Treehouse Opening - pt 1

We had a longer version of the cartoon planned originally but there wasn't time in the show to use it.
Here's part of the original opening:

more to come...

Treehouse Of Horror Storyboards 3

Here's the ending.

Here's an interesting fact about cartoon production - well maybe it's not so interesting but drawing storyboards is a lot of fun and I do them super fast. Then I spend a much longer time just trying to get the final animation to retain some of the life in the loose story sketches.

I was asked to add this ending to the cartoon at the last minute and all my animators were killing themselves to do the graveyard sequence.

I didn't want to break their hearts by adding all these new scenes so I went ahead and did the layouts and animation mostly myself. Of course I had help from Gabe and Nick, Jesse, Aaron and many assistants in cleaning up and inbetweening.

Some of the scenes believe it or not were crazy complicated - like the monster pulling Homer's soul out of his body. It was easy to sketch for the storyboard but turned out to be a nightmare to figure out how to get it to work.

Boy, executing ideas in animation is a lot harder than coming up with them. I really feel for animators and think all people in animation whether they are story people, directors, designers or show runners should do animation for a few years so they see just what is involved before they ask others to realize their ideas.

Whew!

Happy Halloween From Maggie The Bee

 Here's a storyboard gag that didn't make it into the final cartoon.

 I stole this Frankenstein design from an old kid's rub-on tattoo.

Treehouse of Horror Storyboards 2

Happy Birthday Dad

Dad's Hidden Talent

My fans know what a real man my Dad is, but I want to let you know of one of his other talents. Dad is a gifted critic.

      In the same way that Eddie Fitzgerald can spontaneously generate a theory on any subject you could ever bring up, Dad can elucidate an opinion on any topic.

Whether it’s on how to use a knife and fork, how the world works, men hugging men, what smoking essence does to your brain, or what makes great art, he can instantly provide you with what you did wrong and why.

With that said, let’s read his latest review on a popular entertainment.

 ...and now, dear blog readers, settle back and relax, because it's time for:

Mike's Critique Corner

Dad’s Review of Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror 2016

“I thought you where going to introduce it,  the annimation is great especially on a large screen. 

But the commercials after the show where 4 times as long as the show.  

I watched part of the Simpsons, really stupid I don't know why it is so popular. 

Hope your interview is good news next week.” 

I think you missed your calling Dad; you could have been a great critic, inspiring fear in the hearts of all creative spirits. 

Oh, and I thought you'd like to meet his cute stenographer who is hanging on every word of her hero's dictation.

Oh and if you are wondering what to get him for his birthday, here is his suggestion:

Happy Birthday Dad!

*Disclaimer

The opinions expressed herein are solely those of the man being honored and do not necessarily reflect those of the owner of this blog.

 oh and say hi to the gal that puts up with him, while you're at it!

Hi Mom!

Treehouse of Horror Storyboards 1

 Originally this cartoon was supposed to be 3 and a half minutes and there are a lot more storyboards that happen before this one starts - but another story for another blog adventure.

I ended up having to squeeze a heck of a lot of action and story into a very short amount of time. I REALLY wanted to do the original longer intro because that was more story and character based. If you're interested I can post some of that stuff later.