B. K. Taylor

Last updated
B. K. Taylor
BornRobert K. Taylor
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, Illustrator, Writer
Notable works
 Odd Rods collector stickers, Sick magazine, National Lampoon , Home Improvement
Awards Inkpot Award (1980), Gold Brick Award, Caddy Awards (7), Funny Bone Award, ACE Award (1990), Reed Award (2010)

B. K. (Bob) Taylor is an American illustrator, cartoonist, writer, production designer, costume designer, puppeteer, and musician known for his work on the Odd Rods collector stickers of the late 1960s, his covers for Sick magazine, his comics in National Lampoon , and for his work as a staff writer on ABC’S popular sit-com, Home Improvement . He lives in Metro Detroit and continues to work as an illustrator and writer, performing occasionally in a local rock band. [1]

Contents

Education

B. K. Taylor studied art at Detroit's premier art school, the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts (later known as Center for Creative Studies, now College for Creative Studies), under advertising department Chair and instructor Harry Borgman. [2]

Career

Taylor began his varied career while still in art school in Detroit, illustrating covers for Sick magazine. Since then, he has been using his creative ideas to create book, magazine, and trading card illustrations, muppet designs for Jim Henson and others, and has worked on writing teams for television and feature releases including Home Improvement with Tim Allen, and Disney's Mulan .

Sick and Mad magazines

At least as early as 1966, [3] Taylor was doing cover illustrations for Sick , while still studying at the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. [4]

He illustrated a piece in Mad issue #357 (1997), titled "The Mad World of Religion," written by Rick Rodgers. [5] [6]

Odd Rods and other stickers

In 1969, Taylor created 44 stickers for the Donruss Company's group of non-sports trading card/sticker series, Odd Rods. The series was very popular with schoolchildren of the time, resulting in a string of sequel series.

In 1988, Taylor created more collectable stickers for Leaf/Donruss, "Awesome All*Stars," a spoof of baseball cards featuring humorously grotesque monsters. [7] There were 99 cards in the series. [8]

In 1989, for Leaf/Donruss, Taylor created Baseball's Greatest Gross Outs, featuring more cartoon parodies of baseball players with names like "Long-arm Lenny" and "Garlic-breath Gary." The set featured 88 stickers as well as a repeat of some of those stickers with a 36-cardback poster. [9]

In 1983 he did another set of collector sticker cards called Zero Heroes, featuring tragically flawed superheroes with names like "The Fantastic Fast Guy," "Lard Lady," and "Milk Man." Each card had a short bio of its character on the back, featuring the character's origin and final outcome. Zero Heroes was a joint venture between General Mills and Donruss. There were 66 cards in the set, including a few non-character designs with various Zero Hero logos, a medal, a name tag, and a do-not-enter sign (presumably for a young boy's or girl's bedroom door). [10]

Muppet Creative Consultant

In 1974 he became a puppeteer on Detroit-produced the Hot Fudge Show, a children's entertainment show starring Arte Johnson. At the same time, he worked for Jim Henson as a puppeteer and puppet designer. He is listed in the credits of the 1975 production, The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence , as Muppet Creative Consultant. [11] He's done character design for Sesame Street (Sam the Robot) and The Muppet Show (Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem). [12] He was a writer and designer for Nickelodeon's Eureeka's Castle and "Time for Manners," for which he also created backgrounds. [13]

National Lampoon

From 1975 to 1987, Taylor created a run of comic pages for the "Funny Pages" section of National Lampoon , including "Timberland Tales," "The Appletons," and "Stories from Uncle Kunta" [14] His work first appeared in the 1975 special edition "National Lampoon's Very Large Book of Comical Funnies" with the comic strip "The Appletons," a family feature which supposedly ran in the 1950s. In October 1976, Taylor's "Timberland Tales" first appeared in the "Funny Pages" section of the National Lampoon. Over the next ten years, both strips ran in that section regularly, alternating from issue to issue.

Children's magazines

Taylor also contributed illustrations to children's magazines, including Highlights for Children and Scholastic's Hot dog! and Dynamite . [15] In Hot dog! his illustrations were featured in a regular piece called "It’s Not Fair!," a page of reader-submitted jokes based on the theme of unfairness, the best of which would be selected to appear in the next month's issue with an accompanying illustration by B.K. [16]

Book illustration

Taylor's work has appeared in Scholastic Books, including 101 Silly Monster Jokes and 101 Nutty Nature Jokes [17] as well as books for Sesame Street, such as Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook: Stories About the Numbers from 1 to 10. He has worked on several other humorous titles, including Would Somebody Please Send Me to My Room! A Hilarious Look at Family Life and I Run, Therefore I Am—Nuts! [17]

Home Improvement

From 1991 to 1995, Taylor co-wrote five episodes of the popular Home Improvement : [18]

Disney

Taylor has also worked as a creative consultant for Walt Disney Feature Animation on Mulan , [15] and other projects.

