When we saw the original version of this scene cut into the reel, we didn’t think it looked fancy enough for the introduction of Prince Crawford (Crawford the Cat) at his birthday party. We decided to pull the camera back, add an overlay and dress up the background a little. I think the scene looks great now.
To see a few seconds of the scene, Click here.
Occasionally, at Perennial Pictures we will produce a spec piece of animation to help sell a concept. While digging through the archives, I found a little piece of animation we made a couple of years ago. The image above is from a 10 second network ID we made as part of a pitch to Cartoon Network. The pitch was made during the time Cartoon Network was putting together their “Tickle U” morning cartoon programming block for preschoolers. They didn’t buy the idea, but we did make some new friends and contacts along the way.
To see the ID, Click here.
Enjoy.
This week at Perennial Pictures more animation cranked through on “Crawford’s Classics – Cinderella.” The image above is from a scene that introduces the Fairy Godmother character in the show. The background art and animation is by G. Brian Reynolds. Brian used a lot of “squash and stretch” in the animation to create the character’s clumsy entrance. “Squash and stretch” is a great old phrase that refers to a time-tested animation basic. Today, an animator can easily squash and stretch the art in programs like FLASH. What does not come easily is that animator’s knowledge of where and how much to use this and other animation techniques. That knowledge only comes as the result of a lot of hard work and experience.
Nice “squash and stretch” G. Brian Reynolds!
Click here to see a few seconds of the ANIMATION.
Enjoy.
BTW: Hats off to animators everywhere who share with us the fruits of their [Read more…]
At Perennial Pictures ninety-five percent of all the sound effects used in our shows are produced at the studio. Over the years, we’ve built up quite a library.
The above HANDYCAT clip is from a “subtler” section of the cartoon as far as sound effects are concerned - there’s only skids, hops, zips, jumps, rattling, a scream, buzzing, and plops – even so, it still takes a lot of time to determine what type of effect to use –cartoony or realistic – and then to audition the choices in that category, lay them in, and then hope that the director doesn’t ask you to change them.
Keith Myran, who put together many of the sound effects for HANDYCAT, has a pretty good “batting average.” Listen to some of his work as you watch the Clip.
Rob Paulsen is the voice of Handycat.
More on the sound effects, as well as the [Read more…]
This week at Perennial Pictures animation continued on CRAWFORD’S CLASSICS - CINDERELLA as well as some initial work on the sound effects. The promotional trailer for the show will be done in a few weeks so other areas of production are starting to kick in.
The image above is a screenshot from a scene by animator Daryl D. Pyle.
Click here to see the ANIMATION.
Nice work Daryl!
Also this week, composer Peter Schmutte was in to discuss a song for a dance sequence in the show. The process usually goes like this: we discuss; Brian writes some lyrics and a melody line, Peter comes in, makes notes, disappears for a week or so, and then come backs with some great song-demo for us listen to. It’s all pretty amazing to me.
More on Peter and the whole music process in an up coming post.
I love seeing stretched-out, multi-eyed, multi-bodied character drawings. A lot of the time that’s how animators draw a character to add to the illusion of super fast action. Also adding blurred paint strokes to the art helps “seal the deal.”
Check out this initial Pencil Test ANIMATION.
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