Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Picture

This is the photo that inspired the first drawings of Ren.

I thought it was funny to see a psychotic chihuahua in a cute sweater and I imagined him doing everything possible to get it off.I also imagined his master putting him outside where the bigger bully dogs would make fun of him.

These aren't the first drawings of him, but they were based on my initial doodles. I do have some very early doodles somewhere around here and I'll put 'em up soon. I don't think I have the very first sketches, but I have some from that period. Maybe Joel Fajnor has some. He's the guy that urged me to put Ren and Stimpy together. We worked together at Calico Creations in 1979 and used to crack each other up all day doing wacky drawings and crazy voices. (He's a great cartoonist and designer and all around talented man.)

We both did the Peter Lorre voice all day long, which must have driven all the other animators crazy at work.