CARTOONING LESSONS BY SCRIBNER AND CLAMPETT

I thought I'd do a whole post on the subject of Clampett's "Buckaroo Bugs," but I quickly realized that the cartoon is so rich that I could scarcely do justice to a whole sequence here, let alone the whole film. Maybe I'll focus in more narrowly, just on the cartooning in one of the sequences.

Clampett was lucky to have an animator, Rod Scribner, who was a terrific cartoonist as well as a brilliant animator. He could draw funny, he could move things funny, he could act a character and project a winning personality, and he had that indefinable thing that's so rare in the industry...charisma. Since Clampett had a lot of these virtues himself, the match was made in heaven.

The title card credits Manny Gould as the principal animator in this cartoon. I wish I could tell which scenes were his. I'm crediting Scribner with the animation here, because it looks like his style, but Clampett's practice of switching animators in mid-scene can make identification difficult.

Anyway, here's the cartoon, starting about a quarter of the way in. Bugs is pretending to be a bandit and has just denuded Red Hot Ryder with a magnet to the belt buckle.


Before we talk about the action, check out what's happening in the drawing above. Bugs is a big guy wearing a black mask, which is a strong graphic symbol denoting mystery and menace. Red Hot Ryder is a tiny little guy with panties and what appears to be woman's shoes (they're actually short boots).

It's a clash of opposites with big, pretending-to-be-mean Bugs attacking what looks like a poor little lady. A third element is the absurdly over-sized hat, which has a life of its own and threatens to overshadow whatever Bugs and the "lady" do.

Bugs makes like he's going to grapple with the little guy but instead comically attacks the guy's hat.


He pulls up on the hat and the little guy is pulled along with it. Look how inert the little guy is! It's funny to see a body that had a will and a structure a moment before, suddenly become a wet sack of potatoes. This is not only a funny thing to do, but it underlines the idea that gravity is attempting to hold everything down and sets up the gravity-gags to follow.

This is a good example of how exaggerated, cartooney handling -- the suddenly inert body -- makes for interesting animation possibilities. If I were an animator I'd kill to get scenes with gravity gags because they're fun and make use of the unique capabilities of animation. Don't expect to find gags like this in scripts written by non-artist writers.

BTW, the long, back part of the hat (above) is a great visual joke. Why are long, sagging things that stretch out behind us funny? Do they remind us of testicles or loaded baby diapers? I'm not sure.

Clampett was a visceral director. He did lots of gags about things that are funny for reasons that are difficult to put into words. Most other artists avoided gags like that but Clampett reveled in them. Life contains zillions of funny but hard to articulate anomalies, but among the Warner directors, only Clampett seemed to be interested in them.


Here (above) the hat as wet bed sheet (or pizza dough) is emphasized. Bugs' earnest, serious expression is a terrific contrast to the absurdity of it all.

How do you like the funny proportions in Ryder's body: a long torso, a bulbous round pelvis, then stubby little legs with girl shoes. Genius!


Bugs (above) suddenly covers Ryder with the stretched out hat.


The momentum (above) causes him to flip over.


Ryder (above) stands and flails around inside the hat.


Bugs (above) needs to run off screen to set up the next gag, but instead of going into an immediate run he instead flails around with Ryder for an instant. I had to cut frames to compress the action so you may not see the scramble here. I mention it because I like it when characters unexpectedly go in and out of synchronization with each other. You see it in Fred Astaire movies and it's devastatingly effective.


When it's time to leave bugs just leans into his run and is offstage in an instant.


More cute pantie shots (above). Notice that Ryder has stepped out of his pants while we was flailing.


He steps back into his pants, which for some inexplicable reason I find funny, and the hat brim takes over as the dominant funny element. Here the brim develops wings, sort of. I always find it funny when a comedic character has a suddenly billowing cape or a loose, blowing skirt. Maybe that's because you don't expect a fleshed-out, three-dimensional character to become, without warning, a graphic symbol.



