Kevin & Jody

We’re not exaggerating when we say that this little painting of Mickey and Minnie Mouse completely defined the summer of 2003. At least it did if you shopped at your local Disney Store! Jody’s original hand-painted character artwork was used on everything from cups and plates, to shoes, handbags, clothing, and even patio furniture!
The little painting that “started it all” is available in Heritage Auctions’ “The Art of Disneyland” (April 5-8, 2024). Visit ha.com and search for “Kevin and Jody”. #2003

Fun illustration created by Jody over 20 years ago for the Disney Stores. This is one of many special items in Heritage Auctions’ “The Art of Disneyland” (April 5-8, 2024). Visit ha.com and search for “Kevin and Jody”.

Yo-Ho! Our handmade, authentic replica of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” Barker Parrot is destined for a new home—maybe yours! Conceived by Imagineers X. Atencio and Marc Davis, sculpted by Imagineer Blaine Gibson for the attraction at Walt Disney World, and hand-painted, feathered, and dressed by us. His pirate hat and red kerchief were sewn by hand from the original patterns, and the feathers were sourced from the last remaining custom-dyed stock of WED’s original supplier from the 1960s, which is now closed.
Over the years we made only three of these (two for the D23 Expo, and this final one for display in our studio.) He’s just one of many special items up for grabs in Heritage Auctions “The Art of Disneyland” (April 5-8, 2024).
Visit ha.com and search for “Kevin and Jody”.

Spring Cleaning Time! If you're looking for one of our super-rare collectibles from the past, an original product prototype, or a one-of-a-kind piece of art — you just may be in luck! More very special pieces from our own archives are up for grabs in Heritage Auctions' "The Art of Disneyland", April 5 - 8. You can place bids online starting right now.
Visit www.ha.com and search for “Kevin and Jody”.

Once upon a time, twenty years ago, our pal opened The Lucky Tiki — a beautiful little bar here in Southern California. Kevin designed the bar’s logo and the illuminated sign out front. So many our artist friends contributed to the interior decor and, best of all, the cocktails were amazing. Sadly the bar was short-lived… 🍹
But NOW, fast forward to 2024, and The Lucky Tiki is set to open again, more wonderful than ever! We’re so excited, and will be posting a lot about it in the coming weeks. Follow !

This was our very first handmade/hand-painted wooden toy—a yellow cart pulled by Cyril the horse — that was given to a friend at Christmas about thirty years ago. At that time, we were designing Disneyland Entertainment, years before we began developing merchandise for Disney. When the cart was rolled across a surface, Cyril rocked back and forth as if he were trotting along to Notsoshire. 😉

Are the holidays really over? Here are some of this year’s handmade toys for friends, and a few favorites. Every December, we close up shop for a week and make quirky little things out of wood scraps we’ve saved all year. It’s an annual tradition we look forward to. Wishing everyone a happy 2024!

Even very naughty dogs enjoy going for a ride. We made this wooden toy for dear friends with two very sweet dogs who would never deserve to be carted away in a basket by Krampus.

Throughout the year, we sweep up all the little wood scraps in our workshop and use them to make tiny things for friends at Christmas. It's a great way to use up paint from past projects, too.
We made this little guy today! (He's 3 inches tall.)

Chilling news! We’re proud to reveal our newest collectible figure in the PHANTOM MANOR series, exclusively for Disneyland Paris. The ghostly MAYOR from the attraction will be released this Saturday, December 16th, and is limited to an edition of 1000. Look for him at the following DLP locations: Thunder Mesa Mercantile, Harrington’s Fine China, and The Disney Gallery. 👻 🔑

Tomorrow is the final day of Heritage Auctions' "Celebrating 100 Years of Disney! (1923-2023)" and we've saved the best for last, in our opinion! Each year, for nearly 30 years, we make special gifts for friends at Christmas—usually a handmade wooden toy or ornament that can't be purchased anywhere. During the month of December we work on these special items, and everything is 100% made and painted by hand. Our hands!

We've set aside three of our favourites from over the years—all based on the work of the fabulous Mary Blair— and they could end up being yours! Visit www.ha.com and search for "Kevin and Jody". A Mary Blair ice skater, a holiday shopper, and a Little House, all decked out for Christmas, are offered together in Lot #19004.

