John W Golden admits to having been an artsy kid and we all know where that can lead…artsy adult. In the past 30+ years he’s created quite the catalog of work including commercial design and animation that’s been seen on the Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Animal Planet among other outlets.

He’s received allot of online attention recently for his By Order of the Management series, sign art reminding kids to ‘Play Nice,’ ‘Keep Your Elbows off the Table,” and ‘Don’t Talk with your Mouth Full” all directives issued by order of the management, of course.

But I confess my favorite is his Critter series, simple stylized portraits of animals (hailing from air, land and sea) each with a loopy scalloped border and identifying text. Think vintage educational chart meets classic storybook, so rather than finding the latin castor canadensis below the image of our flat-tailed friend, he’s identified as The Industrious Beaver. There’s also meet the Patient Seahorse, the Crooked Fox, the Sensible Owl, the Curmudgeonly Badger and the Relentless Squirrel among many others. Get to know John better on his blog or purchase reasonably priced prints in his shop.

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