Great Gazoo (as would be seen in the Simpsons)

Here's the story on this one. I attended a local comic convention and Phil Ortiz was one of the guests. His name wasn't familiar to me so I made a point to check him out. Turns out, Mr. Ortiz is a character designer. So he doesn't create the drawings that are then made into animation cells (typcially), but rather invents the way certain characters look. SO if you've seen the Simpsons (and who hasn't?). In the first three seasons, he came up with the way many characters look; characters like Apu, Otto Man (bus driver), Mr. Burns, Cheif Wiggum. They way they look is due to Mr. Ortiz.

At his table during the convention, he had a series of sketches he had been working on of older cartoon characters....and it was like he reached back into my past and was drawing all of my animated pals. The Chipmunks, Beanie and Cecil, Ruff and Ready, and SOOOOOO many more. So our conversation went back to those great earlier animated characters. The Flintstones and Gazoo came up and while we were talking, Phil sketched this out. No reference material or anything...just pen to paper. Although it was Simpson-ized a bit around the mouth, it is pretty spot on.

If any of you get an opportunity to meet and chat with Mr. Ortiz, DO IT. Great guy and interesting stories!