Make an Ad For the Toys Contest

http://www.cartoonthrills.org/blog/01politicaltoys/Piggot2.mov

Hey David Piggot did a funny review for our political toys on Amazon.com.
Wait'll you hear his impressions of John McCain and "That One". He's pretty good!
David give me your address and I will send you some treats.

This made me think I should hold a contest for a week for people to do their own commercials for the toys and put 'em up on youtube or amazon or wherever the hell.


I will send the winner some orignal storyboards and layouts for the new George Liquor Show in progress.


Whattaya think?

Buy them here!

http://rfxtoys.com/

or here:









Here's an article about them:

http://www.action-figure.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=23827

John Hench, Mr. Toad and Kali

Kali has been putting up some great stuff lately:

Some killer illustrations by John Hench from the Mr. Toad Golden Book.http://kalikazoo.blogspot.com/2008/10/adventures-of-mr-toad.html

And her own really fun colorful cartoon sketches:


She's obsessed with Wade's head.
Amazing color technique! She's doing some color keys for George Liquor now and if they look like this we have some handsome cartoon BGs!

http://kalikazoo.blogspot.com/2008/10/dewey-cheatem-howe.html

And Devo too:
http://kalikazoo.blogspot.com/2008/09/you-say-tomato-i-say-potato.html
Something called "katamari" that all the girls will like and will baffle the boys:
http://kalikazoo.blogspot.com/2008/09/mark-mothersbaugh-rules-balls.htmlThere is tons of cartoon fun and invention at Kali's site:
http://kalikazoo.blogspot.com/
Here's my perfectly realistic portrait of this wacky cartoon lass.

40S CARTOONS - THE FOGHORN LEGHORN

It's hard to rate the best cartoons ever made in any kind of top 10 or top 20 list, but this should be among them.http://www.cartoonthrills.org/blog/McKimson/47/TheFoghornLeghorn/AlmostHadAJoke.mov


This is the first cartoon that establishes the core Foghorn Leghorn cast and it does it wonderfully and confidently.

In 1947 animators at WB were very confident in their skills. They did much more custom made animation than Disney. They understood the gags and stories better and animated each scene not according to a pre-ordained animation formula, but to the individual scenes. That's why WB cartoons have stood the test of time and are still funny today, while Disney cartoons seem naive and archaic. McKimson's cartoons were especially down to earth and geared toward real people - you know the "Real Americans".
McKimson used strong contrasts and variations in his timing. He didn't rely on Cal Arts timing tricks like they do today.
This scene starts off with Foghorn slowly turning his head to watch Henery walk by. The head remains very solid and convincing as it turns. Hard to do!Then Foghorn stops Henery and begins to act. This cartoon is amazing. It's not only funny, but it instantly establishes 4 characters and their relationships to each other. Every one of them is clearly defined. They each have a distinct personality and a motivation.

Plus, they are all funny characters. This type of cartoon creation is the opposite of how it's done today. Today, many studios start with an "arena". They start with an environment, then try to come up with characters that would live in that environment. The last step is to come up with a standard animation personality to dump onto each character.

McKimson animators listen very closely to the voice track. Mel's characterization is even better than the radio personality they stole it from!

Mel stands alone as not only a fantastic voice talent, but a top-notch actor too. Foghorn's voice is full of variations in timing and emphasis. It's not monotone. The accents stand out and give more meaning to the already funny written dialogue.

The animator in this scene really exaggerates the accents by moving Foghorn far away up in perspective before he comes forward to hit each accent.

Within this bit of dialogue, the animator uses many variations of actions and timings to drive home the personality and meaning of the dialogue. He adds all kinds of funny hand gestures to add even more punch and meaning to the dialogue.

He doesn't use the same timing formula to connect each successive pose, as full animators tend to do today.
McKimson loves these upshots. It helps emphasize how huge his lummoxes are.



This next gag always killed my Dad. Watching my Dad laugh his ass off at it killed me too. You have to watch Foghorn Leghorn with men in the room. It's 10 times funnier that way.

This whole bit is great writing by Warren Foster. "I almost had a gag there, son!" Brilliant!The gags, the direction, the staging are all excellent, but what makes it really work is the exciting and deliberate full animation. Not just that that it's "full", but that it's so in character. Foghorn is a really dynamic character and McKimson's animators really customize his actions to bring him to life. If it was a 40s Disney cartoon, it would be full of timing tricks and stock actions and each character might have one customized bit of business that he does over and over again. (Like Donald's stock temper tantrum, or Tramp leading every action with his ass)

The fact that Henery isn't fazed by Foghorn's huge powerful bluster makes it even funnier.

Foghorn later was toned down (just like most characters) but for a few years he was one of the funniest characters in cartoon history. Everyone on McKimson's team worked together perfectly to create this magical truly animated entertainment.


I'm going to post more clips from it so keep your eye on the ball!

Animation Doing Its Job

Here's one of Friz' best cartoons. I'm trying to figure out the date. it says 1949 on the title card, but 1951 in his Flimography online. Oh well, the clip here is in a very 40s style of animation.
Friz' drawings tend to be very conservative - they aren't obviously wacky like Clampett's or Avery's, but in a few of his cartoons the animators breathe a lot of life into the characters just by the way they move them. This isn't very typical of Friz' cartoons, especially if this is really from the 50s. Friz usually makes his animators animate within the confines of a tight invisible box.

