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A Brief History Of my Art You Grew Up Watching
12 years ago
So....i started in the animation biz when i could barely shave...wasn't a desired career at all. i had self-trained to be a comic-book artist, then went to college to be a fine artist....When my best friend died from cancer/primitive-chemo-therapy i went into the animation biz to help raise money for a memorial exhibit of his paintings....sort of ended up staying there for a long time....was a decent living, and i liked being a Children's Entertainer....
Here's a brief list of some of the stuff i did that you might have grown-up with or seen etc....
i'm missing stuff here - i just put this list together from memory - i'm sure i'm forgetting stuff - will revise list later....
Ruby-Spears
models and props
Thundaar
Marmaduke
Goldie Gold
Richie Rich
Freelance illustration....
Filmation
layouts
Masters Of The Universe (He-Man) Season 1 onward...
She-Ra
Bravestarr
layouts and models
Ghostbusters
layouts
Prarie People
Bugsburg
(both series never made it to completion - L'oreal bought Filmation for it's library and shut down production overnight without warning)
Freelance Illustration for Twightzone Magazine, Midnight Graffiti Magazine, etc...
Hanna-Barbera
models, series development, video-covers, posters
Smurfs (time travel series)
Gravedale High (model revisions and expressions, models, props)
Tom and Jerry Kids
Droopy
Hallmark Fairy Tales – vid covers
Darkwater – vid covers
(series development - )
Cadillacs And Dinosaurs (HB lost project due to editorial conservative revisions)
Speed Racer (HB lost project due to low budget bid from other studio)
Space Ghost (no net work interest)
Bette Midler – Tooth Fairy (Midler and Networks low interest)
Dinosaurs Rule (HB trying to recycle Cadillacs And Dinosaurs ideas – no Network interest)
Evil, Mean, Wicked and Nasty ( evil comedic trolls – no Network interest)
(development, supervisor, art director - )
The Halloween Tree
(pulled from project to save over-budget failed redesign of Captain Planet - )
Captain Planet (redesign of all DIC models – new models and props – supervisor)
Fish Police (expression sheets, model and prop supervisor)
attempted prime-time adult show – time slots and days for every first five shows bounced around,
so no one knew when it was on – pre-empted for sports special, etc – ratings disaster – remaining two episodes didn't air
Posters for Fintstone's Christmas Carole, Yogi's Arabian Nights, Pagemaster, etc...
Freelance for Warner's Tiny Toons – models – a couple episodes
Moved to Canada -
Bardel – series development -
Johnny Lightning
Cyber Shogun Warriors
etc etc – lots of projects
Storyboards – Bruno The Kid, etc
Barney
Studio B – storyboards
Mightyducks episode 1
The Mask - Channel Surfer episode
Natterjack
layouts on German feature animation “Werner 2” - end sequence
Barking Bulfrog Prod. -
Storyboards
Savage Dragon – She-Dragon episode
Disney's Doug....too many episodes, including end sequence on feature...
PB&J
expressions and poses sheets for Sabrina The Teenage Witch – and lots of storyboards for that
a few series development projects that went nowhere...
a bunch more projects there....
Nelvana – storyboards (bunch of episodes on each series)
Rescue Heroes
Tales From The Crypt Keeper
Elliot The Moose
George Shrinks (season 1)
Redwall – Martin The Warrior
George Shrinks (season 2)
Bardel – storyboard
Silverwing
Prolly much other stuff....hard to keep track of it all....
i did hundreds of comic book pages of my own superhero/sf characters before starting college...prolly best that never sees the light of day....
Then semi-retired to pursue my own projects – would rather work some day-job stuff and use desk-time for my graphic novels...Emma&Ash, Willa&Tad&MissBillishire, Azha, etc etc
And i still occasionally do fine art, fractals, etc...music...composing...
And i like to cook, bake, garden...
and the kitsune thing
and
well...
busy busy busy....
in a zen still sort of way
- l. ^_^
Addendum: Don't bother looking for the lachland name on any of that.
As i've said before "Lachland Nightingale" is my online art nom-de-plume - a pun on when and where i work - i live above a lake and work on my art mostly at night and there are fairly frequent gale force winds here...
Art director credit on Halloween Tree probably went to whoever replaced me when i had to save Captain Planet (not my choice).
i probably didn't get credit on Mighty Ducks episode 1 either as i quit that project after a week or so - i told them i hadn't done adventure boards before and i'd just moved up from the states and didn't know a dang thing about hockey....they didn't listen.
Did some random video game design stuff as well for Bardel, Natterjack, etc.
On Martin The Warrior there were two (or was it four?) boarders/teams - we each did everyother script...i did mostly the badguys and the troupe of actors....One of the funnest shows i've worked on. Too bad the animation was rather poor...
And longest time to wait to see folks get a little joke...but worth the wait:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNp6-Q1NH9M
At 2:18. Gee, i wonder who did that....? (....whistles innocently....)
Two big disappointments :
Having to leave Halloween tree before it got into full production - the basic style got changed a bit, dumbed down from a more unique look.
The other was that Bardel in partnership with Cinar were developing Mark Crilley's Akiko as an animated series -my favourite comic book at the time - and i was in charge of adapting the art. Did some beautiful work on that - Then Cinar got caught cooking their books on some other live-action production - got all production shut down by the courts -etcetcetc - and Bardel couldn't even buy out Cinar's share - so the project got put on hold and eventually cancelled. It looked gorgeous. It would have been a hit. Waaaaahhh! ...oh well...
Here's a brief list of some of the stuff i did that you might have grown-up with or seen etc....
i'm missing stuff here - i just put this list together from memory - i'm sure i'm forgetting stuff - will revise list later....
