Channel Frederator Blog

This short really shows you how to get a head in life. Even if that head is severed. There’s something sorta goofy and cute in the grotesqueness of this short from Dave Schlafman. Maybe it’s his style. Which I love!
Dave took some time out and answered a few of our questions!

1) How did you come up with the idea for The Idiotic Adventures of Phillipe and Piere?
The idea of Philippe and Pierre came to me while I was in college way back in 2001. It was shortly after 9/11 and Massachusetts College of Art offered a week long retreat to an arts school up in the Maine woods. While I was there, I drew a lot and made a very simple comic of Philippe and Pierre. It was super crude, but it got the point across. At the end of the week, we had a small gallery show and everyone seemed to be enamored by the idiotic duo. I always thought about doing something with them, but it never got off the ground…until last summer. I was contacted by a children’s book agent who wanted me to come up with some stuff and one of the ideas that I floated around was Philippe and Pierre. I tried to format it for a children’s book, but the more I played, the more I realized that I had great material for a series of animated shorts. I storyboarded all 9 shorts one weekend. I met with Mike Levine from Pileated Pictures, and pitched the idea to him. His company has been creating online virtual worlds and nintendo DS games lately, but he loved the simple idea. He wanted to get back into animation, so his company helped me produce the shorts. It was a win-win for both of us! I was able to pull together a great team of people who helped me create my vision. It couldn’t have been done without them.

The resurrection sketch

An initial idea for a Miracle Grow episode. It never made the first-round of shorts…maybe some day.

The first idea for the backgrounds. Quick watercolor in my sketchbook.
2) Who are some of your influences?
Hmmm…influences. There are many artists who have inspired my work. Some of them include Dr. Suess, Jim Henson, Chuck Jones, Keith Haring, Roald Dahl, Gary Baseman, Tim Burton to name a few. Believe it or not, I don’t watch too many cartoons, but I love to look at production art. I’ve also been watching a lot of movies lately, and I’ve become a big JJ Abrams fan.

A style test that became the final look of PnP. I drew the background elements with black pencil and colored them all in Photoshop.

A storyboard drawing from BIRD BRAIN BLUES

The same shot’s animation frame without the background. All the backgrounds were added in post-production. Animation by Dan Flynn.
3) Who would win in a fight? Phillipe or Pierre? Brains against brawn? Legs versus…uhm, teeth? Our readers wanna know!
Who would win in a fight? I have to admit that I’m letting a big secret out, but it I guess it’s okay. Philippe has laser-beam eyes, so he would definitely win.

4) What’s your favorite brand of cereal?
I’ve been a HUGE cereal junkie since I was a kid. If you asked any of my friends to describe me with one word, cereal would definitely come up. I have to admit in my old age, I’ve been loving the invention of Kashi (any kind)…yes boring, but I still have an extreme weakness for Fruity Pebbles, Lucky Charms, and ArrayBoo Berry[/link.

The final frame: All the components were pieced together in After Effects by FX artist Evan Sussman.
5) What are you working on currently Dave?
Let’s see…For my “job” I’m producing/directing a three-minute animated demo/short for a Boston-based company. It’s somewhat hush-hush, so all I can say is that it’s for kids. For fun, I’m developing a number of animated and live-action shows right now. I try to write and draw for three hours every day. Most of it sits in my sketchbooks for years and surfaces like Philippe and Pierre and some of it gets made into shorts…I’m working on an animated short for one of the concepts that I have been developing. I try to have lots in the pipeline. The trick is to always create new work…you won’t get stale that way.

Thanks for submitting to us Dave! We hope to see more of this dynamic and dullwitted duo sometime soon!
Cool!
-Jeaux Janovsky