Joe Rosales
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joeartguy.bsky.social
Joe Rosales
@joeartguy.bsky.social
1.2K followers 210 following 6.2K posts
I have been an artist and writer for a long time.
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joeartguy.bsky.social
Although polar bears had appeared sporadically in Coke ads for decades, 1993's magical "Northern Lights" spot (by CGI studio Rhythm & Hues) kicked off a huge wave of ads, goodwill and merch.

Stewart said he tried to put the love he felt for his puppy Morgan in the ad to connect with people.
A print ad from Ken Stewart's "Always Coca-Cola" campaign featuring a smiling polar bear from the iconic commercials holding a bottle of Coke. The text reads "Always cool, always Coca-Cola."
November 9, 2025 at 11:35 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
I'll also mention Ken Stewart, the Senior Vice President of Creative & Advertising in 1992 at Columbia Pictures, which was then owned by Coca-Cola.

Asked to create a new campaign for Coke, he was inspired by his dog (who he called a "polar bear puppy") to create a polar bear-based ad.
Ken Stewart in 2018, the 25th anniversary of his legendary "Northern Lights" advertisement, flanked by two of the polar bear plush dolls sold by Coca-Cola based on his iconic ad campaign. A rough sketch of a polar bear from 1992 during the development of Coca-Cola's polar bear ad campaign.
November 9, 2025 at 11:35 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Haddon Sundblom did ads for Colgate, Palmolive, Maxwell House and others, and is acknowledged as not only a huge influence on commercial art but also on pinup artists like Andrew Loomis and Gil Elvgren.

Coca-Cola burning real artists who defined their product for this AI slop is shameful. FUCK AI
Haddon Sundblom pinup painting of a woman at her vanity showing a lot of leg as she adjusts her garter. This is probably for a 1950s pinup product calendar, since she is labelled “Miss Sylvania.” Sundblom’s signature can be seen in the lower left.
November 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Before the 1930s, Santa Claus was depicted many ways in the US — tall, short, thin, stout, also in green or blue. Sundblom’s hugely popular ads codified American Santa, with his jolly rosy face and (Coca-Cola) red outfit.

An ad legend, Sundblom was later hired to redo the Quaker Oats man too.
Haddon Sundblom’s 1957 painting of the Quaker Oats man, an update of a black and white 1946 portrait by Jim Nash. This logo was used on Quaker Oats products until 1972, when it was replaced with a graphic designed by Saul Bass… but in 2012 Quaker Oats returned to using Sundblom’s painting, with only minor updates to maintain the logo’s quality.
November 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Coke’s *very specific* Santa was created by painter Haddon Sundblom.

