SATURDAY SIX Artist Spotlight: The Theme Park Artwork of Derek Burgan

Derek Burgan August 23, 2025 0 Comments Artist Spotlight

Share This!

This SATURDAY SIX Artist Spotlight series was created years ago in order to highlight some of the amazing artists in the community (including Hayden Evans, Ava Buric, and Henry Taylor.) The Artist Spotlight features took place during the month of February to tie into EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts. We realized that there were so many talented people that we needed to expand beyond the once-a-year schedule and were able to look at some truly fantastic artists including Stephen Christ and Phillip Weatherford.

We’ve been truly blessed to be able to shine a light on some of the most skilled artists in the community, so we thought, how about we go the other way and look at the art style of someone with almost no discernible talent or ability? That’s the section of town where Your Humble Author lives and I’m finally ready to show my art from over the years, starting with…

# 6 – Rivers of Light

One of my favorite genres of art is the good ol’ Editorial Cartoon. Some of my favorite editorial cartoonists over the years include Tom Toles, Reuben Bolling, and Tom Tomorrow. In my opinion it is the one form of art that is severely lacking in the theme park community. Possibly because if you’re going to do an editorial cartoon right, you’re going to basically ensure you never get invited to any theme park media events. The good news is that I never cared about any of that, so when an idea strikes me for an editorial cartoon featuring Walt Disney World or Universal Orlando, I just post it. One of my personal favorites was this cartoon commenting on the absurd amount of operation issues that Animal Kingdom’s Rivers of Light nighttime spectacular had during its limited run at the park.

I used art to do my “review” of Green Milk at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. The drawing was also trying to get across that the trash can was already filled by people dumping in their cups of Blue Milk. I will

Somehow this drawing of Bob Iger getting his annual bonus turned into an “Evergreen Art” because it was originally drawn long before he even left Disney the first time in 2020.

Aside from editorial cartoons, I’m also a huge fan of comic strips (with my personal favorites over the years being Calvin & Hobbes, The Far Side, Bizarro, and Robotman.) Back when I was doing a monthly recap of the Disney Outlet Stores, I would create anniversary specials. The four year anniversary special included my versions of comic strips like Peanuts, Garfield, and The Family Circus and you can check them out by CLICKING HERE.

Because Disney controls so much of the theme park marketplace, many of my drawings involve them. When it comes to humor, I try as best as I can to “punch up” rather than “punch down.” Universal Orlando has definitely been a part of many pieces of art though, including this look at the Halloween Horror Nights Speculation Map craze that is almost insufferable during the early parts of the year.

# 5 – Inside the Backpack Series

As you can imagine from someone who has created The Magic, The Memories & Merch, Disney Food Hall of Shame, Theme Park Hills to Die On and other series of articles, I create similar “brands” when drawing. One series I’ve had some fun with over the years is titled INSIDE THE BACKPACK. These drawings take a humorous look at what items may be associated with the person whose backpack I’m drawing. Early on in the series I did TouringPlans’ own Len Testa. Items in his backpack including a Terrible Towel (he’s a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan), a personalized shot glass from La Cava del Tequila (which is a real thing), and a personalized book from Brad Meltzer and Chris Eliopoulous that is part of their Ordinary People Change The World series.

Not long after Len I took a look inside the backpack of TouringPlans’ own Guy Selga. In many ways, Guy and me are spiritual brothers. However, while as my life is defined by a love of Marvel comic books, MCU movies, and superhero theme park lands, Guy Selga hates everything about them with the fiery passion of the lava planet Mustafar. We do have a shared love of Alf, Back to the Future, and old video games though.

The backpack for Disney CEO Bob Iger was done before he quit (and then came back) so it has references to things that were more relevant at the time including notes to write James Cameron to ask “where the $%^# are those sequels?!” and another note to ask Disney Legal about the term “in perpetuity” (referencing That Darn Marvel Contract governing what properties Disney can use in their theme parks.)

The backpack for Josh easyWDW had a lot of “inside baseball” references that fans of his would understand. Sadly Josh would pass away several years after this drawing was created, but you can read my tribute to him by CLICKING HERE and it explains several of the references in the artwork.