I feel like the characters can't stretch their gestures out far enough without hitting a wall. Ever have one of those dreams where you are trying to move or run, but some force is pushing back against you? That's how I feel when I watch a lot of Friz cartoons. But not this one.This is a funny anticipation for Sylvester's take. The top of his head floats above his other head for a frame.

This run is really funny and beautifuly animated. No limited animation, comic book, strip, live action or any other medium can give the audience this kind of satisfaction. This is purely dependent on the animator's skill and sense of humor.

This is the thing that only animated cartoons can do and that everyone refuses to even try for any more. Even when they have the money.
I love how Sylvester is scrambling along the floor and begging for the can opener by opening and closing his outstretched hand.

This post is the beginning of a little series about 40s style animation. It's my opinion that the 40s was the period that most took advantage of what animation is really capable of. It never got any better.

Even 3rd string directors and studios in the 1940s turned out animation that was brilliant compared to anything from the last 40 years. Animation that was entertaining completely on its own level, regardless of the context of the story or the quality of the sound track.

Canned Feud happens to be a funny story and well directed, but the great animation brings it to a whole other level.

Studios like Walter Lantz, Terrytoons and even Famous managed to turn out cartoons in the 1940s that were entertaining in spite of the lack of direction or point of view. I promise to prove it.

http://www.cartoonthrills.org/blog/Friz/49CannedFeud/1SylvesterScramble.mov

Next: Great acting in a Foghorn Leghorn cartoon.

Meet Jim Smith This Saturday at Hi-De-Ho Comics

Jim smith and Frank Forte are brimming with love, autographs and man-hugs for all you cartoon and comic fans out there.
Go meet them this Saturday. I'm gonna pop in for a hug myself.

http://www.hidehocomics.com/


http://jimsmithcartoons.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html

http://www.frankforte.blogspot.com/

Eisenberg and Kelly

Harvey's compositions are more mathematically careful than Kelly's, but his details in BG elements are more conservative or "realistic" than Kelly's.
Eisenberg's characters are more solidly constructed. Constructed totally out of cartoon forms - pears and spheres.

Thanks to Bill Perkins for this Mickey page!

All the details fit snugly and in their perfect hierarchical place on the larger simpler forms.

Kelly's construction is not so tight. The features on his characters tend to float around.
On the other hand, he mixes in suggestions of actual anatomical forms. The mouse above has a skeleton, not just a line of action supporting him.

The dog below has suggestions of actual dog anatomy: his wrists, his spine



Eisenberg can draw elaborate BGs and in any perspective. His panels tend to be a lot more dynamic than Kelly's. - or anyone else's.Kelly tends to keep his characters staged left to right and is not as comfortable with perspective.

Both cartoonists use lines of action and opposing poses from their animation training, but Kelly's tend to be more subtle, His characters are more straight up and down. The principles are still there, but toned down. This is great if you can do it. Later cartoonists who might have admired Kelly could easily miss this aspect of his work and really eliminate any lines of action and opposing poses completely - as most cartoons and comics today.Subtlety is good, but tends to lead to a next generation of blandness.
The whole cartoon business by the 50s toned down it's earlier dynamic style in favor of characters who merely walk and talk. When the next generation of cartoonists grew up on these cartoons, they assumed that you don't need any poses at all and everything from then on was walking and talking and straight up and down characters.


Kelly is obviously capable of more dynamic posing and when his stories call for it, he does it - as in the page above.
Kelly also dabbles in soft little character scenarios like the page above. This is so Chuck Jones! Little cute bits of business between ignorant animals. Even the design of the characters is very Jones/Cannon early 40s. Right down to the loose construction. I wonder who influenced who.
Eisenberg, schooled by Joe Barbera on Tom and Jerry doesn't get into character so much and so focuses his creativity more on technical aspects of comic layout, dynamics, graphic page flow and strong character posing.

Kelly's characters are cuter - they have bigger eyes and pupils. For some reason, Harvey draws tiny little eyes which takes away some of the cartooniness and fun. McKimson did that too.


Both these cartoonists are top talents and have 90% of their approach in common. The 10% or so where they vary is where their personal styles happen.

On the surface the 2 styles look very different, but a lot of the appeal of both styles is that they have such great drawing skill supporting the individual differences.
A lot of Kelly's style is in his inking. The drawings themselves don't deviate much from standard 40s cartoon style, but the finish really grabs your attention and seals the deal.

A lot of the appeal of any skill is the skill itself. Just the fact that someone can do something technically amazing- that most of humanity can't is entertaining. That's why there is such a big audience for the Olympics of for UFC. Each athlete may have his own own personal style, but if he doesn't win then it didn't do him much good.


This aspect of technical virtuosity is missing from today's popular entertainment, yet I meet plenty of cartoonists who think they have "a style" and want to be judged on their individuality. Usually this style is just a collection of ignorant mistakes or a superficial imitation of the latest decadent trend in executive-pleasing cartoons.

EISENBERG KEPT 40S PRINCIPLES ALIVE EVEN INTO THE 60S

By the 1960s most cartoons had become really stiff. Eisenberg's posing retained the line of action and opposing poses of classic cartoons.
The poses are more subtle in these comics, but still show extreme knowledge and control.