B. K. (Bob) Taylor is an American illustrator,

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

, writer, production designer, costume designer,

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

, and musician known for his work on the

Odd Rods ''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 cartooni ...

collector stickers of the late 1960s, his covers for ''

Sick Sick may refer to: Medical conditions * Having a disease or infection * Vomiting (British) Music * The Sick, a Swedish band formed by two members of Dozer Albums * Sick (Loaded album), ''Sick'' (Loaded album), 2009 * Sick (Massacra album), ' ...

'' magazine, his comics in '' National Lampoon'', and for his work as a staff writer on ABC’S popular sit-com, ''

Home Improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation, or remodeling is the process of renovating or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electrical and plumbing), ...

''. He lives in Metro

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

and continues to work as an illustrator and writer, performing occasionally in a local rock band.

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 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 Part ...

), under advertising department Chair and instructor Harry Borgman.

Career

Taylor began his varied career while still in art school in Detroit, illustrating covers for ''

'' magazine. Since then, he has been using his creative ideas to create book, magazine, and trading card illustrations,

muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are ...

designs for

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

and others, and has worked on writing teams for television and feature releases including ''

'' with

Tim Allen Timothy Alan Dick (born June 13, 1953), known professionally as Tim Allen, is an American actor and comedian. He is known for playing Tim "The Toolman" Taylor on the ABC sitcom ''Home Improvement'' (1991–1999) and Mike Baxter on the ABC/Fo ...

, and Disney's ''

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history. According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...

''.

''Sick'' and ''Mad'' magazines

At least as early as 1966, Taylor was doing cover illustrations for ''

'', while still studying at the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts. He illustrated a piece in '' Mad'' issue #357 (1997), titled "The Mad World of Religion," written by Rick Rodgers.

Odd Rods and other stickers

In 1969, Taylor created 44 stickers for the Donruss Company's group of non-sports trading card/sticker series,

. 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. There were 99 cards in the series. 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. 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 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 th ...

. 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).

Muppet Creative Consultant

In 1974 he became a puppeteer on Detroit-produced the ''

Hot Fudge Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline cand ...

Show'', a children's entertainment show starring

Arte Johnson Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson (January 20, 1929 – July 3, 2019) was an American comic actor who was best known for his work as a regular on television's ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In''. Biography Early life Johnson was born January 20, 1929, in ...

. At the same time, he worked for

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. He's done character design for

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

(Sam the Robot) and

The Muppet Show ''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 ser ...

( Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem). He was a writer and designer for Nickelodeon's

Eureeka's Castle ''Eureeka's Castle'' is an American children's television series created by Debby Beece and Judy Katschke. It originally aired on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block from September 4, 1989 to November 10, 1991. The program featured various puppet char ...

and "Time for Manners," for which he also created backgrounds.

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" 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 ''Highlights for Children'', often referred to simply as ''Highlights'', is an American children's magazine. It began publication in June 1946, started by Garry Cleveland Myers and his wife Caroline Clark Myers in Honesdale, Pennsylvania (the pr ...

'' and Scholastic's ''Hot dog!'' and ''

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...

''. 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.

Book illustration

Taylor's work has appeared in

Scholastic Books Scholastic Corporation () is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, parents, and children. Products are distributed via retail and on ...

, including ''101 Silly Monster Jokes'' and ''101 Nutty Nature Jokes'' as well as books for

, 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!''

Home Improvement

From 1991 to 1995, Taylor co-wrote five episodes of the popular ''

'': * "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (1992) * "Read My Hips" (1992) * "I'm Scheming of a White Christmas" (1992) * "'Twas the Blight Before Christmas" (1993) * "Swing Time" (1994)

Disney

Taylor has also worked as a creative consultant for

Walt Disney Feature Animation Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...

on ''

'', and other projects.

Movie design work

He was a production designer, costume designer, and voice actor for the 1989 movie, ''

Moontrap ''Moontrap'' is an American 1989 science fiction film from Magic Films. Written by Tex Ragsdale and directed by Robert Dyke, it was released on April 28 at WorldFest Houston. A comic book adaptation, featuring the film's production notes, was rel ...

''. with

Walter Koenig Walter Marvin Koenig (; born September 14, 1936) is an American actor and screenwriter. He began acting professionally in the mid 1960s and quickly rose to prominence for his supporting role as Ensign Pavel Chekov in ''Star Trek: The Original S ...

and

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low ...

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. The campaign received national attention, and won the 2010 Reed Award for Best Public Advocacy Campaign.