"Who Killed C**k Robin?" is a 1935 animated short that we don't hear much about these days. A clip of the film even appears in Alfred Hitchcock's fantastic thriller SABOTAGE. In 2004 "C**k Robin" was included in an assortment of collectibles commemorating the 75th anniversary of Walt Disney's "Silly Symphonies" cartoon series.
We created a little porcelain figurine depicting love-struck Robin on a tree branch, serenading Miss Jenny Wren, up above on her private balcony.
It's a sweet little piece, but the project was scrapped and never released (We ended up creating a stained glass lamp based on the cartoon "Flowers and Trees", instead.) But we'd already put so much effort into the sculpture that we cast two samples to keep in our collection. One of those highly rare castings is in tomorrow's Heritage Auction celebrating "100 Years of Disney! (1923-2023).
If you're interested in bidding, visit www.ha.com and search for "Kevin and Jody".

This fine Craftsman-style "Bambi" lamp, designed by Kevin in 2006, has a window inset into the polished wood base revealing silhouettes of young Bambi and the Great Stag. The delicate shade consists of green and brown stained glass in front of metal sillhouettes of forest leaves and foliage. The leaves, based on the 1941 film's gorgeous title cards, are only visible when the lamp is on. We think it's one of our loveliest items ever.

This original prototype and more special pieces from our own archives are up for grabs in Heritage Auctions' "Celebrating 100 Years of Disney! (1923-2023)", Dec 8-11. You can place bids online right now.
Visit www.ha.com and search for "Kevin and Jody".

Snow White, the Wicked Queen, the Hag, all Seven Dwarfs, AND a cute chipmunk! Jody drew and painted these character portraits over 20 years ago to decorate custom packaging for our series of enamel pins celebrating Walt Disney's first feature-length animated film.
This original painting and more special pieces from our own archives are up for grabs in Heritage Auctions' "Celebrating 100 Years of Disney! (1923-2023)", tomorrow, Dec 8 thru Monday Dec11.
You can place bids online right now.
Visit www.ha.com and search for "Kevin and Jody".

We're doing it again! If you're looking for one of our super-rare collectibles from the past, an original product prototype, or a one-of-a-kind piece of art — you just may be in luck! More very special pieces from our own archives are up for grabs in Heritage Auctions' "Celebrating 100 Years of Disney! (1923-2023)", Dec 8-11. You can place bids online starting right now.
Visit www.ha.com and search for “Kevin and Jody”.

The 2023 Anaheim Fall Festival & Halloween Parade is just 8 days away, and we’re so excited about it. If you haven’t heard, this is the 100th Year of the Festival. Yes, just like the Walt Disney Company, the Anaheim’s famous Halloween festival got its start in 1923. This year the volunteer team of float builders have whipped up three new entries for the nighttime Halloween Parade, including this perky little steamboat based on a Bruce Bushman concept we’ve named THE HALLOWEEN MAMA. Can’t wait to show off the finished float on October 28th in Downtown Anaheim. (If you’d like more information on visiting this year’s event, please visit the official website www.anaheimfallfestival.org for schedules, maps of the Festival and Parade route, suggestions for parking, etc.

Flashback to one of the oddest Disneyland jobs Kevin has ever had: puppeteering a live performance of the Enchanted Tiki Room’s Barker Bird (and doing the voice!) on the attraction’s lanai for a private event in 2007. An unforgettable experience!

Hi Halloween fans! We’ll be at today (Saturday) with a special presentation at NOON on the 100th Year of the Anaheim Halloween Parade. Come see us! 🎃 ALSO AFTER THE PRESENTATION we will be releasing our first Andy Anaheim limited edition figure at the Anaheim Fall Festival and Halloween Parade’s booth at Midsummer Scream. This rare collectible was sculpted by Kevin and hand-painted by Jody with assistance from and Jen . ALL proceeds go back to support the parade.

We will be randomly releasing 101 of these little Andys during the centennial celebration and they are numbered 1923 thru 2024— one for each year of the Anaheim Fall Festival. Sort of like a scavenger hunt you might find Andy available at one of our events, or he could suddenly pop up on the Fall Festival’s online shop (www.anaheimfallfestival.org) OR even show up at one of our favorite shops, restaurants or breweries. In the spirit of Halloween and trick-or-treats we hope the hunt will be part of the fun. Good luck!