The backpack for Walt Disney had a little fun with the fact that he wasn’t the angelic human that the Disney company itself want to paint him as. Walt was a creative genius, but a flawed being just like the rest of us (outside of Bacini – the unofficial dog of Universal Orlando – who is perfect in every way.)

At some point after Walt’s backpack, I stopped with the numbering system. However the backpack series continued on, including this one for Disney blogging legend Deb Wills (before she sold her AllEars.net website to the Disney Food Blog.)

Always love poking fun at fellow blogger (and Unofficial Guide to Universal co-author) Seth Kubersky. I’ve always considered me and Seth to have the relationship of the characters played by Matt Damon and John Turturo in one of my favorite movies, Rounders. Seth has literally shown me the playbook of how to cover theme parks and other vacationing spots for a living, but I can’t help but get in my own way “betting big” so to speak by doing stuff like the Theme Park Turkeys of the Year and mocking the hand that feeds me. Very jealous of Seth being able to travel the globe and being able to report on fun stuff.

Ah, a backpack for the Permit Princess herself. This drawing was done several years ago, and that Project 304 number popped up again in a recent article looking at Our Favorite Details and Easter Eggs in Epic Universe.

While all the backpacks we’ve looked at so far have focused on individual people, the series also has fun with groups of people, such as this one for Disneyland Annual Passholders…

…and this one for D23 Attendees. Looking introspectively, I would say one of my biggest “problems” when doing any art is relying so much on Sharpie pens, especially using them to write anything.

The backpack for a SeaWorld stockholder was mostly referencing their troubles following the release of the documentary Blackfish. At the time they had also been doing a collaboration with artist Guy Harvey for several pieces of merchandise, so I tried to think of what the most ridiculous option for that would be.

The last theme park related backpack to share is one that looked back during that crazy time when the theme parks were shut down and many of us were quarantined at home.

For any pro-wrestling fans out there, I’ve also done many backpack drawings for that fandom including ones for Matt Cardona, Hulk Hogan, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Vince Russo, Tony Schiavone, Dave Meltzer and many more.

# 4 – David and Derek

I was a HUGE fan of the Goofus and Gallant comic strips that were featured in Highlights magazine that I got to see every time my parents took me to places like the dentist. The comic strips are essentially showing one person doing things the “right” way and another person doing things the “wrong” way. I wanted to apply that concept to the theme park world and created the David and Derek series. The character David was based on David Davies, a person who works behind the scenes at TouringPlans and likes to make all major changes to the blog on Friday nights to torture me.

In my fantasy world, I would like to do a David and Derek comic strip every single month. I think there’s more than enough stuff at Disney and Universal to make of. However, my artistic skills aren’t up to the level they need to be. My blogging motto is The Readers Deserve Our Very Best, and unfortunately my best is not good enough for you, Dear Reader. However, that has never stopped me before, so my first article using David and Derek took a lighthearted look at Guest Etiquette in Walt Disney World. This list of pet peeves included guests talking during attractions…

…and other examples of poor guest behavior.

Later I would do a David and Derek article looking at the DO’S AND DON’TS OF STAR WARS GALAXY’S EDGE.

However, one segment of the article was driving me absolutely CRAZY. I could not for the life of me draw the Millennium Falcon.

Eventually I reached out to artist Sterling Decker, who graciously agreed to draw the Falcon for me.

At that point I was so mad at myself that I swore off ever drawing a David and Derek strip ever again. However, not doing David and Derek was gnawing at me. In 2019, I met artist Brian Cooper, whose art is used for the annual Theme Park Turkey of the Year Awards. Brian is the artist I always wanted to be, and one day I approached him about working on a David and Derek article. He agreed and we set out to do a strip on The Do’s and Don’ts of Planning an Orlando Vacation. This includes things like booking hotels online…

With Brian drawing, the art had so many more details that I would ever be able to dream of, let alone actually put into a panel. Bran’s ability to craft a joke is second to none, and I love the Post It Notes he has hanging on Derek’s Computer (along with a reference to a Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Coke bottle that is in my Collectible Fridge.)

Like me, Brian is a huge fan of The Simpsons, so his artwork depicting an Orlando timeshare salesman to be like the character Gil Gunderson was just fantastic in my book.

2019 was also the year that Bacini entered my family, so Brian and I decided to add him as a character in the strip as a sort of moral compass for Derek (except when it comes to food or snacks.)

