:B

“His rule was that a storyboard drawing had to read from across the room; it had to be so clear that you could tell what was going on even from a distance.” - John Lasseter on Joe Ranft

Sick

Every damned winter I get the flu or a cold or a stomach bug or something. So unfair. I was hoping to do some animation ~for fun~ over the holidays.


Plus its really annoying getting that gold glowy stuff on my hands whenever I sneeze.

Horns -vs- Ears

My big ole floursack animation whee~!

MAGICAL TIME ADVENTURE!

I stepped into the TARDIS and went to look at some wonderful things from the past!




Ie: I went to view the Betty Smithers Collection with NóNamé.

Flickr Link

Ah, Flickr. Obsolete, useless social media for sharing things that're too awful for DeviantArt.
Click here to see my uploads.

Essay Draft

I've given my essay another going over to fix the referencing, but now it looks like a complete mess. I could use some help...

Animated Maniacs and Looney Tunes

Why are the Looney Tunes More Popular than the Warners?

The Warners (Yacko, Wakko and their sister Dot) are three rubberhose-style characters designed to look like the cartoons of the 30's (black bodies with white faces was a pretty typical look for the earliest cartoons, the stark contrast making their faces easy to read in black-and-white). This is because they were designed to become the new Looney Tunes of the 90’s, as stated by direct Rich Arons in the Animaniacs Volume 2 DVD extra ‘They Can’t Help It If They’re Cute, They’re Just Drawn That Way’.

The exact species to which the Warners belong is unidentified. They utilise very wacky, off-the-wall while their bodies are rubbery, stretchy and very malleable - much like the cartoons of the Golden Age. They move with a lot of squash, stretch and bounce and have musical talent which fit perfectly with the era they were supposedly created for. Without other characters calling them "children" or "kids", it's clear that the Warners are young children, despite them not looking very human. They have a youthful energy (an excessive amount of it, in fact) and generally behave like human children. They have been known to cry loudly to get adults to do what they want  (“Infants quickly learnt that using tactics such as fake crying (...) could win them attention” Gray. 2007), mock authority figures by pulling silly faces or making childish comments and have frequently displayed a naive attitude to historical or political figures whilst having knowledge of current celebrities, the latter being displayed in ‘Hooked on a Ceiling’ (Rusty Mills. 2007). To me, this suggests that they are tweens or young teenagers. Yacko, being taller than Wakko or Dot, seems to be the oldest and his understanding of innuendo implies that he is a young teenager. Dot can be placed as the youngest sibling as Yakko expressively refers to Wakko as having “middle-child syndrome” (‘Survey Ladies’, Rusty Mills. 1993). Wakko’s behaviour in most cartoons does seem to be attention-seeking, as he is often spotted eating bits of the set during a scene.

Animaniacs was the second most popular show on Fox during its original run in 1993, so why must one describe the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) as the introduction to an essay such as this? Stars like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, also highly popular in their time, remain popular to this day while the Warners seem to have become more of a cult following than characters we are all naturally aware of.

During the Second World War, Bugs Bunny’s character became more defined and thus more popular for the Looney Tunes franchise. He was seen as a reflection of America itself and its role in the war, taking a passive approach until he was motivated to take revenge. With his Bronx accent and wise-guy attitude, he brought inspiration and fighting spirit to a nation at war (‘Looney Tunes Go to War!’ New Wave Entertainment. 2005). On top of that, his catchphrase of “what’s up doc?” is so memorable there isn’t a person alive who doesn’t know it. So what does Bugs Bunny have that the Warners didn’t? Wakko has a recognisable accent (albeit, a Liverpudlian one arranged, as confirmed in ‘They Can’t Help it if They’re Cute (...)’, a DVD extra exploring the formation of Animaniacs), Yakko has a catchphrase (“Good night everybody!”) and Dot is cute.