In 1931 Coca-Cola hired Sundblom to create a series of holiday ads. Sundblom drew inspiration from Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” and based Santa’s look on his friend Lou Prentiss.
Undated photo (probably from the 1950s) of painter Haddon Sundblom (1899-1972) sitting smiling at his easel in his home studio, dressed in a tie and shirtsleeves. Haddon Sundblom 1930s Christmas advertising painting showing a jolly Santa Claus in front of a Christmas tree, model train set, and drum with the Coca-Cola logo on it, holding a bottle of Coca-Cola while ducking back slightly to avoid a flying toy helicopter.
November 9, 2025 at 7:47 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
In addition to being a weird comic artist for publications like Twist and Drawn & Quarterly, J.D. King did comnercial art for some of the coolest stuff ever. #RIPJDKing
Image from “The Artists and Cartoonists Who Designed Pee-Wee Herman’s World” by John Kelly (The Comics Journal, 9/21/2023) showing art cards from the legendary 1988 Pee-Wee Herman “Fun-Pak” sold with Topps chewing gum, the top row featuring art by J.D. King, the middle row featuring masks by Charles Burns.
November 7, 2025 at 8:25 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
There from the beginning! I’m sure you’ve cone across some of Mel. White’s Sam Siam guides which she made so the casuals could get involved
Interior cover of Mel. White’s instructional zine “Sam Siam in FurryMUCK Land from 1993, featuring a drawing of the confused Siamese cat Sam saying ‘“DBREF”? “%@$prognam[PERSobj]”? Isn’t there some sorta law that says programmers gotta document in English?’
November 2, 2025 at 5:45 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
those were the days of real spokesjerks
David Leisure as Joe Isuzu, the sleazy brand spokesman whose primary trait was his propensity to tell fantastic lies about Isuzu cars and promotions with oily glee.
October 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
I was specifically referring to stuff from British publications, like this Judge Dredd story from 1983
Cover of the Quality Comics Judge Dredd Number 1, which reprints the 1983 story “Cry of the Werewolf” by John Wagner and Steve Dillon. Dredd is entering from a doorway in the background, lawgiver drawn, while in the foreground a wolf man with dripping fangs and blank red eyes howls ferally.
October 20, 2025 at 8:58 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Who robbed the Louvre? Correct answers only
David Arquette, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Christian Slater and Bokeem Woodbine as a gang of Elvis impersonator thieves in 3000 MILES TO GRACELAND (2001).
October 20, 2025 at 12:16 AM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Demon hunter Kai and her hat sidekick Indigo search through magical lands for demons and her malicious rival Sophia in the thrilling and bewitching magical adventure Chaotic Heart by @9hammer.bsky.social!
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/chaot...
YT www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Kai the demon hunter, dressed all in blue, uses her powerful staff to repel an attack by her chain-wielding rival Sophia in the beautifully rendered mountains of Errai in the action-packed series Chaotic Heart by Nine.
October 17, 2025 at 3:21 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
I know Diablo Immortal is just a soulless money crank but damn @blizzard.com, this is low quality slop. You have actual artists, pay one to draw a wolf guy for the ads you show to brand loyalists. geeze
October 2025 Diablo Immortal ad from the dedicated Blizzard game launcher showing an A.I.-generated werewolf character with a different number of fingers on each hand, indeterminate eyes, and feet with random claws that make no sense. The pagoda-like buildings in the background are uneven.
October 17, 2025 at 12:35 AM
joeartguy.bsky.social
A gentle soul faces existence as best he can in a surreal world of decay and horror in Salad Fingers by @davidfirth.bsky.social. This decades-long series is nightmarish and unnerving, but always with the kindest of intentions.
NG: www.newgrounds.com/series/salad...
YT: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Ghoulish but kindly character Salad Fingers sits on an old mattress in a dark, dirty, litter-strewn disused boiler room in one of the least disturbing scenes in the long-running animated series Salad Fingers by David Firth. A gray sky is visible through the tiny barred window. Salad Fingers is supposedly reading a letter from The Great War — actually just an unrelated scrap of old newspaper — and his words spell out on the screen: “We are having the most wonderful time.”
October 16, 2025 at 5:19 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
An bizarre encounter on a lonely road simply will not end in You Can’t Run Forever by JimEdLee. Even in the depths of the haunted forest cryptids are unusually hard to find, but one of them is impossible to lose.
NG: www.newgrounds.com/series/you-c...
YT: youtube.com/playlist?lis...
The cryptid known as the Blue Guy stands outside the house of a noted conspiracy theorist and cryptid hunter, deep in the woods where humans are seldom seen. The signs covering the lawn say KEEP OUT or have pictures of skulls or a No Blue Guy symbol, but the Blue Guy is happily unconcerned.
October 15, 2025 at 3:17 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Gloose may have wandered into his job, but he’s doing it pretty well for a little white cat. Gamecade by @artistncs.bsky.social may be the last arcade in any mall, but it’s filled with fun! And ants! Srsly watch where you step.
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/gamec...
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Little white cat Gloose vents his ire upon a con-eating standup video game as a t-shirted goose customer watches in Gamecade by NCS.
October 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Oh it would have been real good, but Giordano was right: Batman was better.

I’d forgotten he was given the assignment, pencilled the first issue, and then was pulled off it to do Batman and the Outsiders.

At least he got to draw all his favorites (including Aquaman) in Justice League: The Nail!
Aquaman test image by Alan Davis ca 1984, showing the hero standing on the sea floor in his short-lived and much hated “camoflage” costume. From TwoMorrows’ “Modern Masters Volume One: Alan Davis.” Underwater test images by Alan Davis ca 1984 of Aquaman side characters Orm the Ocean Master, Nuada Silverhand, and Mera. From TwoMorrows’ “Modern Masters Volume One: Alan Davis.”
October 14, 2025 at 6:37 AM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Australia’s Greasymoose makes many hilarious series, but the drug-fueled fantasy violence of Meth Orcs is some pure uncut comedy. Wizards, catboys, sexy snake women — what IS that smell? Probably meth.
On @newgrounds.com: www.newgrounds.com/series/meth-...
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Violent meth addict Treshtog the Orc leaves the castle of the Dark Elf Witch and her female Dark Elf warrior guards, taking with him only a large bag of meth to wash away the memories of this bloody adventure.
October 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
No “world government” exists in Watchmen or is part of Ozymandias’ plans. Adrian is actually asking Jon to agree that the millions he has murdered are justified.