Movie design work

He was a production designer, costume designer, and voice actor for the 1989 movie, Moontrap . [19] with Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell.

Editorial cartooning

In 2009, Taylor illustrated a series of cartoons for a one-of-a-kind print media campaign focusing on the credit card interchange issue. The campaign was art directed by Jay Ragsdale with creative design from penczner media, for Unfaircreditcardfees.com. [20] The campaign received national attention, and won the 2010 Reed Award for Best Public Advocacy Campaign. [20]

Bibliography

As Illustrator:

As co-author, illustrator:

As cover illustrator:

Sticker sets

Comic strips

In National Lampoons "Funny Pages" section, Taylor alternated between two and sometimes three strips of his creation:

In 2020, he released I Think He's Crazy-The Comics of B. K. Taylor, a compilation book of these and other comics. [25]

In 2009, he illustrated an editorial strip for a public advocacy campaign commissioned by Unfair Credit Card Fees:

Awards

Taylor's work has been recognized with several awards: [27]

Related Research Articles

<i>National Lampoon</i> (magazine) American humor magazine

National Lampoon was an American humor magazine that ran from 1970 to 1998. The magazine started out as a spinoff from the Harvard Lampoon. National Lampoon magazine reached its height of popularity and critical acclaim during the 1970s, when it had a far-reaching effect on American humor and comedy. The magazine spawned films, radio, live theatre, various sound recordings, and print products including books. Many members of the creative staff from the magazine subsequently went on to contribute creatively to successful media of all types.

<i>The Muppet Show</i> Variety television show created by Jim Henson

The Muppet Show is a sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and featuring the Muppets. The series originated as two pilot episodes produced by Henson for ABC in 1974 and 1975. While neither episode was moved forward as a series and other networks in the United States rejected Henson's proposals, British producer Lew Grade expressed enthusiasm for the project and agreed to co-produce The Muppet Show for the British channel ATV. Five seasons, totalling 120 episodes, were broadcast on ATV and other ITV franchises in the United Kingdom and in later first-run syndication in the US from 1976 to 1981. The programme was produced and recorded at ATV Elstree Studios, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trading card</span> Picture cards that are collectable

A trading card is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing and a short description of the picture, along with other text. There is a wide variation of different types of cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. L. Stine</span> American writer and producer (born 1943)

Robert Lawrence Stine, sometimes known as Jovial Bob Stine and Eric Affabee, is an American novelist, short story writer, television producer, screenwriter, and executive editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donruss</span> American sports card manufacturer

Donruss was a US-based trading cards manufacturing company founded in 1954 and acquired by the Panini Group in 2009. The company started in the 1950s, producing confectionery, evolved into Donruss and started producing trading cards. During the 1960s and 1970s Donruss produced entertainment-themed cards. Its first sports theme cards were produced in 1965, when it created a series of racing cards sponsored by Hot Rod Magazine.

Shalom Sesame is an anglicized variation of Rechov Sumsum, the Israeli version of Sesame Street, which originally aired in 1983. Shalom Sesame was produced in 1986 and 1990 for public television stations in the United States, aimed at introducing Israel and Judaism to children that are not necessarily fluent in the Hebrew language, since Rechov Sumsum is completely done in Hebrew. Unlike the main Sesame Street series, Shalom Sesame was independently distributed to PBS-member stations, and not by PBS themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gahan Wilson</span> American cartoonist (1930–2019)

Gahan Allen Wilson was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.

College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Partnerships program and its Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies.

Christopher Cerf is an American author, composer-lyricist, voice actor, and record and television producer. He has contributed music to Sesame Street, and co-created and co-produced the PBS literacy education television program Between the Lions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truck nuts</span> Automobile accessory resembling a dangling scrotum

Truck nuts, also spelled truck nutz, are vehicular vanity accessories resembling a dangling scrotum. They are attached under the rear bumper or trailer hitch, making them plainly visible to other vehicles behind.

Odd Rods was a group of non-sports trading card/sticker series created by the Donruss company beginning in 1969. The original series, entitled Odd Rods, introduced the theme of the series in 44 stickers: monsters in cars. Done by cartoonist/illustrator/writer B. K. Taylor in a style influenced by the work of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, the series proved very popular with schoolchildren of the time, resulting in a string of sequel series:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon J Muth</span> American writer and illustrator

Jon J Muth is an American writer and illustrator of children's books as well as graphic novels and comic books.

