Kevin Blankenship used to be a newspaper cartoonist — you might have seen his strip @random in your local paper, and there's a hefty sample of his work at his website — but we all know that's a tough field nowadays. So a few years ago, when he had kids, Blankenship put away his pen and focused on his day job in advertising.

He still manages to be creative every Sunday morning, however, when he makes his kids' favorite breakfast: pancakes. He has turned it into sort of a cartoon challenge -- the children tell him what to draw, and he sketches it on a hot griddle, using thinned-out pancake batter in a squeeze bottle. Over time he has refined his technique to create a three-toned look by putting down the darkest lines first, letting them brown a bit, then adding two more layers, one at a time. He started posting his pancake creations on Instagram and Twitter, and now he's on Tumblr as well.

Pancakes turn out to be a rather forgiving medium. "As long as the pancakes taste good," he told Business Insider, "you don't have to worry too much about messing up the shape."

Check out Blankenship's Tumblr for more images like the ones above and below; he has been on a roll with Christmas pancakes lately, including two versions of the leg lamp from A Christmas Story.