Bibliography

As Illustrator: * ''Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook: Stories About the Numbers from 1 to 10'', Emily Perl Kingsley, Jeffrey Moss, Norman Stiles and Daniel Wilcox (Authors), Joseph Mathieu, Kelly Oechsli, Mel Crawford and Bob Taylor (Illustrators), Random House (1973) * ''Would Somebody Please Send Me to My Room! A Hilarious Look at Family Life'', Bob Schwartz (Author), B. K. Taylor (Illustrator), Glenbridge Publishing, (May 2005), 320 pages * ''I Run, Therefore I Am—Nuts!'', Bob Schwartz (Author), Human Kinetics (August 6, 2001), 264 pages * ''101 Silly Monster Jokes'', Jovial Bob Stine (Author), B. K. Taylor (Illustrator), Scholastic Paperbacks (October 1986), 94 pages * ''101 Nutty Nature Jokes'', Melvin Berger (Author), B. K. Taylor (Illustrator), Scholastic Paperbacks (April 1994), 96 pages * ''Anchovy Breath to Zoo Food: 175 Names to Call Your Brother When You're Mad'', Jenny Davis (Author), B. K. Taylor (Illustrator), Avon Books (May 1994) * ''It's Not Fair!'' Beth Goodman (Author), B.K. Taylor (Illustrator), Scholastic Book Services, 1988, 28 pages * ''The Peanut Butter and Jelly Book'' * ''I Run, Therefore I Am—STILL Nuts!'', Bob Schwartz (Author), Human Kinetics (September 28, 2012), 264 pages As co-author, illustrator: * ''Make It Big in Business'', B. K. Taylor (Author), Chatto Hill (Author), Doubleday Books (August 1985), 112 pages As cover illustrator: * ''Growing Up Catholic'', Mary Jane Frances Cavolina (Author), Maureen Anne Teresa Kelly (Author), Jeffrey Allen Joseph Stone (Author), Richard Glen Michael Davis (Author), Growing Up Catholic (1983), 240 pages * ''More Growing Up Catholic'', Mary Jane Frances Cavolina Meara (Author), Jeffrey Allen Joseph Stone (Author), Maureen Anne Teresa Kelly (Author), Richard Glen Michael Davis (Author), Bob Kiley (Illustrator), Main Street Books; 1st edition (August 26, 1986), 125 pages * ''Still Catholic After All These Years'', Mary Jane Frances Cavolina (Author), Main Street Books; 1st edition (August 1, 1993), 110 pages * ''I Run, Therefore I Am—Nuts!'', Bob Schwartz (Author), Human Kinetics (August 6, 2001), 264 pages * ''I Run, Therefore I Am—STILL Nuts!'', Bob Schwartz (Author), Human Kinetics (September 28, 2012), 264 pages

Sticker sets

(1969 - 44 stickers) * Odder Odd Rods (1970 – 66 stickers) * Oddest Odd Rods (1970 – 66 stickers, numbered 67-132) * Odd Rod All Stars (1971 – 66 stickers reprinted from the previous 3 series) * Fabulous Odd Rods (1973 – a reprint of Odder Odd Rods) * Fantastic Odd Rods series 1 (1973 – a reprint of Oddest Odd Rods, retaining the 67-132 numbering) * Fantastic Odd Rods series 2 (66 new stickers numbered 1-66) * Awesome All*Stars (1988 - 99 stickers) * Baseball's Great Gross Outs (1989 - 88 stickers)

Comic strips

In ''National Lampoon''s "Funny Pages" section, Taylor alternated between two and sometimes three strips of his creation: * "The Appletons: A Saga of an American Family" - featured Helen, the earnest and clueless mom; Kathy and Bobby, the mischievous and somewhat less clueless kids; and Norm, the mischievous and subversive dad (imagine Ward Cleaver with a penchant for elaborate and dangerous practical jokes). * "Timberland Tales" - featured Doctor Rogers, an earnest Mark Trail-type; his girlfriend Kathleen; Maurice the Indian Boy ("some call him the joker"), an unbelievably naive and bulbous teenager; and Constable Tom ("rumored to have a small amount of brain damage"), a dimwitted, musclebound Canadian Mountie. The latter two characters were featured much more frequently. * "Stories of Uncle Kunta" - a less frequently run comic featuring a narrative format with impossible tall tales told to two white children by Uncle Kunta, a satiric cross between Walt Disney's Uncle Remus and Kunta Kinte from Roots, the blockbuster TV mini-series of the time. In 2020, he released ''I Think He's Crazy-The Comics of B. K. Taylor'', a compilation book of these and other comics. In 2009, he illustrated an editorial strip for a public advocacy campaign commissioned by Unfair Credit Card Fees: * "Interchange Able"

Awards

Taylor's work has been recognized with several awards: *

Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual c ...

from

Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con International is a comic book convention and nonprofit multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California since 1970. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego; but it is c ...

in 1980 * Gold Brick Award * Caddy Awards (7) * the Funny Bone Award *

ACE Award The CableACE Award (earlier known as the ACE Awards; ACE was an acronym for "Award for Cable Excellence") is a defunct award that was given by what was then the National Cable Television Association from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in Amer ...

in 1990 for Eureeka's Castle * 2010 Reed award for political cartooning