Happy 🇺🇸 4th, fellow Americans! There’s only a few minutes left of it, and the fireworks are still popping in our neighborhood. Hope you had a safe and happy day.

Pictured here is our limited-edition “Fantasy in the Sky” stained glass lamp, created for Disneyland back in 2005. Do you have one? It’s still one of our favorites. 🎇

We're often asked for a comprehensive list of all the Disney "big figures" that we’ve helped to create. See the 2nd photo for the complete “K&J Big Fig List”.

This is also a fine place to mention that producing these sorts of items is always the result of a team effort. With few exceptions, these figures were sculpted by other artists, and the success of the character likeness depends as much on their ability, as on our concepts and guidance.

We'd like to acknowledge the exceptionally talented artist Pete Emslie who drew splendid character turnarounds for many of our very best figures, and to Bo Tsai, our favorite sculptor in China. Sadly, Bo passed away in 2012, but his contribution to worldwide Disney merchandise over many decades is legendary.

Hi friends! We haven’t posted in a while because we’re so goldurn busy right now. Hope you’re doing well, too. I lieu of a proper update, here’s a throwback pic of Kevin playing “the Thing”.

New favorites or old classics? We’re voracious readers and there are so many good books to tackle. What’re you reading right now?

Fantasmic” Dragon Animation Test PART TWO:
(Please read the previous post for the full story.) This black and white, silent footage wasn't meant to be seen by the public. I made it as a tool in plotting out the motion of the full-scale dragon for the show in 1991.
This 90 seconds of stop-motion took 30 hours to film —( I got a little giddy towards the middle of it, as you will see.)
The dragon, as we originally envisioned, had a fully fleshed-out body with arms, claws, and flapping wings (although the monster kept getting “hacked away” until she was virtually just a dragon’s mechanical head on a boom lift, with lengths of non-flammable fabric hanging down to imply body mass, concealed in thick fog to encourage the viewer’s own imagination to fill in the details.) Getting a bulky dragon to quickly exit the stage at the end of her big scene was the greatest challenge for everyone involved. Disneyland

1991 Disneyland Fantasmic! Dragon Test Animation.mov This is the historic early animation test for the Disneyland "Fantasmic!" Dragon created by the Disneyland Entertainment-Art Department in 1991. Though neve...

“Fantasmic” Dragon Test Animation, PART ONE: Hey everybody, Kevin here. With all the talk of dragons this week, I wanted to show my early animation test to plot the range of motion that would later be “acted out” by the 45-foot animatronic puppet in the show. From the beginning, the dragon was intended to have a full body with wings, arms, claws, etc, as you see in these photos. This miniature model was built especially for this test by Disneyland artist Vladimir Petrov. It’s a jointed wooden armature covered in flexible foam rubber skin. The head was hand-carved of styrofoam with hinged joints for the jaw. The 2-foot tall puppet had 13 moving parts. Over a weekend, I animated the puppet frame by frame with a wonderful antique Swiss-made Bolex 16-millimeter movie camera on black and white Tri-X Kodak film. It’s what us artsy indie film makers used in those days. I hope you’re impressed. Maleficent was put through her paces, first in profile and then in front view, against a gridded background to define the range of motion. I’ll share the actual film as an Instagram reel in PART TWO. 🎥

Designing Fantasmic: Part 2
There were several scale models created for Maleficent as a dragon—the first being a resin-cast maquette sculpted in oil-based clay by Rich Collins. The dragon, as we originally envisioned, had a fully fleshed-out body, complete with arms, claws, and flapping wings. Getting a bulky dragon to quickly exit the stage at the end of her big scene was the greatest challenge to everyone. The 3rd pic is of Kevin and Rich, being silly with unpainted dragon models on their heads.

Feeling nostalgic today. Designing Disneyland’s long-running nighttime show “Fantasmic!” back in 1991 with Tom Butsch, one of the nicest art directors we’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Tom storyboarded the whole show—multiple permutations of it—with gouache and colored pencil on big black boards. Throughout the planning stages, Kevin was involved in creating the show's oversized creatures, working on the three-dimensional prototypes and planning out each of their performances, including the fire-breathing Maleficent dragon. The last pic is Kevin with the legendary Tom Butsch at Tom’s retirement lunch a few years ago at Tony's Original Deli and Bottle Shop.