Hanna-Barbera Meets Sci-Fi
This article is more than 2 years old
Hey, Boo Boo. How’s about a pic-a-nic basket full of red pills and blue pills? Or how about another story where artists more talented than I am artistically blend sci-fi characters with other famous characters? I think it’s about that time.
Alabama artist Michael Penick took the lovably rendered look of the Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the 1960s and transposed that style onto characters from both Star Wars and The Matrix. The project was done for the art website Planet-Pulp, which sets a different theme each month for user submissions. Penick says the character models from The Flintstones and The Jetsons were the most classic looks for him, and develop the best contrast between the real person and their cartoon counterpart.
First up, the simpler Matrix photo that, while a great drawing, does nothing for me besides provoke a desire to see a lot more of the film in this style. Also, it makes me think about Betty Rubble in Trinity’s leather suit, so maybe there’s more merit here than I’m giving it credit for.
The next two are more interesting takes on incidental moments from the Star Wars universe, where Luke moans and groans and Vader…also moans and groans.
These are also great, though it’s the same situation of not being fully sated by these limited number of drawings. When someone presents to me a mash-up as promising as Hanna-Barbera science fiction, I want to see everything. The lighthearted corny jokes and vibrant colors just cannot fill the void I didn’t know was there. Damn you, Michael Penick, for not devoting the rest of your life to creating this for my fleeting pleasure. Also, great job.
