Bob Ross - Video game, References and notes

Painting instructor, born in Daytona, Florida, USA. Dropping out of school in the ninth grade, he served in the US Air Force, where he took his first painting lesson at an Anchorage, Alaska United Service Organizations club. After the service he attended various art schools until he learned the technique of ‘wet on wet’ from William Alexander (later his bitter rival), applying oil paints directly on one another to produce complete paintings (mostly landscapes) in less than an hour. In 1983 he began his instruction programme, ‘The Joy of Painting’, on public television, eventually carried by over 275 stations and spawning an empire that included videos, how-to books, art supplies, and certified Bob Ross instructors, thus making him one of the best-known and most highly paid of all American painters.

For the publisher/activist, see Bob Ross (publisher).

Bob Ross
Bob Ross at his easel
Born	October 29, 1942 Daytona Beach, Florida
Died	July 4, 1995

Bob Ross (October 29, 1942 – July 4, 1995) was an American painter and television presenter. He had a son, Steve Ross, who occasionally appeared on the show and filled in for his father.

With a bushy afro and a calm, soothing voice, Bob Ross taught viewers to paint "happy little trees," "happy little clouds," and "pretty little mountains." The TV series also provided Bob Ross a platform to introduce his own and other people's little rescued "rascals" including squirrels, owls, and robins.

He utilized the wet-on-wet oil painting technique, which is the application of wet paint on top of wet paint, as opposed to the more traditional waiting period for each layer to dry. Combining this method with the use of large one-inch and two-inch brushes allowed Ross to paint trees, water, clouds and mountains in a matter of seconds.

Ross took up painting while stationed in Alaska in the Air Force. Although it is commonly believed that Ross had no formal artistic training, he said during one episode that, "as a pup," he attended art school.

He later expanded his show into a multimillion-dollar business that included "how-to" books, a line of brushes and paints, and classes in which instructors were trained in the Bob Ross method.

Video game

In March 2006, Bob Ross Inc. announced plans to license rights to develop a Bob Ross video game. However, it was confirmed by several websites including IGN.com, the official Bob Ross website and the AGFRAG homepage. Ross appeared in a promo for MTV in which he worked on a painting that turned out to be the MTV logo and declared "MTV. Ross grew up in Florida and stated he did not wear shoes to school until the sixth grade (Series 15, Episode 10). On the cult series Mission Hill, Andy French tried to guess what Bob Ross was going to paint next. On the Dana Carvey Show, Ross is portrayed by cast member Robert Smigel painting a double portrait of the Menendez brothers embedded into a frosty mountain typical of Ross's style while saying, "They're going away for a long time; The Seattle Television show Almost Live spoofed Ross in a holiday skit. In the "Riley Wuz Here" (originally "Joy of Graffiti" after Ross's show) episode of The Boondocks, Ross appears as the crazy art teacher that Riley is forced to take lessons from after he is caught vandalizing a neighbor's house. On the UK Channel 4 series "Peep Show" Ross was referred to as "God" as Jeremy watched his show and asked "Blimey, what's God up to now?" The May 22, 2006 episode of Attack of the Show included a trailer for a nonexistent movie called The Bob Ross Code (a spoof of The DaVinci Code). It discusses how Bob Ross left clues in his painting concerning "Happy Little Twees." Nickelodeon's Doug once fantasized about being a painter resembling Bob Ross. His sketches consist of Bob teaching how to paint and saying things about the "happy trees" and "happy clouds" while cursing, all in a soothing voice. In Road Trip, a motel clerk (Andy Dick) watches The Joy of Painting behind the reception desk, and attempts to imitate Ross using a ballpoint pen and a pad of paper. An episode of MADtv which Michael McDonald, acting as Ross, tells the story of being arrested for setting his house on fire during a nervous breakdown through a series of drawings.

Songs

Gym Class Heroes have a song titled "To Bob Ross With Love" on The Papercut Chronicles, in which they thank Ross for "all the happy little trees." The lyrics say "Oblomov is painting with Bob Ross." The Brooklyn, New York band Sacred Monkeys of Bali had a song titled "Bob Ross." The Barba brothers of New York, New York created a music video tribute entitled "Why I Don't Paint People," in which Bob Ross inspires others through dance and song. Avante garde hip hop group cLOUDDEAD mention Bob Ross in the lyrics of their self-titled album in the song 'And All You Can Do Is Laugh (Part 1)'.

Other

Dana Carvey spoofed Ross in a deleted scene of his movie The Master of Disguise, appearing briefly painting the evil henchmen chasing him while murmuring, "Oooo... On the "toons" page, passing the mouse cursor over a video tape on the shelf shows the character Marzipan in full Ross gear. One of Gary Larson's "Far Side" cartoons depicts a tree that has fallen through a house onto a woman who was obviously painting a landscape while watching Ross's show. Ross is saying: "And always make your trees look like happy trees." He spots a landscape painting on the wall and mutters to the attractive homeowner, "...reminds me of that painter guy on TV, Bob Ross. Comedian Patton Oswalt joked about Bob Ross (and his mentor, Bill Alexander) on his album Feelin Kinda Patton, calling Ross a "Human Qualude."

References and notes

Bob Ross: The Joy of Painting on the Nintendo Wii, IGN news Bob Ross Painting (Working Title), Gamespot News "Bob Ross's 'Happy Little Trees' Come to DVD" (tvshowsondvd.com)