iPad Art: Mr. Potato Head

In an effort to practice drawing on my iPad today, I drew the first thing that I saw, sitting right beside me on my desk: a faceless Mr. Potato Head. He is such a funny and interesting character.

Did you know the history of Mr. Potato Head?  Here's a little tidbit from Wikipedia...

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television^[2][3] and has remained in production since its debut. The toy was originally produced as separate plastic parts with pushpins that could be stuck into a real potato or other vegetable. However, due to complaints regarding rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations, Hasbro began including a plastic potato body within the toy set in 1964.

More interesting tidbits:

They used to use REAL potatoes in the original toy kit!! The potatoes weren't actually included in the kit -- only the facial features and other parts.   Parents had to provide actual vegetables for their kids to stick the plastic parts until almost 10 years later, when the toy company was forced to provide plastic potato bodies... This toy first debut shortly after WWII and food-rationing days, so it was a bit controversial because people thought it was really wasteful and irresponsible to use actual produce as toys.

The toy commercial was the first one ever to market to kids.  Before that, commercials were all geared toward adults.  It was an industrial hit and the toy company sold over a million kits the first year!