Bill Moody cold-called me almost 20 years ago and asked me to do his web site. Can you imagine? He had seen some of my work over the years and felt like my style would mesh well with his own. And he was right. We became immediate “neighbors.”

With my background in the wrestling business, as well as two decades in the animation industry, Bill thought it would be fun to create a version of him as a cartoon character. That wasn’t much of a stretch. Bill pretty much let me have free reign creatively – I couldn’t possibly do anything more embarrassing to him than he had already done to himself on television! He wanted a sense of whimsey and fun, so that’s what I gave him.

Naturally, we had to downplay the Paul Bearer element, since he didn’t own the rights to the character. But I could go full-tilt with Percival Pringle III, which was fine by me because he was a pure reflection of Bill Moody, and I always related more closely with that character, anyhow.

Drawing Percy Pringle, Paul Bearer or Bill Moody became second nature to me. I can’t tell you how many times I have drawn him, or how many times people have asked me to draw him. If you have to be associated with somebody, it’s hard to ask for better. “Playboy” Buddy Rose used to say I made him look like Fred Flintstone, which is funny because there were many commonalities between Bill and Fred Flintstone.

We were very much a “mutual admiration society.” I’m such a fortunate man. Bill was always throwing projects my way, and I was always trying to cook up new schemes to involve him somehow.

In 2006, he recorded the principle voice for a proposed TV pilot called Ned Noodlebody, featuring famous wrestling names as the main characters. (Playboy Buddy Rose, Ed “Col. DeBeers” Wiskoski, Les Thatcher and Charlie Smith also took part.) Fittingly, it was about a young wrestler break into the business in the early 1970s.

I was really trying to get Bill to do voice work for animation as yet another career. He would have been perfect! After decades in professional wrestling, with highly developed improvisational skills, he could nail everything on the first take. He really didn’t need any coaching – Bill was a natural. Due to his commitments to wrestling and his own failing health, however, this never came to pass.

If Bill had lived longer, he would have been heavily utilized as an animated cartoon voice. Not to mention the fact that he would have jumped into the podcast world without an once of hesitation. He was wanting to travel less and less as he got older, so it’s pretty clear this would have the natural evolution of his career.

Bill had written his autobiography several years before his passing, specifically saying he wanted me to illustrate the book. Sadly, the book and every draft of it has vanished through the sands of time. So, this web site will stand as his career retrospective, and I’ll keep it in the style that he wanted to see. I owe that to my “neighbor!”

For the first time ever, I am offering prints of my Percy Pringle illustrations. If you are interested, look below. I’m also happy to provide originals for commission -- just contact me with what you need.