Michael Kingsbury Frith is a British artist and television producer. He is the former Executive Vice-President and Creative Director of The Jim Henson Company. His contributions to Muppet projects have been extensive and varied.

<i>Severed Ties</i> 2008 studio album by the Amity Affliction

Severed Ties is the debut studio album by Australian metalcore band the Amity Affliction. It was released on 4 October 2008 through Boomtown Records, which debuted at No. 26 on the ARIA Albums Chart, and No. 6 on the related Australian Artists Albums Chart.

João M. P. Lemos is a Portuguese illustrator and comic book author.

Panini is an Italian company headquartered in Modena, Italy, named after the Panini brothers who founded it in 1961. The company produces books, comics, magazines, stickers, trading cards and other items through its collectibles and publishing subsidiaries. Panini distributes its own products, and products of third party providers. Panini maintains a Licensing Division to buy and resell licences and provide agency for individuals and newspapers seeking to purchase rights and comic licences. Through Panini Digital the company uses voice-activated software to capture football statistics, which is then sold to agents, teams, media outlets and video game manufactures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gene Barretta</span> American writer

Gene Barretta is an American children's book author and illustrator, animator and character designer.

<i>The Land of Gorch</i> Recurring Saturday Night Live skit featuring Jim Hensons Muppets.

The Land of Gorch was a recurring adult puppetry skit that appeared in season one of the American comedy television program Saturday Night Live, featuring Jim Henson's Muppets.

<i>Astroblast!</i> American animated series by Soup2Nuts

Astroblast! is an American animated series created by Bob Kolar.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "B. K. Taylor Biography". Archived from the original on 2011-10-31. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  2. ↑ Harry Borgman. "Cartoons for SICK Magazine" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  3. ↑ Worthpoint online auction listing. "1966 SICK MAGAZINE Odd Rods BK Taylor rat fink weird-oh" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  4. ↑ Harry Borgman. "We were doing amazing things..." Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  5. ↑ Doug Gilford. "Mad Magazine Regular Issue Contributors" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  6. ↑ Mike Slaubaugh. "MAD MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTOR APPEARANCES". Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  7. ↑ Shawn Robare. "Peel Here #79, the only variation on baseball where the managers don't threaten the umpires, because they're probably vampires!". Archived from the original on 2011-04-26. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  8. ↑ David Henderson. "1988 Leaf Awesome All-Star Sticker" . Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  9. ↑ Shawn Robare. "Peel Here #109: In monster baseball you use grave markers as the bases..." Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  10. ↑ Shawn Robare. "Peel Here #5, Lookit all them Zero Heroes!". Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-24.
  11. ↑ D. W. McKim and Phillip Chapman. "Muppet Central Guides". Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  12. ↑ History for Sale. "Auction listing for B. K. Taylor autograph" . Retrieved 2011-05-15.
  13. ↑ Time for Manners. "The Making of TFM". Archived from the original on 2012-03-24. Retrieved 2011-05-15.
  14. ↑ Mark Simonson. "B. K. Taylor National Lampoon Credits". Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  15. 1 2 "Overview: I Run, Therefore I Am--Nuts!" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  16. ↑ Shawn Robare. "I wish I could still get a subscription to Hot Dog!". Archived from the original on 2011-08-27. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  17. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "B. K. Taylor Bibliography" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  18. ↑ "B. K. Taylor Writing Credits" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  19. ↑ "B. K. Taylor Moontrap Credits" . Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  20. 1 2 "Interchange Able". Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Will Barnes. "Odd Rods!! The Garbage Pail kids for Motorheads!!". Archived from the original on 2011-09-02. Retrieved 2011-05-25.
  22. ↑ "1990 Classic B.K.Taylor 'The Appletons' Artwork!" . Retrieved 2012-03-27.
  23. ↑ "'The Wrong Right of Passage' Featuring Foamy The Rabid Dog" . Retrieved 2012-03-27.
  24. ↑ "Rare Uncle Kunta...To Be Continued..." Retrieved 2012-03-27.
  25. ↑ "Excerpt: I Think He's Crazy". The Comics Journal. Fantagraphics Books Inc. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  26. ↑ "Interchange Able". Archived from the original on 2009-06-08. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  27. ↑ "B. K. Taylor Portfolio". Archived from the original on 2011-05-01. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  28. ↑ "Inkpot Award Winners" . Retrieved 2001-07-05.
  29. ↑ "Eureeka's Castle" . Retrieved 2012-03-27.
  30. ↑ Hedegaard, Erik (1990-09-07). "Hand-to-Hand Comedy". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
  31. ↑ "B. K. Taylor Linkedin profile" . Retrieved 2011-05-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.