The big, floppy brim (above) really dominates now. it's like a wet bed sheet.


Ryder (above) pushes up and it pops off.


Now it billows out (above) and settles down. Look at the oodles of energized space that's enclosed between the hat and the top of Ryder's head. Artists love stuff like this. We're constantly amazed at the efficacy of the tools at our command. Only a moment before, the scene was about how much like pizza dough the hat was. Now the scene is about the gracefulness of the falling hat and the power of unexpectedly enclosed and activated space.


Now the hat (above) goes back to its previous shape, which is delightfully drawn. Simultaneously we're reminded of how stupid-looking and funny Ryder is. This sets us up for a bunch of stupid poses that are coming shortly.

I'm just amazed at how frequently Scribner and/or Clampett change the focus of the gag within a scene. One thing is emphasized and then another, and yet the scene retains it's over-all unity of purpose.


I'd intended to comment on a the frames that follow but look how much space it's taken just to describe the few pictures we've seen so far. Clampett cartoons are so rich that you could spend hours analyzing simple actions.

I'll leave up the remaining frames without comment. Remember that I had to drop frames to compress the action.












Oops! I can't help but comment on this one (above)! Ryder puts down his guns and withdraws his hands. That doesn't sound like much, and it won't seem like much in still pictures like the one above, but when you see it in motion it's hilarious!

I associate this technique with Friz because he used it so often. He realized that the simple, understated act of picking things up and putting them down can be incredibly funny when it's done right.

MORE ABOUT ME (PART TWO)

Here it is, the second (and final) part of the "Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner" retrospective, summing up about 640 posts over a period of nearly two years!


Next to animation and cartooning the thing I've probably posted most about is architecture. It's easy to see why an artist would do that; architecture is art that you live in. My own preference is for architecture that's romantic. You picture yourself having adventures in it, it provokes your best thoughts, It reminds you that you're part of a culture, you want to show it to friends who haven't seen it yet.





I've done a lot of posts about dinner friends like John, Mike, Steve, Kali, Katie and Marlo (excerpts from two different strips, above). I've done a zillion "My Dinner with Andre"-type posts about John and I'd do the same for Mike if he'd let me. In Mike's case the dinners would be especially easy to write about because they all begin the same way: we sit down, Mike spots a beautiful girl, he shouts, "Eddie, Eddie, quick! LookLookLook!", I look, and Mike gets completely unhinged because I'm too obvious.


I've published a lot of sketch reference (above) over the last two years. I love the way real people look, as opposed to fashion models.


I've also posted a lot about fine art. Here's (above) excerpts from one of my favorite posts, showing the contrast between Roman and Renaissance (spelled right?) sculpture. The Roman bust celebrates the practical man of action, the Renaissance one, by Donatello, celebrates the sensitive, thinking, man.


I frequently censor pictures that make me look fat or ugly (above).


I did a few posts on my film, "Tales of Worm Paranoia." I'll do some more when I find the drawings I saved.


Lots of Greek stuff (above) on the site. Greek philosophy is refreshingly manly, clear and practical.


I've done several posts on the subject of cartoon anatomy (above). Theory Corner Readers have a scientific bent and frequently catch me on factual errors.


Once I did a whole post (excerpt, above) on patterns of male back hair. You won't find that in Burne Hogarth!




Sometimes I publish drawings from the projects I work on, but not too often. Most employers don't let me draw in my own style.



I've done lots of doodles (above and below) for this blog.



Smoking: it's a dangerous, filthy habit, but the rituals are soooo interesting!




When I draw in my own style I never have trouble drawing women. Women are simply men with long hair and breasts.


I haven't drawn anything for the blog since before Christmas. That's because all my free time is taken up with the computer. I'm determined to get comfortable with this machine and learn a little Flash and Photoshop.





Well, that's it! I'll have to do another retrospective this time next year! Good grief, I hope I don't run out of things to say by then!

