Ladybug Picnic and Bud Luckey

The Ladybug's Picnic was (and still is) my all time favorite Sesame Street clip. As a child I would sing along and dance in the living room. I still do - though it's not on as often any more. As a child, I never thought much about the person that created it. I just loved it.

Then I grew up and one day went to see Pixar's "The Incredibles" . And fell in love with Boundin' - the short for the movie*.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Bud Luckey, the writer/director/singer/illustrator/etc of Boundin' was also the man that animated The Ladybug's Picnic. It was a moment roughly akin to the day as an adult that I realized Jay Williams, author of The Practical Princess and Other Liberating Fairy Tales was also the author of A Bag Full of Nothing, the story my sister won in first grade and that I'd been threatening to steal every since. It connected a lifetime love where I hadn't know there was a connection.

Mr. Luckey makes a comment in one of the extras about Boundin' that I love (yes, I rushed out to get the DVD). He says of working with a generally younger team,

"I like to think these days that 30 years ago, I used animation to teach kids their numbers. And now these kids are teaching me how to animate with numbers ... So it was a good deal."

I like to think I'm at the beginning of my career as a writer and artist. But if I think about the long term, my real goal is to be like Mr. Luckey - able to look back on a varied career that touches something special in a child. For a lifetime.

Thank you, Mr. Luckey.




*the Academy Award-nominated Pixar Animations Studios Short Film Boundin', to be precise