If you’re going to quote Comic Book God, at least get the words right.
The bottom four panels of WATCHMEN issue 12 page 27, the only conversation between Jon (Dr Manhattan) and Adrian (Ozymandias). Jon has just said he is leaving the galaxy, and Adrian replied he thought Jon had regained an interest in human life. JON: Yes, I have. I think perhaps I’ll create some. Goodbye, Adrian. ADRIAN: Jon, before you leave… I did the right thing, didn’t I? It all worked out in the end. JON: “In the end”? Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing EVER ends. (Jon begins to fade away) ADRIAN: Jon? Wait! What do you mean by… (Jon vanishes, his disappearance generating a small mushroom cloud over a model of the solar system.) (Adrian turns his back on the scene but looks back over his shoulder at the still smoking model, his shadow creating a huge black area on the wall before him.)
October 13, 2025 at 12:23 AM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Reality is tenuous in the dreamlike netherworld of @wollymight.bsky.social’s DEEPSTATES. Can even the best psychic investigator unravel a govt conspiracy that shrouds the afterlife and dreams in layers of half-truths and secrets?
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/deeps...
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Time travelling psychic Mac consults with her neon blue reality-bending rabbit companion Watts who has appeared through a hole in the ceiling of a convenience store whose reality is starting to stretch, its shelves now stocked with bags of chips with incomprehensible labels, in Deepstates by Molly Wright aka Wollymight.
October 10, 2025 at 3:23 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Tobias and Ted are out of college and trying to live their lives like adults are supposed to in @pafbar.bsky.social’s low-key, low-poly slice-of-life series Harbor City. It’s pretty chill… or maybe the heater’s just conked out.
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/harbo...
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Tobias sits at the table in Ted’s messy apartment while Ted attempts to order on the phone from Stupid Jake’s sandwich shop in Pafbar’s low-poly animated series Harbor City.
October 9, 2025 at 5:45 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Mascot work for a 24-hour sandwich shop is a 24/7 calling for Sublo and Tangy Mustard! @aaronlong.bsky.social crafts snappy dialog & superb acting into a painful sitcom about two friends whose costumes & job are their whole lives.
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/sublo...
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Our heroes Tangy Mustard the pirate parrot and Sublo the hungry sub (actually two guys in mascot costumes) vainly attempt to drum up business by dancing outside the Subpar sandwich shop in the rain as their irritated coworker Katie watches from the doorway in the animated comedy series Sublo and Tangy Mustard by Aaron Long.
October 8, 2025 at 2:16 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Have you heard of Ratbasterdz, Bluxton County's sickest metalcore band? 'Course not, nobody has. Animation & music by Jon Sherin tells the inside story of a band whose only obstacles to making it are themselves and everything else.
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/ratba...
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Guitarist Wade, lead singer and songwriter Rodney and stoner drummer Jay sit on the tattered carpet and an old mattress in Rodney’s parents’ basement, discussing their last brilliant move that got them absolutely nowhere in Jon Sherin’s Ratbasterdz.
October 7, 2025 at 8:59 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Time to dress up, gorge on candy, and watch the horror comedy Spooky Month by @srpelo.bsky.social! Manic costumed innocents Skid and Pumpy spread holiday cheer to every friend, stranger, and terrifying monster. It’s Spooky Month!!!
YT youtube.com/playlist?lis...
NG www.newgrounds.com/series/spook...
Costumed and surprisingly durable kids Skid (dressed as a skeleton) and Pump (wearing a pumpkin head) share Halloween cheer with a disturbing clown holding a red balloon standing in an alley covered with missing children posters in Sr Pelo’s Spooky Month.
October 6, 2025 at 8:09 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
In a world of ordinary monsters there are higher powers, which can be discovered by accident… and worse, those that chained them. Big Shot & Friends by @podgesama.bsky.social follows a wage slave as a forgotten encounter returns to disrupt his workday, and reality. youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Red, cow-horned monster Big Shot stands in the doorway to the storeroom of the convenience store where he works, backlit and staring into the dimly lit shelves in Big Shot & Friends by PodgeSama.
October 5, 2025 at 9:15 PM
joeartguy.bsky.social
Gildedguy turned his origin as a stickman animator surpassing his medium into a gripping lushly animated tale of adversity & adventure, his OC battling to choose his destiny & keep his faith. An artist’s struggle not to lose heart has seldom been so beautifully portrayed. youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Gildedguy, wearing a work visor, work boots, gloves and a rough cape, battles against a tide of gold with a paint brush the size of a spear, turning away from a life of ordinary productivity and comfort to pursue the mad dream of an artist.
October 4, 2025 at 3:46 PM