An early prototype of Jeff Pidgeon’s upcoming vinyl beaver figure produced by Gentle Giant (click on the image for an uncropped, full-size pic).

I love the work of Jeff Pidgeon. He’s an alumni of the CalArts animation program and works in a variety of styles, but they all have the same great zany, cartoony edge to them. Even John K. – noted hater of just about anything touched by a CalArts-influenced pencil – praises Jeff’s work calling him one of only “about 3 or 4 (real) cartoonists” to have come out of the school (the more you know about John, the higher you realize that praise is). Jeff’s no stranger to the puppet world either…he’s the significant other of puppeteer Anita Coulter and even designed the Swazzle Logo.

Jeff currently works as a story guy at a little animation outfit in California called Pixar that you may have heard of. Go check out some of his work and then if you like it visit his Pidgeon Stuff Store and buy some of his cool-looking swag.