if cereal companies sponsored cartoons again?
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
What If Milt Gross Drew HB Characters?
I was thinking about how HB cartoonists blended their different styles into interesting new combinations and wondered what would have happened if some of my other favorite cartoonists had worked on the cartoons.
Like what if Milt Gross had done the layouts on a picture or 2?
Some random scribbles...
PLAY THIS WHILE JINKS CHASES MEECES
I also wonder who decided which parts of cartoon characters have fur and which parts are shaved. Maybe Yogi would like to try different shaving styles sometime.
I got the Milt Gross poses from this fine book.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Classic Character Studies
When I want to learn how to draw classic characters, I don't only look at the model sheets but it's a good place to start. I try to find the earliest incarnations first.
After studying the models I then also look at animators' drawings, storyboard drawings, toys and comic book or comic strip drawings too.
I look for the most appealing incarnations of the characters and try to incorporate them all into my understanding of the charcters.
Here I tested myself to see what I remembered and understood about Huck. I got the angle at the top of his head backwards and will correct it next time I draw him from memory. (Hopefully) I remembered that his butt is lower than his belly - very important to his personality.
Model sheets are only the jumping off point for characters. If you slavishly just try to imitate a handful of model sheet poses, you will inevitable lose a generation or more. Each good artist who adds poses and expressions to a character enriches the overall character and that's worth absorbing - and ultimately adding to yourself.
After studying some early HB model sheets, story sketches and comic illustrations, I tried my hand at sketching some thumbnail gag ideas to see if I could get a grip on the character. Huck is very hard to caricature. He has too many subtle angles.
After studying the models I then also look at animators' drawings, storyboard drawings, toys and comic book or comic strip drawings too.
I look for the most appealing incarnations of the characters and try to incorporate them all into my understanding of the charcters.
Here I tested myself to see what I remembered and understood about Huck. I got the angle at the top of his head backwards and will correct it next time I draw him from memory. (Hopefully) I remembered that his butt is lower than his belly - very important to his personality.
Model sheets are only the jumping off point for characters. If you slavishly just try to imitate a handful of model sheet poses, you will inevitable lose a generation or more. Each good artist who adds poses and expressions to a character enriches the overall character and that's worth absorbing - and ultimately adding to yourself.
After studying some early HB model sheets, story sketches and comic illustrations, I tried my hand at sketching some thumbnail gag ideas to see if I could get a grip on the character. Huck is very hard to caricature. He has too many subtle angles.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Papa Yogi: George Nicholas
Limited animation done right
Here's a good Yogi cartoon animated by George Nicholas and laid out by Walter Clinton.
The drawings and animation are cartoony and stylish at the same time. It show hows when you don't force (good) artists to trace model sheets you can get unique and funny cartoons - even when they only cost $3,000 for 6 minutes.
One thing I love about the earliest HB cartoons is that there are so many combinations of layout artist, animator and background painter. None of them are forced to a strict standardized look and the constant random mix of artists makes all the cartoons look different. Accidental experiments. This shaking up of the creative elements from cartoon to cartoon really works when you are using good artists- and especially when they came from different classic studios. George Nicholas was from Disney, Walt Clinton from MGM's Tex Avery cartoons and it's fun to see the mix. I'm not sure where BG painter Joe Montell came from, but his style is different than Lozzi and Monte's so that's neat too. I wish I could see Dan Gordon's storyboard drawings. I have xeroxes of a few of his HB board panels and they are really fun and lively. I'm sure he influenced the final look of Papa Yogi as well.
I think the people who hate HB might be thinking of the more standardized bland looking cartoons that came so shortly after this. There are a lot more of those than the few good ones that makes me like them.
Papa Yogi is a 2nd season cartoon- 1959-60, the year after the Huckleberry Hound Show came out. This season's cartoons are somewhat slicker than the first season. They actually have some animation in them. The first season used a lot of popping from still pose to still pose - like colored animatics. The year after this for some odd reason, everything fell apart in the HB kid cartoons. Yogi looks like hell all of a sudden. Maybe because they put their best people on The Flintstones, I'm not sure. Maybe the Yowp blog will explain it to us one day.
http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/
Yowp is celebrating the great June Foray's birthday this week.
Here's a good Yogi cartoon animated by George Nicholas and laid out by Walter Clinton.
The drawings and animation are cartoony and stylish at the same time. It show hows when you don't force (good) artists to trace model sheets you can get unique and funny cartoons - even when they only cost $3,000 for 6 minutes.
One thing I love about the earliest HB cartoons is that there are so many combinations of layout artist, animator and background painter. None of them are forced to a strict standardized look and the constant random mix of artists makes all the cartoons look different. Accidental experiments. This shaking up of the creative elements from cartoon to cartoon really works when you are using good artists- and especially when they came from different classic studios. George Nicholas was from Disney, Walt Clinton from MGM's Tex Avery cartoons and it's fun to see the mix. I'm not sure where BG painter Joe Montell came from, but his style is different than Lozzi and Monte's so that's neat too. I wish I could see Dan Gordon's storyboard drawings. I have xeroxes of a few of his HB board panels and they are really fun and lively. I'm sure he influenced the final look of Papa Yogi as well.
I think the people who hate HB might be thinking of the more standardized bland looking cartoons that came so shortly after this. There are a lot more of those than the few good ones that makes me like them.
Papa Yogi is a 2nd season cartoon- 1959-60, the year after the Huckleberry Hound Show came out. This season's cartoons are somewhat slicker than the first season. They actually have some animation in them. The first season used a lot of popping from still pose to still pose - like colored animatics. The year after this for some odd reason, everything fell apart in the HB kid cartoons. Yogi looks like hell all of a sudden. Maybe because they put their best people on The Flintstones, I'm not sure. Maybe the Yowp blog will explain it to us one day.
http://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/
Yowp is celebrating the great June Foray's birthday this week.
Friday, September 17, 2010
Good Classic Cartoon Repackaging
This is the way to present classic cartoons. Watching the Bugs Bunny Show on Saturday afternoons at 5 was the highlight of the week for me in the 1960s. These titles and wraparounds just made the whole experience more exciting.
BUGS BUNNY SHOW OPENING TITLES
Bugs Explains How To Write Cartoons With Him In Them
BUGS BUNNY SHOW OPENING TITLES
Bugs Explains How To Write Cartoons With Him In Them
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