Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Would You Buy Fried Chicken From This Man?



I'm back again with yet another character design story. Do you remember when KFC did those animated commercials with Colonel Sanders? Early 90's maybe? Anyway, an animation studio in Chicago (Startoons maybe) hired me to come up with some looks for the animated colonel. I had to control myself and not get too carried away with drawing all whacked out versions of the good colonel. After all, he's KFC's patriarch and no one wants to buy chicken from a crazed southern senior, despite the fact he's in a pristine white suit.

Anyway, the studio was competing with others to get this contract.
Needless to say, they didn't get the gig. If you remember the commercials, the Colonel design they chose was definitely less cartoony than mine. Wouldn't it have been fun if they submitted the usual Daryll fare with the Colonel all buggy-eyed with chicken blood all over his suit and maybe a chicken foot sticking out of his pocket like a carnation!

Can't win them all, I'd just like to improve my batting average!

14 comments:

  1. Man! Cool stuff! Your characters are always great.

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  2. These are so cool!

    Are these the commercials you refer to?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh_V8qRY9BI

    I like your design way better :)

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  3. Thanks Ryan and Christina.

    Yep, those are the commercials. 1998... I thought it was longer ago than that. Everything gets to be a blur when you've been at it for a few decades!

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  4. Def agree with Christina...yours are much better. Too bad the other agency didn't hire you too.

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  5. Why does the second picture from the top (Colonel walking to the right with eyes closed) remind me of David Hartz? ;-)

    I too, would love to see these guys on TV!
    Great job, Daryll!

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  6. Seeing all this KFC talk makes me hungry. Think I will order one of thes new KFC sandwiches for lunch :
    http://www.kfc.com/doubledown/

    Instead of a bun, it has two fried chicken pieces. Just looking at the ad will add 20 points to your triglyceride levels.

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  7. Nice, Daryll! That would be awesome, you should do at least one sketch with your version and post it here for us :P I second Christina. This is making me want KFC bad. He is part of the Pentavaret, after all. I crave fortnightly :P

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  8. Chuck, I thought the same thing as I looked at these after so many years!
    First David had the Pringles guy connection, now this! If they had gone with my design, I would have to pay David royalties.

    Sorry to have all of you salivating on your keyboards. That new KFC sandwich is great if you want to cut down on your carb intake. But not so great if you're not a fan of angioplasty!

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  9. Okay, I'm an old Kentucky boy, and this probably amounts to heresy, but all this talk of fried chicken is giving me a hill-jack's hankerin' for....
    ...Popeye's.

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  10. BTW, I spent a good several months working on the Pringles guy several years back, and I never knew David was the model for him.
    The picture's getting clearer now. :-)

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  11. Yes, it has all been revealed. Just like in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Dave is in reality a TOON!

    :)

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  12. Ahahaha, JDR! I just got that movie from the library last week! It had been a while since I'd seen it :~)

    "Awww, I hated the Colonel...with his wee, beady eyes!"

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  13. lol. "Give yer mother a kiss or I'll kick yer teeth in!" "Heed, pants, NOW!" Great movie. That's one of my favourites. I'm glad daryll could give me a reason to quote it :P If my hair keeps growing I'll have to watch out, I'll look like sputnik, spherical, but pointy in parts.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMS6tGOACo

    For those of you who haven't seen it :D It's worth seeing, lol.

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