Bibliography

Gray, R (2007). Babies Not as Innocent as they Pretend. Telegraph. [Online]. 1^st July. Available from:  [Accessed: 26/11/2011]

(2005) ‘Looney Tunes Go to War!’ [DVD extra] New Wave Entertainment

‘They Can’t Help it if They’re Cute, They’re Just Drawn That Way’ [DVD Extra]

My Attitude To Animation

I came across this video on YouTube via referal from a friend, and I must say, I feel much the same way about animation.

Flickr

We have to make a Flickr account? Really? Is part of the module "how to forfeit all copyright ownership and invite people to steal your art"? I hate Flickr so much. What's more, we're using a Google-owned blogging site for these research projects so why make us get a Yahoo-owned gallery? Picasa would make so much more sense.

Design Contest

We were asked to design some mascots for this thing called the Betty Smithers Collection.
Yeah, I don't know what that is either. It looks like a collection of random refuse that's been building up since the 60's. Anyway, I had a look at this nifty cigarette holder and an orange juice squeezey thing (the non-electronic kind that does actually exist apparently) and modelled them into... Well, they sort of look like tsukumogami by this point.

Orange juicey thingy possibly?

Cigarette holder

Alternate Essay

I miss back when I used to write for fun.

Animated Maniacs and Looney Tunes

The Warners (Yacko, Wakko and their sister Dot) are three rubberhose-style characters designed to look like the cartoons of the 30's (black bodies with white faces was a pretty typical look for the earliest cartoons, the stark contrast making their faces easy to read in black-and-white). This is because they were designed to become the new Looney Tunes of the 90’s, as stated by direct Rich Arons in the Animaniacs Volume 2 DVD extra ‘They Can’t Help It If They’re Cute, They’re Just Drawn That Way’.

The exact species to which the Warners belong is unidentified. They utilise very wacky, off-the-wall while their bodies are rubbery, stretchy and very malleable - much like the cartoons of the Golden Age. They move with a lot of squash, stretch and bounce and have musical talent which fit perfectly with the era they were supposedly created for. Without other characters calling them "children" or "kids", it's clear that the Warners are young children, despite them not looking very human. They have a youthful energy (an excessive amount of it, in fact) and generally behave like human children. They have been known to cry loudly to get adults to do what they want[1], mock authority figures by pulling silly faces or making childish comments and have frequently displayed a naive attitude to historical (‘Hooked on a Ceiling’, 1993) or political figures whilst having knowledge of current celebrities. To me, this suggests that they are tweens or young teenagers. Yacko, being taller than Wakko or Dot, seems to be the oldest and his understanding of innuendo implies that he is a young teenager. Dot can be placed as the youngest sibling as Yakko expressively refers to Wakko as having “middle-child syndrome” (‘Survey Ladies’, 1993). Wakko’s behaviour in most cartoons does seem to be attention-seeking, as he is often spotted eating bits of the set during a scene.

Animaniacs was the second most popular show on Fox during its original run in 1993, so why must one describe the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister) as the introduction to an essay such as this? Stars like Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, also highly popular in their time, remain popular to this day while the Warners seem to have become more of a cult following than characters we are all naturally aware of.

During the Second World War, Bugs Bunny’s character became more defined and thus more popular for the Looney Tunes franchise. He was seen as a reflection of America itself and its role in the war, taking a passive approach until he was motivated to take revenge. With his Bronx accent and wise-guy attitude, he brought inspiration and fighting spirit to a nation at war[2]. On top of that, his catchphrase of “what’s up doc?” is so memorable there isn’t a person alive who doesn’t know it. So what does Bugs Bunny have that the Warners didn’t? Wakko has a recognisable accent (albeit, a Liverpudlian one[3]), Yakko has a catchphrase (“Good night everybody!”) and Dot is cute.

---

[1] Gray, R (2007). Babies Not as Innocent as they Pretend. Telegraph. [Online]. 1^st July. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/3298979/Babies-not-as-innocent-as-they-pretend.html [Accessed: 26/11/2011]

[2] (2005) ‘Looney Tunes Go to War!’ [DVD extra] New Wave Entertainment

[3] ‘They Can’t Help it if They’re Cute, They’re Just Drawn That Way’ [DVD Extra]