Merry Christmas, Krampus tells the story of the legendary Christmastime creature Krampus, and how one child from Santa’s Naughty List teaches him that all “bad” children have some good in them.
Merry Christmas, Krampus tells the story of the legendary Christmastime creature Krampus, and how one child from Santa’s Naughty List teaches him that all “bad” children have some good in them.
The Project
Merry Christmas, Krampus is an independently published children’s book. It’s the artistic collaboration of puppeteer and puppet builder Artie Esposito; Sean and Patrick Johnson of Swazzle, Inc.; and illustrator, artist, and designer Andrea Coleman. Collectively, this teams’ professional credits include work with such leading entertainment companies as Disney Television Animation, Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Amazon Studios, The Muppets, Cartoon Network and Showtime.
While the majority of children’s picture books use either hand-drawn or computer illustrations, Merry Christmas, Krampus will be told through beautifully staged still photographs featuring handcrafted puppets and sets. Once the images are captured, each posable puppet will be enhanced with a digitally mapped, two-dimensional line-drawn face. The final effect will give the puppets a wide range of playful expressions and keep them true to the whimsical quirks that makes Andrea Coleman’s art so unique.
Like so many of the Christmas stories we all adored when we were kids, Merry Christmas, Krampus will be written in the form of a Christmas poem. Each rhyme will be carefully crafted to make our book fun to read aloud to your children every year.
With its beautifully photographed images, striking visual style, and playful rhymes, we hope that this humorous and touching book will give your family the same warm feeling you got when you first read a treasured Christmas classic or watched a beloved holiday special.
Watch Sean and Patrick Johnson talking about Merry Christmas Krampus on the Puppet Tears Podcast.
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“Follow the snowflakes, to the top of the globe.
Look for the reindeer, white beard and red robe.
In Santa’s toy shop, the elves are all working,
but deep underground, something scary is lurking...”
