The stamps featured paintings by artist David LaFleur, who had previously painted the “Flag Over Porch” stamps. LaFleur’s portraits of the folk heroes were a combination of cartoon and poster art. As he described them, “They are very macho – that’s the way I see them.” Initially, the USPS had tasked LaFleur with painting six folk heroes – the four that were issued as well as Johnny Appleseed and Rip Van Winkle. They liked his paintings but decided to make it a set of four. For his portraits, LaFleur didn’t want to be influenced by anyone else’s illustrations, so he read their stories in books without illustrations to develop his own images of the men. The stamps were then issued on July 11, 1996, in Anaheim, California, at the Postage Stamp Mega Event.