Product Description

"These imaginative musings-the work of a man who made an impossible world seem completely plausible-show history in the making."-Booklist

Bert and Ernie were once just scribbles on notebook paper, and the original Oscar the Grouch was purple, not green. Before there were Muppets, there were Jim Henson's designs and doodles. This delightful collection of Henson's early drawings serves as a map to the imagination of an artist whose characters have enraptured generations of children and adults. Almost none of these drawings had been published before the original Abrams edition. From the most cursory of doodles to finished drawings, this whimsical volume of sketchbooks, posters, album covers, story boards, and set and puppet designs celebrates Henson's unique genius and his wild sense of humor. AUTHOR BIO: Alison Inches, a freelance writer living in Mill Valley, California, was a senior editor for Jim Henson Productions' publishing division.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #425478 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Amazon.com Review
Jim Henson needs no introduction. For those of us who grew up with The Muppet Show and Sesame Street, Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles reveals how his art came alive over a period of almost 20 years before those shows even began. For those who saw his advertisements and appearances on late-night shows, it is a reminder that he changed television. His creations required the genius of both the visual and the performing arts, mixed with a rolling sense of humor, and all are present here: the early silk-screens show the sensibility of a great artist, the drawings show the thinking process of a powerful designer, and the stories are those of one of the greatest performance artists of our time. The book ends in 1976, when The Muppet Show began its first season, leaving the reader hungry for more, but this archaeological journey goes a long way toward uncovering Jim Henson's world. --Juliette Cezzar

From Publishers Weekly
For a look at one imaginative artist's process and talent, youngsters can open Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles: A Muppet Sketchbook by Alison Inches. Early scribbles, posters, storyboards, and set and puppet designs show all sorts of creatures (e.g., "The La Choy Dragon" and "Taminella Grinderfall"), as well as the first inception of characters that would later become famous including drawings of Kermit the Frog, Big Bird and a purple (!) Oscar the Grouch. ( May)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Muppets Show and the many Muppets movies were popular hits, and individual muppets such as Big Bird and the Cookie Monster became superstars. But as far as appreciation of what catalogese calls themes and motives in an artist's work, the late Jim Henson--the only begetter of the whole shaggy crew of Muppets--has been short-changed, until now. This colorful compilation features loads of early sketches of now familiar characters: for instance, sketches of Rowlf in his original conception as spokespuppet for Purina Dog Chow, of a sort of proto-Big Bird called Nutty Bird, and a couple views of the early, then purple Oscar the Grouch. Meanwhile, Inches' running commentary traces Henson's developing creativity. Also featuring a healthy dose of Henson's cartooning for his high-school newspaper and some mid-'50s silk screens, this is an excellent chronological survey of Henson's achievement. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles is the #1 Henson book!
This is a must for all you muppet fans!

The wonderful new long awaited book, Jim Henson's Desings and Doodles is almost a museum on paper. It shows Jim's best artwork, from storyboards, to puppet desingns, even a very early Kermit sketch. The book also features a never before seen look at the never produced special, "Johnny Carson and The Muppet Machine" which was to be a physcedelic trip into the 1960's. The artwork is very detailed, and even has a stone carving of Ed Macmahon! The book also shows some of his early work, including silkscreen images of meloncholy (which was inspired by the death of his brother , Paul) and concert posters and crazy characters who were soon to be Frackles!

One of the best parts of the book is Henson 's early commercial storyboards, which feature the two popular commercial Muppets ,Wilkins and Wontkins, Hansel and Gretel Muppets, and Kermit, The Snerfs and Rowlf (the IDEAL doll ad where Kermit sings the unfamilliar jingle"Oh buy us, oh buy us, oh buy us we beg! If you do not buy us, we'll bite you in the leg!!!) . Early drawings of the La Choy Dragon, and Nutty Bird(Royal Crown soda ads, precursor to Big Bird) are also featured.

The book brings us for the first time many illustrations of show ideas that never made it to the small screen. The Zoocus (The Zoo Circus), The Entertainers, and Martian Landing are all examples shown by illustrations from Jim's fertile imagination. The Zoocus was to be a show full of new Muppets such as Mr. Ripple and Carbourator Jones and had a guest star on each show (Sound like TMS to you?). The show would be a variety but would mostly ,as shown in Henson's drawings,be a talk show with the guest, where the Muppets would lounge behind large alters and other sets. The Entertainer was to be a show about a travelling vaudevillian show where Muppet men (and a can can girl) would sing popular songs at the time. This was also to be a Variety type show. Martian Landing would feature Muppet Koosebaine like creatures that would swap jokes and do skits on another planet. It was to be a Live variety show. It ashame these didn't get aired.

This book has so much I haven't mentioned yet, (I don't want to spoil it!) and it is definetly worth every penny. By far, one of my favs. among a long line of Muppet Books. Enjoy!

Facinating collection of work from Jim Henson
I have always been a Jim Henson fan. After all, I grew up with Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. I was always fascinated with the strange and creative creatures that he came up with. This book is a gold mine of his ideas and sketches - some that you will recognize and some that you have probably never seen.

This is sort of an odd book for me to have. I don't collect books based on movies or TV shows. But this one doesn't really fall into that category at all. It's more of an artist's diary and sketchbook. I enjoy just paging through it to look at all of the wonderous things Jim Henson imagined. His work seems to have something "odd" to it that I can somehow connect with and be fascinated by it.

I think anyone who has enjoyed Jim Henson's productions will probably enjoy looking through this book. It's an adventure to page through time after time.

Spot on Mr Henson..... Spot on!!
Jim Henson was a man who managed to sum up the whole intire feeling of what it was to be young, and full of energy in his fantastic creations. His work, from Mupets to films such as 'Labyrinth' and 'The Dark Crystal', showed us that he could tap that part of our minds that wanted to let go, and be free to live in our fantasies. This book, unlocks the back door to the mind that created our most cherished characters from the Henson world. It shows us where these characters came from, and also gives us an insight to the man who made it all happen. I found this book to be a real Gem, and an adventure. Just seeing the doodles Jim did as a child, or a teen, and some of his non character based art work, was fascinating. Buy this book If you are a fan of Mr hensons work. It is not the most complete book, as far as his other projects go, and some people may wish that some of his film work had got into the book. But for those that like to get closer to their idols, and want to feel like a close friend looking through his old scrapbooks, get this book. You won't be dissapointed.