He's Losin' It, Man...

 Here's some crap me and Jim and Alex made

 here're story sketches that the animation translated

Cans Grabs

 Continued from Eddie's blog...UNCLE EDDIE'S THEORY CORNER: "CANS WITHOUT LABELS"

 these are frame grabs from some sweet animation and assisting by Gabe, Nick and Alex (and me)

New Collections Of Doodle Sets - Preview

Here is a preview of my latest collectible sets of phone doodles - only for my beloved Kickstarter donors - this is just the tip of the mountain of goodies.

Treasures of Dizzy Doodles Collection

The Chipmunkians Package Of Hairy Delights

The Cream Of Hanna Barbera Creatures

Ren and Stimpy Classics Collection

The Liquor Family Of Social Outcasts Folio

These and a sh** load more are on their merry way.

Thanks!

Merry Christmas

Dean Martin's Christmas Blues

YOU MADE IT HAPPEN!

and here is a lovely image colored and inked by fan and Cans supporter Robert Wertz!

"LET'S MAKE THE GODDAMN CARTOON ALREADY!"

Designing My Own Characters Is A Different Process

When I design characters for myself, I think less about design than I do about personality. In fact, I rarely think at all about it. I feel it instead.

When designing characters for commercials or even for other people's cartoons, I rely more on design theories in the abstract. Like how to balance shapes and spaces that add up to a pleasing 2 dimensional graphic that is more symbolic of a general character type, rather than a fully dimensional multi-layered personality.

This is partly because I am designing backwards and partly because most producers, executives or scriptwriters don't want specific character designs. "Specific" features are generally considered ugly by authority figures in the animation world. I'm not sure why; perhaps it's just because traditionally so many animated characters have been generic symbols rather than true characters. I've learned to work both ways for different purposes.My most specific character is George Liquor. He is the only character that I've ever created all at once in a flash. His basic appearance and personality just popped into my head at the same time. I wish that would happen more often!

Usually my own characters start as an idea that rests somewhere between a general character type and a specific variation. Then I let nature nature take its course and allow the characters to evolve, being pushed along by the stories I write for them.

I give my own characters a lot more design flexibility than I do for characters for other studios. I let the storyboards, layouts, animation mold the designs - and vice versa. I don't think of each creative stage in a cartoon as a separate entity. I find that drawing storyboards is probably the most significant factor in designing a character's visual appearance and specific personality:
When I draw storyboards, I am free of the restrictions of too much consistency.

CONTINUED ON THE CHARACTER DESIGN BLOG...