Pete & Bob intro

A simple, yet effective intro. The cool jazzy music was performed by one of the writers/ voice actors/creators of 'Pete and Bob', and part of the comedy team known as 'The Vestibules', Bernard Deniger.

digging up some old garbage.

I mean that in a good way. This was some test animation for an 11 minute pilot about a couple 'garbage men' I did a few years ago. This was done to establish the look and the limitations of the animation, which is practically less than South Park. But hey, it works just fine for this type of comedy. So go ahead! Press play!!

drawing even more badly

When I did this first sketch, I thought it looked pretty badly drawn. I can see a Beavis and Butthead influence here. But they wanted it drawn even more badly than this! I was threatening to draw with my left hand on the next attempt. I am not left handed.

relying on the past

Another screen shot from a couple years ago. When I have nothing new to post, I can always dig up something from past productions. Looking back on all my "Pete and Bob" posts, I am surprised I did not post a lot more from this project. This is a shot from the intro of the show, one of the few times we get to see Karzinki the driver, and Pete and Bob on the back of the garbage truck, all in the same shot.

drawing ugly on purpose

These screen shots are from a project a couple of years ago. Click on the "Pete and Bob" label to see the other posts. It was stressed upon me to make it look "drawn really badly." It is actually more difficult to draw ugly than it is to draw a good design. It is not easy to unlearn everything you know.

God light

This is from a pilot I did a couple of years ago. The light of God from Heaven shines down upon our two garbage men. This would have been a fantastic show, the direction I was going in was something new and funny. We were really on to something with this...and then it all went down hill. Instead of having a discussion about things, bad decisions were being made by the producer and the creators that I was forced to comply with. Things were not thought out and debated, explained and defended. It's a shame too, because this project had some good potential.

GOD VARIATIONS

These are the options for the GOD design. In the final design he had slippers, not Jesus sandals.

GOD

This is GOD. I did a bunch of variations of his beard. I went with this one because my girlfriend liked it best.

more pilot screen shots

This scene is a flash back of KARZINKI, the garbage truck driver, as a little boy. That's his Papa in the wife beater.

BACK FROM THE OTTAWA ANIMATION FESTIVAL

I just got back from the OTTAWA ANIMATION FESTIVAL. I had a blast! I met some amazing people. Everyone was super nice. Now I have one week left to finish this pilot. I could have used those 5 days I spent at the festival working on this, but it was an opportunity I could not afford to miss out on. I want to thank everyone involved in putting the festival together and everyone attending the festival too. Thank you very much. It was my first time at the Ottawa Festival and I will definitely be going back every year from now on. I added some new links, to the right, to some of the great people I met at the festival.
The guy in the bath robe and slippers, above, is God. I really like how this pilot episode is turning out. The working title of the show is PETE & BOB. The animation is very South Parkish. So I should be able to finish it in a week. There are several other posts in this blog about this project. If you go through the archives of the past 3 or so months, you'll see other screen shots, some of which were just tests and experiments. The screen shots above are not tests. That is the final look of the pilot.

SCREEN SHOTS

A couple screenshots of a pilot I am working on. It's a very fun, and funny, project. Obviously it is about garbage men. I think the washed out, grainy, badly drawn look is perfect for a show about garbage...it looks dirty. Luckily they haven't invented SMELLOVISION yet!

funny drawing

One thing I find missing from most cartoons is a funny drawing. The last show that really did that was REN & STIMPY. The expressions were priceless on that show. The kind of expressions that make you hit the pause button just so you can get a better look at the drawing. A funny drawing is important in animation. I am surprised comedy shows like AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE, THE BRAK SHOW, SOUTH PARK and others, don't have the funny drawings. Even very limited animation shows would benefit greatly from a funny drawing and funny expressions. These are a few screen shots of a pilot I am working on. There is almost no animation, kinda like SOUTH PARK, but I went nuts with getting a funny looking drawing on the expressions (on the fat guy on the left). I remember reading an interview with JOHN K. and he said that on Ren & Stimpy they didn't have a model sheet of expressions, so that the animators never used the same exprressions twice, it was always fresh, funny and genuine.

Drawing badly

This is a screen shot of a pilot I am developing. It is very difficult to draw bad on purpose. Ask me to draw like a Disney or Don Bluth film and it would be easier than faking a bad drawing. It is very difficult to unlearn, automatically, my brain thinks of structure and volume. As much as I love Beavis and ButtHead, and King Of The Hill, I would never draw that way. But for this project I have to. I was tempted to do the designs for this with my left hand. I am not left handed. This was just a test. It looks kinda cool animated; very limited animation, kinda like South Park. This guy is the Garbage Truck Driver.