Character style guides

Ever since the Muppet characters have been used for merchandising, as a result of a production not initially meant to sell a product, The Jim Henson Company and Children's Television Workshop have made Character Books available to developers to ensure that character consistency is maintained when reproducing outside of the respective companies. These style guides serve to establish a definitive manner in which characters will be drawn or scuplted. Most notably, guidelines are given to ensure proper proportions and colors. In some cases, the Pantone scale is used to reference a particular color -- an agreed upon system of coloring defined by numbers.

Sesame Street

1973

Drawings by Bob Tayor
Photographs by Charles Rowan
Produced by Muppets, Inc.

All character pages are a combination of black and white photographs and pencil drawings.

• Big Bird
• Oscar the Grouch
• Ernie
• Bert
• Cookie Monster
• Grover
• The Snuffle-upagus
• Fat Blue-Anything Muppet -- named and pictured: Professor Hastings, Dragnet Detective, Twiddlebug; also pictured: a King, Grandmother Happy, a boy, Simon Soundman, Russian soldier, Mr. Johnson
• Pumpkin-Anything Muppet -- pictured: various AMs pictured
• Lavender-Anything Muppet -- named and pictured: Herbert Birdsfoot, Bennett Snerf; also pictured: Twiddlebug, girl, boy
• Green-Anything Muppet -- named and pictured: Twiddlebug, Sherlock Hemlock, Farley, Tony, The Salesman; also pictured: woman, police officer, farmer
• Little Anything Muppet -- named and pictured: Roosevelt Franklin (described as Reddish-Magenta); also pictured: Betty Lou, Prairie Dawn (described as Bright Hot Pink); described, but not shown: Pumpkin-Orange
• Lavender-Anything Muppet (with hands) -- named and pictured: The Count, The Amazing Mumford, Harvey Kneeslapper, Granny Fanny Nesselrode, The Mudman; also pictured: elderly man, boy
• Herry Monster
• Guy Smiley and Prince Charming -- color described here as warm gold
• Little Bird
• The character pages are followed by eleven color photos also found in the earlier Sesame Street calendars and The Sesame Street Library.

1979

Photos and drawings by Mel Crawford, Michael Frith, Bill Pierce, Joe Mathieu, Judy Ross, Chuck Rowan, Neil Selkirk, Joe Veno and Rick Wetzel
Art Director/Designer: Sue Schiller

All character pages are a combination of black and white photographs and pencil drawings.

• Size comparison chart
• Color guide
• General Muppet description and Muppet index
• Credits
• Big Bird, Little Bird & Poco Loco
• Snuffle-upagus
• Ernie, Bert & Rubber Duckie
• Oscar the Grouch
• Grover, Cookie Monster & Herry Monster
• Frazzle and Some Other Monsters
• Guy Smiley, Prince Charming & Don Music -- Described here as Orange Gold, Pantone 123
• The Count, The Amazing Mumford, Biff, Rodeo Rosie & Mr. Chatterly -- Described here as Lavender, Pantone 529
• Sherlock Hemlock & Other Green AMs -- Described here as Yellow Green, Pantone 375
• Prairie Dawn & Betty Lou -- Described here as Hot Pink, Pantone 820
• Fat Blue Anything Muppets -- Described here as Warm Blue, Pantone 829
• Pumpkin Anything Muppets -- Described here as Yellow-Orange, Pantone 137
• Lavender Anything Muppets -- Described here as Pale Lavender, Pantone 529
• Chris and the Alphabeats, Jerry and the Monotones, The Witches
• Muppet Groups, Animal Muppets & Other Muppets
• Barkley
• Twiddlebugs
• Sam the Robot
• Martians
• Typical Muppet Pig, Cow & Horse -- colors can vary
• Live Characters: Susan, Gordon, Maria, David, Linda, Bob, Mr. Hooper, Olivia, Luis
• Sesame Street Set Scenes

1990s

A guide was created some time in the 1990s with much greater detail including alternate angles and positions.

The Muppets

Guides created for the Muppet characters have included photo packages and drawn illustration books. Each of the versions have featured various angles of the puppet and character positions.

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2005 Muppets Style Guide. Hardback Book. 307 pages]]