In most animated cartoons today, artists are expected to be "on model". They have strict guidelines on how characters should be drawn and what expressions they can and cannot be allowed. It's been a standard for many decades now.
Sometimes, however, there would be shows where artists are allowed to add in a little "personal touch" in order to enchant a gag. One of those shows is The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.
Flapjack is a heavily storyboarded show and each episode don't look alike, depending on who is doing the boards. I actually managed to identify some of the styles the show has.
PENDLETON WARD Pen Ward is probably the most recognizable of the Flapjack writers. His drawings are among the loosest of the show's artists, and often times have a very cute & creepy look. Also, K'Nuckles' nose is literally inbetween his eyes.
KENT OSBORNE Kent is also the show's head writer. His designs tend to be more "on model" compared to other writer-artists. His Bubbie is probably the closest to being drawn "correct". In addition, the rings under K'Nuckles' and Bubbie's eyes are heavier.
ALEX HIRSCH Alex is often paired with Pen Ward, and the difference in style is like night and day. Often times his Flapjack has a somewhat "anime" look.
SOMVILAY XAYAPHONEPATRICK McHALE Patrick's drawings tend to be loose, with odd shapes on the characters.
These are just the starters. There are other writer-artists in Flapjack with unique styles. I'll post more of those soon, hopefully.
EDIT: That's Patrick McHale's, not Somvilay's. See comments.
Eddie Fitzgerald have worked in animation for over 30 years on series such as The Ren & Stimpy Show, Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Tiny Toons, and countless others. Currently he writes on a popular blog Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner.
I've conducted an email interview with him. My questions are in bold.
You worked on many different shows during your career, which spans over 30 years. Of all the cartoons you've worked on, which did you enjoy working on the most? The least? Gee, I have a bunch of favorites! Ren & Stimpy was fun because working on it gave us all an insight into the mind of John K, a true genius if there ever was one. It was also fun to work with a talented crew. I'd get up to stretch and when I looked around there were museum quality drawings on every lightboard around me! it was exhilarating! I also have great memories of working at Filmation. The shows were absolutely terrible, and the hours were grueling, but it was my first industry job and there wasn't a moment when I didn't feel surrounded by magic. Actually, I still feel that way. Warners and Bakshi were fun, and I actually had a job as gag man at Disney's. Maybe I had the most fun doing my own cartoon for Cartoon Network: "Tales of Worm Paranoia." Believe me, there's no greater experience than directing a cartoon that you've written yourself. Every day was an education! I felt truly alive and awake, and when the film was done and I had to return to the workaday world, I felt like I had been forcibly put to sleep.
How did the staff react when the news of Nickelodeon firing Spumco from Ren and Stimpy came?
Interesting question! I didn't see it coming at all; it was a complete surprise! Out of the blue the production people told us to put our pencils down and pack everything carefully so it could be shipped to a new studio. I was stunned! John was out of town, so there was no talking to him about it. All the artists gathered in the middle of the main room. A couple were crying. Mike Fontanelli looked like he'd seen a ghost.
What happened next was the ugliest experience of my adult life. I said, "Wait a minute! This show uses a unique drawing style that takes a while to learn. Draw it any other way and it just won't look like Ren & Stimpy. We're irreplaceable! If we hang together and refuse to work on the show without John, then Nick will be forced to give it back to him! Let's all sign a letter to that effect and deliver it to Nickelodeon!" Half the room thought that was a great idea but the other half just looked at the floor, avoiding my gaze. Finally someone said, "Well, I wouldn't sign that. It sounds like a loyalty oath to me. That's McCarthyism."
McCarthyism!? Being loyal to a friend and a generous employer is McCarthyism? I didn't think that made any sense at all, but it seemed to satisfy half the room, and we broke up. Later, as new information came in, it became apparent that half the studio had already secretly negotiated contracts with the new place, for big raises in pay. They knew the split was coming.
Still later, I talked to the artist who was leading the split, and implored him not take John's characters away. I offered to do free work on a presentation that would help him to sell a show of his own, with his own characters, but it was no go. It was an ugly, ugly experience!
