Guy Gilchrist In 1981 , Guy Gilchrist , with his brother Brad Gilchrist as writer , created the daily comic strip " The Muppets " , which was printed worldwide in over 660 newspapers from 1981 to 1986 . He was 24 years old when the strip began . Guy was the artist and occasional writer for the strip . Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker had recommended Gilchrist for the job . There was a lengthy audition process . Gilchrist ' s early strips were based directly on the television show , the puppets and the work of Michael Frith . His art style became more simplified and streamlined as the strip continued . Said Jim Henson in 1982 , " We worked for a long time . We spent a year and a half or two years working with different cartoon teams trying to find a good combination before we found Guy and Brad Gilchrist , and I ' m very happy with the way they ' re coming , and the strip is growing quite nicely . . . . It was immediately bought very broadly and it sold to more newspapers than most strips ever launch with . We immediately had - I don ' t know the figure right now - but several hundreds of newspapers , but after that first little bloom , a lot of people dropped it . Not a lot , but a few . Actually , I don ' t think it ' s gone down that much , but to me the guys are doing really a nice job and I think it ' s catching on . It ' s a growth process and all these characters always take a bit of time to settle in . " In 1984 , President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan invited Gilchrist to be guest of honor at the Easter at the White House celebration . Later that week , Gilchrist ' s Muppets artwork was permanently enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution . Gilchrist ' s Muppet artwork was chosen to be part of the touring " The Art of the Muppets " exhibit and has appeared in museums worldwide . Gonzo recommends the book Moving Right Along by Guy and Brad Gilchrist at the end of The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson . Gilchrist created Muppet comics in color for " Muppet Magazine " . The characters were also seen in a storybook style for the 1984 computer game " Kermit ' s Electronic StoryMaker , " and in a coloring - book and comic - book - like Western story for the Crayola Colorfun Theater . He also drew licensed merchandise for Henson , most notably material with " Muppet Babies " and " Fraggle Rock " characters . A Gilchrist Kermit can be recognized by the three lines around each side of the smile on his face . This style of Kermit persisted for many years and can still be seen on some merchandise . Notable merchandise line for the Muppet Babies included a long line of Dixie cups , coloring books , child - sized drum sets , a board game , a toy guitar , a Baby Rowlf Piano , and a lunch box for Thermos spoofing Star Wars , fairy tales and Raiders of the Lost Ark ( which can be seen as a prop in 2011 ' s The Muppets ) . Fraggle Rock merchandise includes a stationery set by Empire . Merchandise such as a child ' s was also created for the short - lived " Little Muppet Monsters " series . Gilchrist also drew envelope artwork for the launch of the U . S . Postal Service ' s 1986 " Love Stamp . " The stamp bears an image of a childlike drawing of a puppy , while the cachet depicts Rowlf the Dog as a postmaster . Gilchrist also drew several sample comics for an unpublished " Muppet Babies " comic strip . During the 1980s , Guy Gilchrist created a fairly popular line of children ' s books called the Tiny Dinos , which was merchandised by LJN and Applause . Tiny Dinos puppets ( in the Muppet style ) were built for Toy Fair appearances and two TV commercials , with Gilchrist himself voicing Rex and Sir Waldo , and Noel MacNeal puppeteering Plateo . Gilchrist voiced many characters on a Tiny Dinos 900 number that children could call , and an animated pilot was storyboarded but never produced . With Greg Walker , Guy drew the comic strip The Rock Channel , spoofing MTV culture in a style similar to the TV series WKRP in Cincinatti . His other possible franchises of the early 80s were Little Ages ( starring a tiny wizard ) and Mudpie ( a young - boy cat character who appeared in several children ' s books and later starred in the religiously - themed comic strip Night Lights and Fairy Flights ) . He also attempted to sell Jack B . Nimble , a Calvin - and - Hobbes - like strip about a young boy with an overactive imagination , and Bearly Angels , a group of angelic bears ( later merchandised as sculptures in 2013 ) . There were other ideas , such as a line for women called PositiveEnergy ( starring a Fido Dido like female character ) , and Screams , a single - panel strip about monsters . In about 1988 he wrote and drew Night Lights & Pillow Fights : A Trip To Storyland , a collection of illustrated poems for children , inspired by his heroes Dr . Seuss , Arthur Rackham and Walt Kelly , with coloring by Tom Brenner and Marie Andersen Gilchrist . A shorter sequel , Just Imagine , was published as a Little Golden Book . He continued to write and draw poems in the same style , drawn more simply as roughs with a ball - point pen . These went unpublished until 1997 , when he pulled them out of boxes and published Night Lights & Pillow Fights Two : The Box Set , as well as a comic strip titled Night Lights and Fairy Flights which featured new and old poems and the Mudpie character . Another comic strip featured idealized male and female angels . During the 1980s and 1990s , Guy Gilchrist and his studio created many children ' s books based on popular cartoon characters , such as the Looney Tunes and " Tiny Toon Adventures " , Minnie Mouse , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , X - Men , and " Wild West C . O . W . - Boys of Moo Mesa " . In 1995 , Guy and Brad Gilchrist were asked to take over Ernie Bushmiller ' s classic comic strip " Nancy " . External links . _ _ NOWYSIWYG _ _