That particular article won the Worst Timing in History Award as it was posted in March of 2020, about one week before Disney and Universal completely shut down their parks for Covid. Can you believe? I finally get a David and Derek strip that is exactly what I want, and the world completely falls apart.

That’s not gonna stop me though. NAY NAY. Instead Brian and I worked on a new David and Derek looking at the Do’s and Don’ts of Theme Park Covid-19 Safety Protocol.

This will certainly be an article to look back on in a “remember when this happened?” and will probably seem literally unbelievable to future generations that didn’t live through it.

Let’s backtrack for a moment and check out another David and Derek article I did. This one looked at taking your dog on a Disney vacation.

I hate all my art in that strip and – years later – commissioned artist Savannah Dawson-Hamilton to redo one of the panels.

The results were PERFECT. Like Brian Cooper’s work, this was the David and Derek series I had always envisioned in my mind, but never had the talent to actually execute.

Before checking into the resort, David drops his dog off at BEST FRIENDS PET RESORT for a bath, grooming, and a little pampering. (artwork by @savaemazz)

What prompted me to reach out to Savannah was that Bacini was now part of the David and Derek series, so we could retroactively add him into the older articles.

After checking into the resort, Derek and Bacini raid a Mousekeeping cart for soap and shampoo before heading to the hotel’s hot tub for a “pet spa treatment.” (artwork by @savaemazz)

Brian Cooper’s task was to redo the following panel….

…which he did in amazing fashion.

David feeds his dog inside the room, making sure to only use pet-safe dog food. (art by Brian Cooper)

Derek takes Bacini to Beaches & Cream for the Kitchen Sink Sundae, as its easier to get an Advance Dining Reservation for “2” rather than just himself. (art by Brian Cooper)

I’m hoping Brian and I have time in the near future to redo the other panels in the Dog Friendly WDW Hotels article. Loyal SAT SIX readers will be the first to know.

# 3 – Trump Audio-Animatronic

When the Donald Trump Audio-Animatronic made it’s debut at the Hall of Presidents, it drew many comments on how bad it looked. The Rumors and Innuendo at the time suggested that Disney Imagineers had created a Hilary Clinton AA and had to quickly change it when Trump won the 2016 election. The theme I used for this particular set of art is places in the park that Disney could put the original President Trump’s AA once they replaced it with a new one. This included the Carousel of Progress…

…Pirates of the Caribbean (in one of my all-time favorite theme park moments, the DOG WITH KEY scene.)

…the Haunted Mansion…

…and the Country Bears Jamboree.

# 2 – Fundraisers

Most of the art I do these days is to help people raise money for various fundraisers because of health issues or a family member passed away. If friends or acquaintances of mine have a GoFundMe or something similar set up, I will volunteer pieces of art to those who donate $22 or more (this referencing my birthday 2/2 along with Bacini’s birthday 2/22.) Generally the artwork will feature running themes, like this set based around Shows NOT on Disney+.

The gag below is ripping off a classic joke from an episode of The Simpsons that mocked the opening of Disneyland Paris, with the disastrous opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland as my punchline.

You can’t have too many hard-hitting jokes in the theme park community as the fanbase isn’t really ready for that. This piece of art is probably the closest I have come to taking off the Celebrity Boxing Gloves in order to throw a punch (so to speak.)

Another series was titled Great Moments In Theme Park History (Crudely Drawn) and looked at some of the more controversial moments at the theme parks.

GREAT MOMENTS IN THEME PARK HISTORY (CRUDELY DRAWN) – Summer 1997. A crash at Test Track causes a delay in the official opening of the attraction for over a year.

GREAT MOMENTS IN THEME PARK HISTORY (CRUDELY DRAWN) – Features Jim Hill – yes *that* Jim Hill -in the ‘90s going upstairs to use the bathroom at Lombard’s and discovering all of Universal’s secret plans.

GREAT MOMENTS IN THEME PARK HISTORY (CRUDELY DRAWN) 2014. The first – and thankfully LAST – steps of Val the Velociraptor inside Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The artwork titled “Soaring Over Skyplex” was done in a fundraiser for the family of a member of the community who had recently passed away. This drawing was using one of my favorite attractions, Soarin’, to have a little fun with the fact that Skyplex (an entertainment complex that would include a ride called the PolerCoaster) would never be built in Orlando.

