To get myself into the Halloween season (after a very busy and very strenuous two months), I did this fanart of one of my favorite characters, Honey Halfwitch! This very obscure little witch girl was the star of 13 theatrical cartoons produced from 1965 to 1967 by Paramount's Famous Studios. The first of the cartoons was a Modern Madcap cartoon entitled
Poor Little Witch Girl (released in April of 1965), in which the character was known simply as "Halfwitch." The late Shari Lewis (best known for creating the puppet character Lamb Chop) provided the voice for the character in the first 9 cartoons, which was created by veteran cartoonist/animator Howie Post. For some reason, the last four episodes saw a very radical (yet short-lived) change in the look of the series to a more minimalist style, and Honey was interestingly voiced by an actual little girl (much like a Peanuts cartoon). These last few episodes were cute and entertaining enough, but I missed the sweet Howie Post version. (I always thought it would be funny to imagine what Honey would sound like if voiced by Mae Questel, but I'm glad Shari Lewis did the character, as that scratchy little voice she created really fit the character superbly.) Honey Halfwitch should have had a comic-book series (much like many of the Harvey characters before her)! Having been created by Post, she was definitely worthy of one.
Finished tonight in around an hour on tablet in Photoshop. I drew it while looking at the series' title card for reference.
Here's the lyrics to the theme song, written by Howie Post and composed (and sung!) by Winston Sharples:
Oh, Honey Halfwitch, she's a funny
Kid witch, what a honey
When she flies up on her broom
She zips around with a zoom-zoom-zoom
She's magical and mystical and smart
Oh, Honey Halfwitch, bright and sunny
She's as cute as a bunny
She's half-wizard and half-girl
She waves her wand and you're in a whirl
She's full of tricks and sweet as an apple tart
A half-pint pixie sure to win your heart!
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