In 1999, creator Craig McCracken followed in the footsteps of other great animators and illustrated a Powerpuff Girls Little Golden Book entitled, “Big, Terrible Trouble” in 1999.

What do Robert McKimson, John Hench, Michael Maltese, Bill Peet, Jack Hannah and other legends of the Golden Age of Animation have in common with the following stories of modern animation legends?

Series creator Craig McCracken illustrated a Powerpuff Girls Little Golden Book entitled, “Big, Terrible Trouble” in 1999. Producers of Batman: The Animated Series Paul Dini and Bruce Timm wrote and illustrated a comicbook story called, “Mad Love” for the Batman Adventures comicbook.

Animator Chris Bailey who directed Mickey Mouse in Runaway Brain and later was a CG animation supervisor on such films as Inspector Gadget and Mighty Joe Young found time between his day jobs to bring to life the comicbook adventures of his original creation, “Major Damage.”

Batman: The Animated Series producers Paul Dini (left) and Bruce Timm wrote and illustrated a comicbook story called “Mad Love” for the Batman Adventures comicbook.

Animator Tom Bancroft spent 12 years working on Disney animated features from Beauty and the Beast to Atlantis but also founded a comicbook publishing company (Funnypages Press) to publish his original comicbook, Opposite Forces. The legendary Glen Keane is the author and illustrator of a series of Bible parable children’s books featuring Adam Raccoon.

These animators and others are following a long established animation tradition. Many animation legends supplemented their paychecks by supplying work for advertising, children’s books, comicbooks, comic strips, coloring books, storyteller record albums and more. During the lag time between projects or just to become more independent from the whims of the established studios, animators discovered that they could generate additional income to pay their mortgage or car payments or bar tabs or gambling debts by often anonymously producing work for these markets.

Mary Blair, whose inspired design of It’s a Small World is still inspiring today, illustrated I Can Fly.

A Golden Opportunity
In 1941, children’s books normally sold for two or three dollars, which made them a luxury for many families. Little Golden Books were created as an affordable alternative but it also spawned a new market for animation storymen, layout artists, animators, color stylists and others to express themselves creatively while earning some money on the side.

Imagineer Xavier Attencio may be best known for writing the songs for Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion, but he also illustrated Mickey Mouse Goes Christmas Shopping. Mary Blair whose inspired design of It’s a Small World is still inspiring today, illustrated I Can Fly. Yale Gracey (Pluto Pup Goes to Sea), Bill Justice (Grandpa Bunny), Sam McKim (Toby Tyler) Eyvind Earle (Peter Pan and Wendy), Milt Banta (Three Little Pigs), Tom Oreb (Once Upon a Wintertime) and so many others who contributed in a variety of roles to animated classics are credited with doing Little Golden Books.