I recently finished a six week course in 2D animation. The following is what I was able to accomplish.
It's not much, but I'm proud of it. I used to want to be an animator and then went a different direction, but always kept a love for the genre... obviously. I'm definitely not looking to get a job in the animation industry any time soon, but it feels good to know that I've at least dipped my toe, ever so slightly in the field, and am capable of doing these things that I've always adored.
I hope to try my hand at more of this and continue to grow. Fingers crossed.
So with the release of Ghostbusters: Afterlife this weekend, I thought it would be appropriate to Kablama Slam once again, this time with a look at Saturday morning’s run in with the ever so popular paranormal investigators.
The Premise: The further adventures of Peter Venkman, Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore who, along with their ghost sidekick Slimer, take on the various spooks and specters that terrorize New York City.
This cartoon was, of course, based on the hugely successful 1984 film. That film, however, wasn’t the first property to bear the name ‘Ghostbusters’ and had to get permission from Filmation to share the name with their 1975 television series, The Ghost Busters. In 1986, after the success of the film Ghostbusters, I guess Filmation thought that maybe there would be some new interest in their obscure series and rebooted it as a Saturday morning cartoon, this time without the space in the title and simply called Ghostbusters. You with me so far? This prompted Columbia Pictures to title THEIR Saturday morning cartoon (which was released the same year) The REAL Ghostbusters in order to differentiate. The Real Ghostbusters ran for seven seasons while Ghostbusters only ran for one, proving that it doesn’t really matter who is first; only who is best.
The Real Ghostbusters was my first official introduction into this franchise since I was only three years old when the movie hit theaters. Whenever I first saw the film, I remember instantly falling in love but thought it was strange how Peter Venkman looked nothing like his animated counterpart. I think the thing I love most about The Real Ghostbusters was how well it made light of horror by injecting humor, just like the film on which it was based. I’m a big wimp and, therefore, not a fan of horror in the least. While I watched my fair share of this show, I found some of the show’s ghosts pretty nightmare-inducing and eventually stopped watching. However, I was still okay with one aspect that, let’s face it, was the true drive behind all of Saturday morning television …Toys!
Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Ernie Hudson, who played Winston Zeddemore in the film, auditioned for the voice of Winston in the series but DIDN’T GET THE PART!
Here I am, your roving blogger back with another Sesame Street blog post. Kermit the Frog is usually seen as an entertainer and the ultimate master of ceremonies, but I've always seen him as a newsman at heart.
BUT THEN, Kevin Smith and Co. gives us Masters of the Universe: Revelation and, what can I say? I'm neck deep in Mandom now! 'Mandom' of course being the term I just coined for the He-Man fan community and am also instantly retracting because it reminds me of that creepy Charles Bronson commercial. I'm referencing a lot of YouTube on this one.
Anyways, anyone who knows me knows that when I really like a thing I draw cartoon penguins dressed as that thing... and so here you go.
It's been a while since I've visited my rebooted world of Grundo, but I'm back! One of the most difficult characters in this series of redesigns has been Teddy's big furry friend, the Wooly Whats-It, or... as he's more affectionately known... Wooly.
This guy has always been one of my favorites, so maybe that's why I had such a hard time coming up with a new look that I'm happy with. As you can see below, I've given the task several attempts.
Then one day, I thought I'd finally found a winner! I scanned him in, cleaned him up, and even used some artistic techniques that I hadn't ever really tried before. As I looked at the finished product however... it just didn't look like Wooly to me. It was close though.
I decided to take a break from Wooly after that. I was definitely overthinking it. He needed to be simpler. Fast forward a couple of years and simpler is exactly the direction I went. I just started doodling crude shapes and putting eyes on them in hopes that I would find my Wooly Whats-It.
And BINGO! I've got it!
He's big. He's purple. He's fluffy. His hands and feet don't have those nasty spots on them like they did in the animated series, AND he's lovable! I love him at least.
The Premise: It’s right there in the title. The MUPPETS are BABIES. Kermit the Frog and friends hang out in a nursery under the care of their nanny,…Nanny. They play, sing songs and solve problems using the incredible power of their combined imagination.
There have been countless spinoffs, over the years, where characters from a franchise are reimagined as younger versions: The Flintstone Kids, Yo Yogi!, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Baby Looney Tunes, Disney Babies, Baby Yoda… okay that last one’s a little on the fence, but still! The idea’s been done! Muppet Babies, however, did it first!
The whole concept spawned from a random scene in the 1984 film, The Muppets Take Manhattan, or rather that random scene spawned from the concept. The actual plot of the film involves the Muppets trying to make it on Broadway, but then there’s this moment where Miss Piggy inexplicably daydreams about the gang knowing one another since birth! It’s jarring and completely out of character, almost as if its only purpose was to plug a cartoon series that would air two months later. I may sound as if I’m saying all of this with a tone of cynicism, but whatever! It worked! The moment is BY FAR my favorite of the film and, what’s more… I loved this show!
Where other preschool cartoons focus on more basic things like shapes and numbers, Muppet Babies was all about using your imagination. One minute the gang are in their nursery, and the next they’re serving cheeseburgers in Jabba the Hutt’s palace! While the situation would constantly bounce back and forth from the babies’ reality to their stock-footage filled daydreams, at no point do any of the characters question what the others are doing. They take the ball and run with it like a preschool improv group made up of bears, pigs, and whatevers. It’s hard to think of another show that more accurately visualizes “playing pretend,” as well as promoting creativity to the level that Muppet Babies does. When you consider that the show is the product of one of the most creative people who’ve ever walked the planet, however, well… there’s no other way the show could have gone!
Kablama Slam! Fun Fact: Most of the main cast appear in puppet form in The Muppets Take Manhattan with the exception of Animal and Skeeter. The puppet version of Baby Animal later appeared during a scene in A Muppet Family Christmas, while Skeeter, in one of the largest failures of the human race, has yet to appear in puppet form ever!
Today is Jim Henson's birthday! I was going to commemorate the occasion by honoring the man with some standard Kermit fan art. You know? Run of the mill stuff. However, I instead chose to go against the grain a little by drawing some more Sesame Street...
....aaaaand without any characters that Jim Henson ever performed.
I was feeling a little nostalgic for the DuckTales NES game, so I thought I'd revamp an old Gizmoduck drawing with his original moon look. I loved every level of that game, but I think I'm pretty well in the majority when I say that the Moon level was my favorite.
There's a new Smurf series right around the corner. Thinking about this made me realize that, in my first Kablama Slam installment, I didn't do the little blue guys enough justice. Here now are few more of what I'm calling "Silly Tokens," featuring more of the blue crew!
