I have no idea who this guy is... he just came out of my pencil and on to the paper.Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Saturday, February 03, 2007
The Herculoids: An Appreciation
So over on the TAG blog there has been some discussion about old Saturday morning cartoons that are available for watching on YouTube. I have a personal favorite... the Herculoids. It was a Hanna Barbara cartoon set on a far-flung planet with a small nuclear family and monstrous friends/pets with super powers. They would fight of invaders to the planet as well as the hostile locals.
These cartoons were pretty short on story and long on action. Chuck Jones had once called TV cartoons "illustrated radio" because the characters would always say what they were doing rather than use complicated and costly animation to tell the story. However, by this point HB had gotten pretty good at making due with very limited resources. The quality of the drawing varies wildly from shot to shot, but they have fairly complex action “gags” that are easy to follow and fun to watch.
The Herculoids also benefit from having Alex Toth for a character designer and veterans like Homer Jonas working on the backgrounds. The inventive sound FX, voice acting and music round out the package.
Watching these as I did last night I noticed a few things. One is that this is a super team, just like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Because most of the characters are “animals” of a sort, they writers can by-pass all of the time consuming character development (such as it was and is in the TV cartoon world) and focus on the action. The human characters filled their stereotypes: Mother, Father, and Son. This also streamlined the story telling. There may be some sort of back story as to why these folks are on this planet living the way they do, but it doesn’t matter… it’s all about the action.
The other thing I noticed upon reflection is that my story Tux is clearly influenced by these cartoons that I watched during my formative years. As with the Herculoids, Tux is about a super team of a sort, with animal-ish characters fighting exotic enemies. I never made the connection until last night.
These cartoons were pretty short on story and long on action. Chuck Jones had once called TV cartoons "illustrated radio" because the characters would always say what they were doing rather than use complicated and costly animation to tell the story. However, by this point HB had gotten pretty good at making due with very limited resources. The quality of the drawing varies wildly from shot to shot, but they have fairly complex action “gags” that are easy to follow and fun to watch.
The Herculoids also benefit from having Alex Toth for a character designer and veterans like Homer Jonas working on the backgrounds. The inventive sound FX, voice acting and music round out the package.
Watching these as I did last night I noticed a few things. One is that this is a super team, just like the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Because most of the characters are “animals” of a sort, they writers can by-pass all of the time consuming character development (such as it was and is in the TV cartoon world) and focus on the action. The human characters filled their stereotypes: Mother, Father, and Son. This also streamlined the story telling. There may be some sort of back story as to why these folks are on this planet living the way they do, but it doesn’t matter… it’s all about the action.
The other thing I noticed upon reflection is that my story Tux is clearly influenced by these cartoons that I watched during my formative years. As with the Herculoids, Tux is about a super team of a sort, with animal-ish characters fighting exotic enemies. I never made the connection until last night.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Sunday, January 14, 2007
If you can't stand the heat...
With the asteroid shield gone, the Toad starts to superheat... but Tux's crew is prepared. The are already suited up and escape the ship as it heads toward the planet surface and it's final landing. Tux looks back and sheds a tear for the little ship that that was her home.Saturday, January 13, 2007
Readers Digest
Because of overwhelming demand (both of the people who look at this site asked for it!), I am going to give little bits of the Tux story in a format that I can sort of keep up with. This won't be a daily thing, but just something that I will do as I have time and the inclination.
So, when we last saw our heroes, they had made a hole in an asteroid for a mysterious purpose. That purpose was to make an ablative shield for the Toad so that they could safely enter the planet's atmosphere. But as they enter the atmosphere, cracks form in the asteroid and it breaks apart!
Stay tuned for what happens next!
Friday, January 12, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Monday, January 08, 2007
I'm back!
Crunch is done, the holidays are done and I'm back here to post things... I just don't know what I'm going to post. I do know that I have no hope of posting on a daily basis, and that I don't think I have the energy reserves to produce an on-going strip.
Instead, I'm going to just post drawings that come to mind... at least for the time being. Today's post is the invitation I made for my Daughter's sleep over party.
Instead, I'm going to just post drawings that come to mind... at least for the time being. Today's post is the invitation I made for my Daughter's sleep over party.
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