogboy4]

I noticed these Muppet Kids plates my folks had purchased for my sister's kids. These pictures were taken with my cellphohe so they don't showcase the interesting graphic style, but it is attractive if not always character accurate. The gradients are mainly comprised of bold strokes of solid colors of different shades creating a shaded effect rather than using just the stock Adobe Illustrator gradient tool.

Apparently Fozzie is some sort of wizard magician as well as a comedian. I found that to be cute. It appears in the last couple years (with a few exceptions) that Disney is solid on giving Gonzo's nose a purple PMS color assignment.

These are the only four plates in this series and the only I know of. Animal, Kermit, Fozzie and Gonzo appear to be re-introducing themselves to a new generation. Kermit, oddly, is the only character that does not get his own plate as kids are most familiar with him. I agree with this choice.

Comment away.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Aww, I actually think those are very cute!

 

[MrsPepper]

Totally adorable! I don't get the whole compartments thing, though. But honestly, muppet plates are awesome. I grew up with a Sesame Street set as a kid. The plate broke, I lost the spoon, and all the paint (except a few 123's) has washed off the cup, but the bowl with cookie monster at the bottom still survives to this day!

Are they plastic, or paper plates (like for a child's birthday party)?

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's cool, Mrs. Pepper! All this talk of plates reminds me of my 5th birthday when I was very pleased to have a Big Bird cake! (It seemed so amazing at the time!)

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's cool, Mrs. Pepper! All this talk of plates reminds me of my 5th birthday when I was very pleased to have a Big Bird cake! (It seemed so amazing at the time!)

 

[frogboy4]

Totally adorable! I don't get the whole compartments thing, though. But honestly, muppet plates are awesome. I grew up with a Sesame Street set as a kid. The plate broke, I lost the spoon, and all the paint (except a few 123's) has washed off the cup, but the bowl with cookie monster at the bottom still survives to this day!

Are they plastic, or paper plates (like for a child's birthday party)?

These are paper plates. Seems that's where things are with such items these days. I thought they were cute too - without being cutsey. The intent here really seems to solidify the characters' personalities to a new generation.

 

[Reevz1977]

If I'm honest, I don't like the illustrations much. They seem like a cheap imitation of the illustrations used in the Muppet Annuals from the 1980's, especially Animal and Fozzie. I applied for a job at Disney® in the UK as an illustrator last year. I submitted a sketch of the Muppets, mainly to show my knowledge of Disney® but also I wanted to show my interpretation of the live-action Muppets as opposed to submitting an already illustrated character such as Mickey Mouse.

Working on the Muppets would have been a life long ambition as I've been drawing them since I was five! I would have to say (biasedly!) my illustrations were significantly better and truer to the actual characters than the ones featured here. Although, that said, it's great to see the Muppets appearing on anything these (Disney®) days.

P.S. I didn't get the job , but at the time worked out better that way

 

[redBoobergurl]

I think they're nice, although as someone who was a pretty big girly girl when I was young, I might consider these plates something that boys would like a little more, but I could be wrong about that.

Mrs. P, I had the Sesame Street set too! I think the plate is still somewhere, it held up the best over the years.

 

[frogboy4]

If I'm honest, I don't like the illustrations much. They seem like a cheap imitation of the illustrations used in the Muppet Annuals from the 1980's, especially Animal and Fozzie. I applied for a job at Disney® in the UK as an illustrator last year. I submitted a sketch of the Muppets, mainly to show my knowledge of Disney® but also I wanted to show my interpretation of the live-action Muppets as opposed to submitting an already illustrated character such as Mickey Mouse.

Working on the Muppets would have been a life long ambition as I've been drawing them since I was five! I would have to say (biasedly!) my illustrations were significantly better and truer to the actual characters than the ones featured here. Although, that said, it's great to see the Muppets appearing on anything these (Disney®) days.

P.S. I didn't get the job , but at the time worked out better that way

That's a cool story with a sad ending. I'm sorry about that. I am certain that your drawings are leaps and bounds above these.

However, I have learned that there are different styles for different markets. Why do the kids get hosed with lack-luster graphics? The bean counters could tell you. That's exactly how I took this product - as a target marketing tool and in that it succeeds.

I have seen the pop style of art in other areas recently. It's hard to tell from the photo, but it has this sort of solid-block-stencil-iconic look to it that I'm sure has some sort of name. It's a very specific look. Not Shag, not Manga, not Illustrator. It's beautiful in its own right, but yeah, the likenesses aren't the best.

I would like to see your takes on the Muppet characters if you could upload them somewhere. I love seeing different interpretations of the Muppets and yours seem to be how I always thought they should look on products such as this.

These aren't bad and I've seen much worse. There was a specific style they were going for that sacrificed likeness quality. Also, the end result printing is rastorized when I can tell you the source is definitely vector-based. Half-baked graphic designers. They luck out getting to work with a cool property and fudge the final print that would receive an automatic F in any of the design classes I've taken. Nonetheless, for the kids and the Muppets this is a good thing and a good sign from Disney! This is very much the way they treat their own icons.

 

[Reevz1977]

Thanks for the kind words, Jamie. I'm hoping to get my website up and running by March and intend to use the illustration I sent to Disney. I got down to the final few which was quite a feat and ended up doing a Kids book the week after, so it worked out fairly well in the end.

I really would love any feedback when I show any pic's of the Muppets, as there are no better judges out their than the fans! Your comments and pointers may one day help MY work end up on Muppet plates - that would awesome!