Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Disney Artist Creates Adorable Calvin and Hobbes / Star Wars Mashup Illustrations

 ** Warning images contain spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens**

As a child, my family had the same routine every Sunday.  We'd go to morning mass, swing by the local pharmacy on the way home to pick up the Sunday newspaper, then my dad would make us  scrambled eggs, bacon and waffles for breakfast when we got back to our house.  Once we'd finished breakfast my dad would pull out the newspaper and throw the comic strips my way while he began to peruse the sports section.  I always would enthusiastically go straight to my favorite comic, Calvin and Hobbes, to check out that week's adventure of a six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger.

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson was syndicated in newspapers across the world from 1985 through 1995.  During its run the comic strip both entertained and promoted critical thinking through the use of satire inspiring many people including a gentleman named Brian Kesinger.  Brian recently paid tribute to his fondness for Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes by creating some nostalgic illustrations that merge the classic comic strip with today's hottest pop culture topic, the new Star Wars movie The Force Awakens.  Highlighted on his website and social media accounts, Kesinger recreates some memorable Calvin and Hobbes segments as scenes from The Force Awakens.  Having loved both Star Wars and Calvin & Hobbes as a boy and still being a fan of both to this day, I was so delighted to discover these great illustrations by this remarkable up and coming artist who also has quite a few artistic accomplishments under his belt.



While Bill Watterson is no slouch, Brian Kesinger also has a pretty darn respectable resume to his credit. In 1996 at 18 years old, Kesinger was hired by Walt Disney Studios becoming the youngest animator in the history of the company.  He started off working on Tarzan and other movies he has been involved with include Bolt, Chicken Little, Tangled and Winnie the Pooh.  In 2011, he received the Annie Award for his story work on an animated television show that for our family has become a Christmas viewing tradition, called Prep and Landing.  Brian also worked on one of our family's all-time favorite Disney animated movies, the Academy Award-nominated Wreck-It Ralph and is currently working on a movie my kids really want to see coming out later this Spring called Zootopia.  Like myself, Brian Kesinger is a fan of the Sci-Fi and Steampunk genres who likes to create drawings inspired by those themes when he is not working on projects for Disney.  I knew that I'd like this guy the second I saw his Calvin and Hobbes / Star Wars mashups!



If you like these illustrations show some appreciation to Brian by following him on Instagram or Twitter and giving his displayed artwork some likes or stopping by his website to leave a positive comment. If you enjoy his artwork, you may also want to check out his book "Traveling With Your Octopus"

3 comments:

  1. Very creative and talented artist! Love all of those artworks. Amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It sounds like you had a wonderful Sunday tradition. Love the art work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I had never seen these before, but I love them! Thanks for sharing your family tradition!

    ReplyDelete