A BLOG ABOUT....ME!

A few days ago Nico kindly put up a post all about...(Blush!) me. It was a sort of retrospective of this blog, which has had nearly...are you ready for this?.... 640 posts to date! Can you imagine that!? 640!!!!

Nico: http://nicocartoons.blogspot.com

Originally this blog was meant to be exclusively about animation. Actually, I still think of it that way, but I guess I wonder off the point a lot. I never feel guilty about doing that because I always think of animation as a home for thoughtful and adventurous people.

If you wonder where I got such a darn-fool notion, it was from the old black & white Disneyland show, which I watched faithfully when I was an embryo. Disney made being an artist seem like the most exciting job in the world. All that about Davy Crockett, trips to Mars, Alice in Wonderland, and Donald Duck whipped me into a frenzy every week. I grew up thinking that you'd better be good at science, history and literature because if you're not, no animation studio will ever consider hiring you. I still believe that, regardless of abundant evidence to the contrary. Truly was it said that the boy is the father of the man.

My imagined audience for this blog has always been the intellectually aware cartoonist, or cartoon fan: the actor with a pencil, the adventurer who craves excitement, the entertainer who believes the show must never disappoint. Do people like that want to read about oddball theories? Of course they do; they're cartoonists aren't they?

Anyway, Nico inspired me to try a retrospective of my own. Don't worry, I think I can do it in two posts. This one's all about a single subject...photo essays! It gets so much weight because it's been on my mind lately, but hopefully that energy will morph into YouTube videos and podcasts that I can run here.

Well, it all started a year ago when Kali and I improvised a sketch in a restaurant (above). After that, Marlo, Kali and I did one, and after that Nico, Kali and I did another. They were always about girls who were crazy for cartoonists which, when you think about it, is the way the world should be.

Shooting these things (above) took three people and that was hard for us to arrange. Too bad, because Kali and Marlo were really good at this stuff.


One day it dawned on me that I could just put a camera on some books and put the timer on. That black hairball (above) is a rubber mask of Captain Hook.



This (above) was my favorite solo effort: "The Poet." I cribbed part of the poem from the internet but the way poetic inspiration happens was real. This is pretty much how I wrote all my real world poems, like "The Pastry Restaurant Poet:"

http://uncleeddiestheorycorner.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html


The smelly shoe story(above): a sure crowd pleaser.




Here's my friend Martin Olson (above). Some people are gifted with a face that fits a specific character type. Martin is indisputably a "leading man." Nowadays it's popular to go against type when casting but that's a big mistake. Going with type is one of the reasons old Hollywood was so successful.

By the way, ace-storyboarder Barry Caldwell took the two picture above.



I bought this checkered shirt at a thrift store just for this essay (above). It's delightfully bland.


I really like this dude character and I want to use him again. A girl commenter (Jennifer) called the character "adorable" and I instantly melted. In girl language "adorable" is a very, very high compliment.



Unfortunately the baser instincts can't long be denied and I followed up the adorable essay with one that made me look sleazy (above). Oh well, c'est le vie.


Another thrift store find (above). I love that blue jacket.


My new computer has a built-in camera that does great black and white, just right for horror. This (above) is from the story about the evil puppet that comes to life when its master is out of the room. Eerie, isn't it?


I wore fake buck teeth for this shot (above). There are times when my real buck teeth just aren't buck enough.


This is from another horror story (above), about a murderer who lives in the walls of this guy's house. When you lean in close to the camera the black and white gets really grainy, like it's reflecting bubbling, white magma.


Boy, this (above) is really unsettling. I've gotta try this again.

This shot (above) is from the last story, about a Raymond Chandler-type detective. I put a floor lamp just out of frame for contrast.

Well, that's the first half of the retrospective. One more to go. Somehow I have to figure out how to compress everything else that's been on this blog so far into a single post. Aaargh!

Thanks again, Nico, for getting this started!