Are there any animation introduced in recent years that you like? Or hate the least? There's been several funny animated shows since Ren & Stimpy, but none that relied on solid cartooning and the unique thing that funny acting and animation bring to the table. Cartooning caricatures the way people look; animation caricatures the way people move. I don't understand why current cartoonists show so little interest in moving things funny.
Have you ever pitched any series ideas to networks? Thinking about pitching more in the future? I do pitch to networks, and I have absolutely fantastic ideas that would break new ground and work great on the screen! Unfortunately I'm one of those people who are shattered by rejection. You need a thick skin to prevail in this business.
What are your thoughts on the now-common practice of outsourcing animation to an overseas studio? I would never outsource anything if I could help it. There was a job waiting for me when I needed it, and now it's my responsibility to be sure that one is waiting for the next guy. But it's more than that. American animation benefits from a hundred year-old tradition that includes comic strips, magazine illustration, pulp fiction, movies, funny cereal boxes and toys. It was influenced by immigrant humor, vaudville, jazz, swing, rock and roll, hip-hop and the unique flavor of the american streets. I don't see the sense in turning our backs on all that and sending everything to Shanghai.
Would I take a job overseas? Sure, if there was nothing going on here, and I'd do my best with it, but I do want to see a healthy industry here.
Neil Swaab, 30, is a New York-based cartoonist known for his weekly comic strip Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles, which runs in papers such as Rochester City Newspaper, Real Detroit Weekly, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, among others. In addition, he served as a character artist for Adult Swim series Superjail!, which began its run in September.
I recently conducted an email interview with him. My questions are in bold.
What were your duties on Superjail? How did you get involved in the show? I was a Character Layout Artist. Along with four other guys, I drew all the key poses and created a lot of secondary characters and inmates for the show. I got involved through Aaron Augenblick whose studio was producing the show. Aaron and I are fans of each other’s work and have mutual friends in common and had discussed possibly working together at some point throughout the years when we’d run into each other. When Superjail! came up, he thought my style and sensibility would be perfect for the show and got in touch with me to work on it.
Is this the first time you worked in animation? Yes.
What are the staff on the show like? Awesome! They’re a great group of people, extremely talented, and incredibly hard working. Everyone in the studio put their life and sweat into the show from people as high as the creators to people as low as the interns. It was a real labor of love.
Do you know if Superjail will get picked up for second season? I’m afraid I don’t know.
Superjail is one of the very few US animated series that's not outsourced to an overseas studio. What is your view on outsourcing? Should more series be animated in-house in America, even if it will lead to Filmation-like quality? Well, outsourcing is a big deal. Obviously, we want to keep more jobs in America and Augenblick Studios proved they could do it and produce high quality work at the same time. In order to compete with outsourcing we need to give them something that can’t be replicated in India or China. I believe what was done on Superjail! is a good example of that.
Do you have any favorite cartoons currently on TV? Not really. I actually don’t watch too many cartoons. I don’t have cable and, lately, I can’t say I’ve even watched a lot of TV. I’ve never even seen Adult Swim, which Superjail! airs on.
You do a comic called Rehabilitating Mr. Wiggles for alt-newspapers. How's the strip doing? Pretty well. It’s in a bunch of papers and seems to be doing particularly well in Italy, where I’ve built up a large fan base due to my inclusion in the magazine, Internazionale.
Any thoughts about creating a show for television? Maybe an animated Mr. Wiggles, perhaps? I’d love to. After taking a long break, I’m finally back to work on writing a pilot for a Mr. Wiggles TV show. Once it’s completed, I hope to start shopping it around and trying to get a studio interested in working with me on it.
This is an excerpt from the animated Hagar the Horrible special that Hanna-Barbera produced. It aired around the time the creator, Dik Browne, was dying.
Design wise, it was faithful to the strip it was based on, but otherwise, the story was boring, typical of animated cartoons at the time. Even Chris Browne, Dik Browne's son, left a negative review about it in his Amazon.com review.
