5-Minute Time Out: Gustafer Yellowgold
Children's entertainer Morgan Taylor on his pointy-headed creation.
by Lindsay Armstrong
June 26, 2009
Check out this description of the arrival of spring: "As April came down from above, expanding the meaning of love, exactly the opposite of cold and jaded." So, who wrote it? Emily Dickinson? Damien Rice? Nope: it's a song about an animated ant from the newest Gustafer Yellowgold DVD, Mellow Fever. This kind of lyrical sophistication, paired with a gang of minimally-animated characters, has made the musical cartoon act a crossover hit since its creation in 2005. If you're not familiar with Gustafer: he is a friendly yellow creature from the sun who sets out in search of a "cooler" life and finds it in Minnesota. There he befriends an eel, a dragon, and a flightless pterodactyl. Babble spoke with Gustafer's creator, the illustrator, writer, and musician Morgan Taylor, about cake-jumping, '70s soft rock, and how parenthood has influenced his alien alter ego. — Lindsay Armstrong
You started out playing in indie rock bands. How did you make the transition into being a children's artist?
When I first came to New York I actually tried to get work as an illustrator. I took my portfolio everywhere and collected a big, fat stack of rejection letters. Then I got into the music scene here. I had a band called Morgan Taylor's Rock Group. We had a moment, but in New York that can fizzle out fast. Morgan Taylor's Rock Group broke up and I put out a solo album. But after I played my record release party, I just felt like something was missing. Rachel, my wife, said, "Why don't you do that kids' book you've been thinking about?"
Once we put out the first DVD, the reaction was just instantaneous.
I had this stockpile of songs from when I first moved to New York and I was feeling really stimulated. I chose some songs from that, the ones that were sort of more colorful or silly or pretty, and I drew out images to accompany them. I had the "Pterodactyl Song, "The Eel Song," and I had this song "I Am From the Sun." As I was drawing out the images, I realized that the songs were written in first person, but the speaker wasn't me. It was more like a fictitious character. Years before I had started drawing this yellow, pointy-headed guy. He was floating around in my brain. I thought that maybe this project was the home for that character. And then it hit me, "Yes, of course! He's the one from the sun!" I drew out five or so of these songs and put them together in a book to try to get it published. One of the people we showed it to asked me if I wanted to animate it and we loved that idea. Once we put out the first DVD, the reaction was just instantaneous. All of the press started saying really nice things and I was like, "Wow, all I had to do was add cartoons to my music and now everybody's paying attention!" The song "I Jump on Cake" was originally a drawing in my portfolio.
Yes, I was wondering whether or not kids go home after your show and jump on cake.
[Laughs] I've had parents email me to say that their kids do.
©2009 Lindsay Armstrong and Babble Media
About the Author
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Lindsay Armstrong was born and raised in Wilmington, DE, home of tax-free shopping and Joe Biden. After attending the College of the Holy Cross in freezing Worcester, MA, she moved to NYC to teach English in the public schools and pursue some form of writing. Four years later, she is finally getting around to that second goal. She lives in the Bronx with her two ridiculously cute kittens, Wally and Emmens.
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