My hand-illustrated BIZARRE goat, Jasper, now exists in real life! He's been hanging out with me in the studio and around Bentonville between takes for the BizarreBeasts animated series. 😆
Since 2021, the BizarreBeasts have lived in my sketchbooks, on canvas, and on screens. You can look at them, play games with them, and very soon watch them in the animated series, but you've never been able to hold one.
That changed when a package arrived at the studio here in Bentonville, containing Jasper: a custom hand puppet built directly from my original drawings.
If you're part of the BizarreBeasts community, you already know Jasper as the BIZARRE GOAT, our official community mascot.
In the BizarreBeasts animated series my wife, Kate, and I are creating for exclusive release on DCP+, Jasper is a main character and a Lab Technician at Bizarre Labs. He also stars in our upcoming Learning Lab episodes in production.
Jasper finds the funny in everything, never reads the room or takes things seriously, and somehow everyone likes him anyway. He's the ringleader of shenanigans around Bizarre Labs.
Now he is a real-life puppet, too.
Here is a side-by-side of Jasper in Bizarre City and in live in Bentonville! 👇
I sent my drawings of Jasper to a US-based maker that creates custom plush and puppets. It takes several people many weeks to develop the item, including a design approval process.
Then came the hardest part: waiting for Jasper to arrive.
Opening the package and seeing him for the first time was a big deal in the BizarreBeasts studio!
I set Jasper on my drafting table next to my illustration of him on paper and the rig on my iPad, and it was the exact same guy looking back at me: the horns, the beard, the mismatched eyes, and the big mouth of jagged teeth. A character that had only ever existed as lines on paper and on a screen was now something I could pick up.
My wife, Kate, got excited right away, and we started brainstorming all the fun things we could do with Jasper in and around Bentonville.
Turning Jasper into a puppet felt like a natural next step. Since 2021, everything I've made with the BizarreBeasts has been about bringing these characters to life: first drawing them, then painting them, then building software to rig and animate them, and giving them voices for the series.
A puppet takes that process one step further. It gives a character a real, physical presence, which something I can share a room or around the city.
I want to expand how people experience BizarreBeasts in real life and give everyone a new way to interact with the artwork beyond digital screens.
In the framework I'll be teaching at the Ozark Media Arts Festival on October 7, one of the five core steps is Play: let people interact with your work, not just look at it. A puppet might be the most literal version of that idea I've built so far. You can't bump into an animation at the local coffee shop or library, but you can bump into Jasper as a physical puppet.
Live Storytelling: Jasper can react, talk to the camera, and GO BIZARRE in real places, in real time.
Behind the Scenes: He can show you around the studio and how the series gets made.
Kids Content: Puppets and kids go together, making Jasper a natural fit for family-friendly BizarreBeasts content.
A Physical Benchmark: He's my first real test of what one of the BizarreBeasts feels like as something you can hold.
In a world full of screens and a mass of digital content, people seem to be craving interactions and things made by human hands. The Jasper puppet simply grew out of my goal to expand the storytelling possibilities of my work.
Keep an eye out for Jasper in behind-the-scenes videos from the studio and short clips on social. He's already made his debut in the Square in downtown Bentonville!
And Jasper might not be alone for long. 👀
I'm the artist, animator, and creator behind BizarreBeasts ($BB), creating a universe where art and web3 technology converge. This is where everything I am intersects: a lifelong artist captivated by darkly humorous art, a creative entrepreneur, a self-taught builder who coded 13 original games and a Web3 app, a musician performing original soundtracks, and a true BIZARRE believer in decentralized creativity.
This project was born from a vision of what's possible when an artist fully owns their creative universe, exploring the opportunities and economies that Web3 enables to build a legacy of creativity and freedom for myself and the BizarreBeasts community.
In early 2026, I walked away from a six-figure corporate position to create BizarreBeasts full-time and moved the studio to Bentonville, Arkansas. BizarreBeasts is an Arts3 Foundation A3 Startup Award recipient, earning $100K in funding for a ten-episode animated series currently in production, premiering on DCP+ at the platform's launch this fall as part of its opening slate. DCP+ is the streaming platform empowering independent creators from Decentralized Pictures.
My animation "All Cooped Up" was selected for Our Art 2026 at the Alexander Gallery, presented by Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, one of 102 works chosen from the 659 submitted by 371 artists, on view September 25 through December 20.
For more on my transition to building BizarreBeasts full-time, see my previous update: Going Bizarre Full-Time!
Learn more about me or see the paintings, statement, and CV at dylanyarter.com.
BizarreBeasts is a hand-illustrated world of bizarre and funny characters I create from my studio in Bentonville, Arkansas. It started as ink drawings and paintings and has grown into an animated series, made with my wife, Kate, and coming to DCP+ with the support of the A3 Startup Award from the Arts3 Foundation, administered by Decentralized Pictures. There are also 13 original games, played more than 255,000 times, and a kids' platform. Every character is drawn by hand.
BizarreBeasts Animated Series Coming Soon, Exclusively to DCP+!
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Disclaimer: This article is a marketing piece created to share information about the BizarreBeasts IP and onchain entertainment project. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research before making any investment decisions.