Unused Billy and Mandy Design

This is a design I did (and was not used) for the forthcoming Billy and Mandy feature. I think it's going to air on Cartoon Network sometime next year, and will (if nothing has changed) be available on DVD shortly after it's air-date. It has lots of Fred Willard and some pirate zombies.


I think the design is okay, though it gets a little flat in places, but oh well. It's based off of a Maxwell Atoms board panel and I think i was able to keep most of the feeling he intended. The design in the film is closer to what my art director was thinking and looks a little more serpentine than these.

Daily Sketch

What started as a normal warm up drawing became something that I would revisit for a few minutes throughout the work day. I think I might keep up with these and try to make a little series out of it. I have so much fun working with just straight brush pen on paper. I feel like I'm ice skating, lot's of clumsiness, a few falls and collisions with walls, and the occasional moment of grace.



fax me,
UP

How is it that mom's chicken soup has super healing powers. Thanks mom.

Billy and Mandy Sketch.

This sketch came out of a conversation with Mr. C.H. Greenblatt. We were talking about how much we both enjoy Aaron Springer's Billy. I was trying to remember his treatment and did this sketch. They're totally all me, but the influence of Carl's boarding and Aaron's have rubbed off on me a bit. You should really see the way Aaron draws him, it's pretty funny.

I guess I'm writing because I wanted to mention my favorite part of designing a board-driven show. (I think it may also be the hardest part for me personally.) I love getting boards that are full of great cartooning and drawings that are not necessarily "on model" but are definitely in character. Sometimes I feel like as a designer all I'm doing is totally watering down funny drawings by trying to bring them more "on model." I'm supposed to be plus-ing them, but I find that I'm walking a pretty thin line at times. Some days I wish i could just blow up board panels and just clean them up as is. Leaving in all of the oddities that are particular to a specific board artist. I think that kids will still know that Billy is Billy, even if in the first half of the show he looks like Alex's and the second half like Carl's.

I think that one of the most amazing things about animation is that artists can leave such a personal mark. A mark that on some productions is supposed to be ironed and hammered away, into whatever on model / cookie cutter standard designs exist for the show. I know that there are some exceptions. Some shows do embrace stranger drawings more than others, and some may require a more standardized look for whatever reason. I don't even know if I have a point to make, but I guess that I'm just starting to really realize how much I appreciate it when the artist isn't removed from the art.

Or maybe I'm realizing that I want to be a board artist.

I dunno. I'm tired, and miss my cintiq.

-p

feeling: like the Apple Pan did me wrong today. bad apple pan.
listening to: my tivo asking if it can change the channel. good tivo.