Anonymous asked to see more Worm drawings and here they are. The top one is a sketch that I did and which was beautifully cleaned up by Tuck Tucker. In the film the scene got some nifty animation by Bob Jaques and Kelly Armstrong. The freckles peeling off is an idea I got from Clampett. It makes for a good drawing but it slowed down the action so I had to cut frames.The big hole in Sally's arm is her armpit. I realized I drew it too high and I meant to change it but there was no time.
Here's (above) another inbetween from Glenn Kennedy's animation of the Worm addressing the audience. The dialogue in this scene is something like "What are you looking at? Look at yourselves why don't you? It is unto yourselves you should be looking!" John K pioneered this kind of over-the-top, Baroque dialogue and I'm always amazed to see how well it integrates with the more normal dialogue in his films.
I don't have more Worm drawings at hand so I'll throw in a model that I did for another project of ghosts who chase people around a haunted mansion in airplanes. Sometimes the planes fly and sometimes they walk.
NEWS BULLETIN: If you haven't heard, YouTube has yielded to a demand by Warners to delete it's copy of "Buckaroo Bugs." I assume that Warners was responding to the use of clips from that film on John K's blog. This is a bad precedent.
The clips made it possible to discuss animation that everyone has just seen. No book could do that. They made possible to talk about animation on a deeper and more intelligent level than has ever been possible before. We need to be able to run these low-res clips! I'm going to write to Warners and I hope everyone reading this will do the same. Warners' addresses can be had at John's blog, "all kinds of stuff."
23 comments:
Those are some amazing drawings- the freckles dripping off take it to a whole other level.
The whole Warner Bros. thing is beyond wacko- what are they thinking?
These drawings are amazing. You and John are so good at bringing out emotions through a picture. Even when you look at the drawings in still frame, there’s a lot that you can read just by the expression in the face and body. It seems like it’s not done in animation anymore. When I watch some of these new toons, the expression that someone gives when they are tired looks exactly the same as their indifferent expression and depressed expression.
Every line has something to say in these drawings. You should be in the comic section of the newspaper (provided they give you big enough space, heh). You would blow all those other comics out of the page. At least the comics that are in my subscription that is.
Here's another reader's request:
more sexy girls pictures!
WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW I LOVE YOUR DRAWINGS EDDIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes Sir!
I'm on that!
I went to youtube to watch the cartoon and found where those frames are from. Call me crazy, but the color makes them easier to read. I don't know the theory behind that, but those drawings (specially the first one) look like they are too detailed to be black and white. They look better (and mysteriously simpler) in the cartoon. Does that make any sense?
Thanks guys! I have lots more Worm drawings but they're in a box somwhere. I'll try to dig them out.
Gabriel: You're right! The drawing on the top looks much better in color. It's funny how color adds to some scenes and detracts from others.
You're also right about color simplifying a complex drawing. I see this in background paintings all the time. A painter gets a really complicated and cluttered BG layout, let's say a cityscape, and with paint he gives the layout clarity and focus. A good background painter is worth his weight in gold!
Anonymous: Amen! Expressions and acting are what animated cartoons are all about! It's hard to act out anything in normal, factory-system cartoons. The scripts are way over-written and there are far too many characters. In the factory system a storyboarder's main task is crowd control and the animation is regarded as insignificant.
Eddie
Hey Eddie!
If you're taking any more requests anytime soon, I'd love you to talk about animated shorts. I've only been making student films, but right now I'm making a minute long film for Nickolodean! It's a great opportunity because I get to animate the whole thing.
Issues like producers notes (I heard they actually like it if you don't take all of their notes... CONFUSING!), pitching, concept work, etc. I'm sure you're a wealth of knowledge.
and to end this long winded email, i'd appreciate it if you emailed me about coming to my art college to drop some knowledge on us rough-neck punks that wanna carry the torch when you're sick of it. chris AT katzenjammerstudios.com
my teacher marshal vandruff speaks very highly of you!
thanks chum!
Thats funny you posted the girl worm. I just watched it last night on you tube and laughed at the huge lump of hair in her arm pit. The scene is so quick, I dont think anyone will notice the placement of her armpit. Also i loved that scene at the end with the worms little rant and he says "lowlands?" (i think) in slow mo.. that was fucking great!
I love these drawings Eddie. Your drawings encourage me to draw more......:)
Beautiful drawings!
The freckles falling off are from Clampett's "Book Revue" aren't they?
I'd argue that it was also Clampett who pioneered the use of "baroque" and over-the-top dialogue in cartoons. John took from that and also the from acting of such as his hero Kirk Douglas(who, let's face it, chews the scenery more than almost anyone else in films including Bette Davis!).
"The scripts are way over-written and there are far too many characters. In the factory system a storyboarder's main task is crowd control and the animation is regarded as insignificant."
This is much less true than it was years ago. Most of the most popular cartoons, from Spongebob to Dexter's Lab to Hi Hi Puffy-whatnot have scenes with at most 3, more often one or two characters in any given scene. Maybe the Disney TV cartoons are an exception, I don't know.
It's also true that many scripts now are by cartoonists...not "writers/non-artists" per se(which doesn't mean they might not still be overwritten). A lot of the CN shows are written by the board artists and creator/directors, as your Worm cartoon was and as all the current "Oh Yeah!" cartoons are.
Do you think you'd like to do another one shot cartoon, in today's more congenial climate for such things? I hope so!
thanks for showing us more of the worm drawings they are so freaking great!! :D
I looooove those worm drawings!
Eddie, you're the world's greatest cartoonist!!!
super awesome drawings!(as usual) i love the ghost planes as well. they are hilarious and fun and cartoony! thanks for posting, these are great!!!!!!!!! :)
great drawings Edie please try 2 find that box of drawings so u can post the rest of those cool drawings u do !!! :)
Hi Eddie
"AWESOME DRAWINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Was the freckle gag you mentioned from Bob Clampett's "Book Revue"? Tuck Tucker, Bob Jaques and Kelly Armstrong worked on the Worm cartoons! "COOL!!!!!"
Each drawing of the Worm is a work of ART!!!!!
QUESTION:
Did you get the Worm idea from the Tex Avery cartoon "The Early Bird Dood It"? Thats one of my favorite Tex Avery cartoons.
your pal,
Jesse Oliver
P.S. Today is my 21st Birthday! I'm legal now!
Hey Eddie
those are genius and hilarious.
Make more cartoons.
John: Wow! Thanks! (Blush!)
Jesse: Congrats on being 21!!!! You made it!
The idea for the Worm came from a picture in a magazine of a liitle guy who lifted weights. I wondered why he'd go to all that trouble and it occurred to me that maybe he wanted to settle scores with people who used to push him around.
Anonymous: You're right, things are definitely better now but the factory shows are still lurking in the shadows, waiting to make a comeback.
About doing another short with Cartoon Network: I'd love to but I think they hate me.
"LOWLANDS!"
you are loco and i like it man!
Ming (I mean, Miles!): Good to hear from you! Your blog is great and I especially liked the audio clip!
Eddie
I am SO glad they haven't taken Worm Paranoia off youtube! I watch it all the time. It honestly has some of the best acting in animation I have seen in years. And... it was made years ago. Interesting, ha...
I love your direction on it too, man! Like the whole "zorping through the galaxy" thing, it's totally outlandish and shocking, but so appropriate for that moment. AWESOME. Later Ed
You can read what I feel on the whole "YouTube matter" at my Blog
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