Growing up, Guy Gilchrist knew he wanted to be a cartoonist.
His love of drawing began when he was about seven as he started reading the newspaper comics.
That passion for drawing eventually helped him become one of the cartoonists for such classics including “The Muppets” and “Nancy.”
The famed cartoonist will be one of many guests in attendance at this week’s Permian Basin Comic Con X.
The convention takes place from today through Sunday at the Midland Horseshoe Arena.
This will be his first time coming out to the Permian Basin.
“I’m very excited,” Gilchrist said in a phone interview. “I’ve never been to that area of Texas. I’m very much looking forward to it. This was the first time that I was invited. I absolutely love going to comic cons in Texas.”
Gilchrist, who grew up in Connecticut, says his love of the comics began with his mother.
“My mother was a good artist,” Gilchrist said. “She was a single mom with my father not being present. She was a waitress at a diner and also she worked at a front desk of a hotel in a tiny town. Back in the 50s, childcare was basically taking your child to work so that you don’t get fired.”
Because they had access to a newspaper, Gilchrist said his mother would open the pages to the comic section.
“She showed me that you could draw ovals and make them into two different characters,” Gilchrist said. “She’d open up the paper and say ‘here, Guy, draw this.’ That was how I spent my earliest memories.”
Because his family didn’t own a television, Gilchrist would go down the street each day to an appliance store to watch what would become one of his biggest influencers in the world of comics, Walter Lantz who was the creator of “Woody the Woodpecker.”
“Walter would come on and draw characters before showing you the cartoon,” Gilchrist said. “I thought he was speaking to me and I had such profound joy. I could draw a character and hand it to someone and make something out of nothing and make someone happy. It made me very happy and that was kind of the beginning of it all.”
It wasn’t long before Gilchrist, at age 13, wrote to Lantz, sending him his best drawings.
He never forgot when Lantz wrote back.
“I was completely shocked,” Gilchrist said. “He said that I tried very hard and that I had a lot of talent for a 10-year-old and that if I kept on going, he believed someday I would be a successful cartoonist. This was the most famous cartoonist in the world. It got me sparked, so much so that I started taking the train to New York City when I was 13 and bringing my portfolio. I knew that if you wanted to be in comics strips and books, you went to New York. Thankfully, within a couple of years, I was gainfully employed in New York City.”
From 1981-1986, Gilchrist made a name for himself, becoming the first artist to draw and write comics based on Jim Hensons’ “The Muppets.”
Gilchrist talked about his time working with Henson, who passed away in 1990.
“Jim was the kindest man,” Gilchrist said. “He was very generous with his time. His advice was priceless. He was an incredible teacher and creative mentor. He would give you the job and not tell you how to do it. He left it to you.”
Gilchrist said Henson’s managerial style was to surround himself and people with positive energy.
“Jim was a workaholic,” Gilchrist said. “24/7, he was creating things that was making people joyful and bringing people together. He loved getting people that were the exact same way, like people who celebrated life and all the love and silliness that we did. There was attention to detail and the attention to life being brought forth through the characters, situations and stories that we were telling. That really became my heart and soul. Everything I did after Jim passed away was very much colored and created during those days.”
But it wasn’t just Kermit the Frog that Gilchrist has been widely known for.
The cartoonist would go on to become the fourth artist to continue Ernie Bushmiller’s gag comic “Nancy” which he did between 1995 and 2018.
Gilchrist is also the creator of the inspirational cartoon series “Your Angels Speak” and lends his name to his own publishing company, drawing studio and art school.
Most of his early comic strips were made in cooperation with his brother Brad Gilchrist.
At various times in the 1980s and 1990s, Gilchrist managed the publishing and or merchandising for such licenses as Pink Panther, Tom and Jerry, Looney Tunes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Minnie Mouse.
In addition, he’s also designed logos for Minor League Baseball teams such as the Portland Sea Dogs, Norwich Navigators and New Britain Rock Cats.
He also designed the Japan League (J-League) soccer team Shimizu S-Pulse’s mascot known as Palchan.
Over the years, Gilchrist has met many famous people including The Beatles’ drummer, Ringo Starr.
“A number of years ago, Ringo was playing at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut and I wrote a letter to his publicist and they told me they’d give me a couple of minutes with Ringo,” Gilchrist said.
Gilchrist said he thought it would be just a meet and greet with a whole bunch of people.
“But it was just me,” Gilchrist said. “It was in a makeshift room, made out of curtains with the stage where the All-Star Band was playing. You talk about a Salvador Dali moment. I walk in and there’s Ringo. You’re flipping out and trying to stay cool. He was so incredibly funny and gentle. That thing he does where he balances comedy and pretending to be full of himself to this very humble person is exactly Ringo. He was so much fun.”
After about 15 minutes of visiting, Gilchrist gave the famous drummer a picture of Animal, the drummer from “The Muppets.”
“He held up the picture of Animal that I had given him and says ‘and now, finally, the world’s most famous drummer and the world’s second most favorite drummer.’ And then he winked, as if to say ‘which is which?’” Gilchrist said with a laugh. “He then grabbed the microphone and sings ‘With a Little Help From My Friends.’ I’m just standing there like ‘ok, what just happened?’”
Comic Con attendees will get a chance to hear more from Gilchrist at this year’s Permian Basin Comic Con.
For more information about this year’s convention and the other guests, go to tinyurl.com/3vmhe75t.
If you go
>> What: Permian Basin Comic Con X.
>> Where: Midland Horseshoe Arena.
>> When: March 17-19.
>> Where to purchase tickets: tinyurl.com/3vmhe75t