For one recent fundraiser I did a series of DisTwitter-themed baseball cards, including Bob Chapek as a character that I love from The Onion parody newspaper.

Also enjoyed drawing one of the large “pencils” that made their debut at Roundup Rodeo BBQ in Toy Story Land and lasted only for a couple weeks because – Rumors and Innuendo – guests started taking them home.

# 1 – Batman Visits The Theme Parks

I mentioned earlier that I posted an article about vacation planning one week before the theme parks shut down for months. During those months, many Disney Cast Members and Universal Team Members were struggling financially. One thing I tried to do to help was create a benefit comic book in which people would donate by “buying” a page of the comic and I would in turn give that money to a CM or TM. I grabbed one of the blank Batman comic books that DC Comics put out and went to work. The only thing this entire comic book had on it was the Batman logo and the DC logo on the front. So I figure I would make it a comic book about Batman going to the theme parks.

The comic book used the famous Batman Slapping Robin meme as a page. As you can see, I really shouldn’t use Sharpie markers to write dialogue.

Eventually I just stopped writing the dialogue in the comic and instead used an app on my phone that can add comic book word balloons to any picture. Maybe I’m alone on the island, but I loved being able to combine classic Batman mythology (like the William Shakespeare bust opening his hidden doorway behind a bookcase) and theme park stuff like the Haunted Mansion singing busts.

It’s a rite of passage for many professional comic book artists working on a Batman comic to draw items in the Batcave that have been around for years, including a giant penny. So I used that concept for a theme park pressed penny machine gag.

I mentioned how much I love the Pirates of the Caribbean dog with key scene, so you knew I was going to do something with that. My version features Ace the Bathound along with the Penguin, Riddler, and Joker.

There were several pages in the book that had our Caped Crusader going to Universal parks, including this one that has Batman being attacked by a shark in the Jaws ride. This is referencing a couple things. One, Batman was actually attacked by a shark in his 1965 television show. Two, Universal creative member Michael Aiello was once a Jaws skipper boat captain, so I drew him into the artwork. My success rate on drawing female character is in the “5-10% range” so I’m actually shocked how good that Catwoman came out.

More pages of Batman and Robin at Universal Orlando including Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, and a “Climb this wall for $5” experience that used to exist in the New York area of the park.

Here’s a peek behind the scenes on how the book came together. I would quickly mock up a drawing and then do a more finished version in the actual book. This artwork below featured the iconic King Kong photo-op that Universal Studios Florida had for Kongfrontation back in the day. The King Kong character itself is actually based on a short lived Saturday morning cartoon version of the ape.

*Honorable Mention: Turkeys of the Year Breakdowns

Each year Brian Cooper creates a true masterpiece with his Turkey of the Year Awards drawing. Thought it might be fun to see the breakdowns that I send him for the drawing. These are almost incomprehensible, but Brian and I are pretty much on the same page and he not only nails each assignment, he adds a little special sauce to the mix making them better than my wildest fantasy. Let’s take a look back at 2019, where Brian took my insane sketch covering the opening of Toy Story Land in DHS…

…and turned it into a true work of art.

So for 2020 we took it up a notch. Until this point, the main artwork for the Turkeys of the Year drawing would just feature ONE singular story. But what if we had a drawing that combined multiple stories? This was what I tasked Brian to draw…

…and he created a masterpiece with tons of Easter Eggs.

The 2022 Turkeys drawing took place in front of the World Showcase lagoon. Imagine getting sent this drawing and expected to make something good out of it?

Brian doesn’t just hit a homerun, he hits a grand slam. Every time.

2023 was the ten year anniversary of the Turkeys, so we had to go big. The artwork was based on the iconic Beatles album cover for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

A look at Brian sketching everything out to make sure it would all fit…

…along with the completed work. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! Check out THIS ARTICLE if you want to know what every single detail and Easter egg Brian stuffed in that drawing is referencing.

The 2024 Turkeys artwork was set at the “new and improved” Morocco Pavilion in EPCOT.

Brian was able to make some last minute additions, including the character of Waldo from Muppet-Vision 3D (as we had just learned right before press time that the attraction was being closed.)