Ruby-Spears
models and props
Thundaar
Marmaduke
Goldie Gold
Richie Rich
Freelance illustration....
Filmation
layouts
Masters Of The Universe (He-Man) Season 1 onward...
She-Ra
Bravestarr
layouts and models
Ghostbusters
layouts
Prarie People
Bugsburg
(both series never made it to completion - L'oreal bought Filmation for it's library and shut down production overnight without warning)
Freelance Illustration for Twightzone Magazine, Midnight Graffiti Magazine, etc...
Hanna-Barbera
models, series development, video-covers, posters
Smurfs (time travel series)
Gravedale High (model revisions and expressions, models, props)
Tom and Jerry Kids
Droopy
Hallmark Fairy Tales – vid covers
Darkwater – vid covers
(series development - )
Cadillacs And Dinosaurs (HB lost project due to editorial conservative revisions)
Speed Racer (HB lost project due to low budget bid from other studio)
Space Ghost (no net work interest)
Bette Midler – Tooth Fairy (Midler and Networks low interest)
Dinosaurs Rule (HB trying to recycle Cadillacs And Dinosaurs ideas – no Network interest)
Evil, Mean, Wicked and Nasty ( evil comedic trolls – no Network interest)
(development, supervisor, art director - )
The Halloween Tree
(pulled from project to save over-budget failed redesign of Captain Planet - )
Captain Planet (redesign of all DIC models – new models and props – supervisor)
Fish Police (expression sheets, model and prop supervisor)
attempted prime-time adult show – time slots and days for every first five shows bounced around,
so no one knew when it was on – pre-empted for sports special, etc – ratings disaster – remaining two episodes didn't air
Posters for Fintstone's Christmas Carole, Yogi's Arabian Nights, Pagemaster, etc...
Freelance for Warner's Tiny Toons – models – a couple episodes
Moved to Canada -
Bardel – series development -
Johnny Lightning
Cyber Shogun Warriors
etc etc – lots of projects
Storyboards – Bruno The Kid, etc
Barney
Studio B – storyboards
Mightyducks episode 1
The Mask - Channel Surfer episode
Natterjack
layouts on German feature animation “Werner 2” - end sequence
Barking Bulfrog Prod. -
Storyboards
Savage Dragon – She-Dragon episode
Disney's Doug....too many episodes, including end sequence on feature...
PB&J
expressions and poses sheets for Sabrina The Teenage Witch – and lots of storyboards for that
a few series development projects that went nowhere...
a bunch more projects there....
Nelvana – storyboards (bunch of episodes on each series)
Rescue Heroes
Tales From The Crypt Keeper
Elliot The Moose
George Shrinks (season 1)
Redwall – Martin The Warrior
George Shrinks (season 2)
Bardel – storyboard
Silverwing
Prolly much other stuff....hard to keep track of it all....
i did hundreds of comic book pages of my own superhero/sf characters before starting college...prolly best that never sees the light of day....
Then semi-retired to pursue my own projects – would rather work some day-job stuff and use desk-time for my graphic novels...Emma&Ash, Willa&Tad&MissBillishire, Azha, etc etc
And i still occasionally do fine art, fractals, etc...music...composing...
And i like to cook, bake, garden...
and the kitsune thing
and
well...
busy busy busy....
in a zen still sort of way
- l. ^_^
Addendum: Don't bother looking for the lachland name on any of that.
As i've said before "Lachland Nightingale" is my online art nom-de-plume - a pun on when and where i work - i live above a lake and work on my art mostly at night and there are fairly frequent gale force winds here...
Art director credit on Halloween Tree probably went to whoever replaced me when i had to save Captain Planet (not my choice).
i probably didn't get credit on Mighty Ducks episode 1 either as i quit that project after a week or so - i told them i hadn't done adventure boards before and i'd just moved up from the states and didn't know a dang thing about hockey....they didn't listen.
Did some random video game design stuff as well for Bardel, Natterjack, etc.
On Martin The Warrior there were two (or was it four?) boarders/teams - we each did everyother script...i did mostly the badguys and the troupe of actors....One of the funnest shows i've worked on. Too bad the animation was rather poor...
And longest time to wait to see folks get a little joke...but worth the wait:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNp6-Q1NH9M
At 2:18. Gee, i wonder who did that....? (....whistles innocently....)
Two big disappointments :
Having to leave Halloween tree before it got into full production - the basic style got changed a bit, dumbed down from a more unique look.
The other was that Bardel in partnership with Cinar were developing Mark Crilley's Akiko as an animated series -my favourite comic book at the time - and i was in charge of adapting the art. Did some beautiful work on that - Then Cinar got caught cooking their books on some other live-action production - got all production shut down by the courts -etcetcetc - and Bardel couldn't even buy out Cinar's share - so the project got put on hold and eventually cancelled. It looked gorgeous. It would have been a hit. Waaaaahhh! ...oh well...
Nothing but respect for you, sir.
Folks are nice enough to look at my art and leave comments! ^_^ dA and Weasyl are reallllll quiet......you can get 100 views or more at dA without a single comment. FA is best! ^_^
( Does best Indian Jones - looking down into pit )
"Doug. Why did it have to be Doug?"
Pan down to show pit full of Doug characters....
(shudders)
Tacked some addendum on journal - you might like the youtube clip - don't blame me for the awful writing...
Oh, BTW:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/10418283/
And I never did say thanks for those model sheets. I still have to put them up.
As far as the pics, they might be too ruff for your site - not fit in with the nice screenshots? But you can use them if you want to.
I've gotten to know a few storyboarders, and that seems like a really intense, crazed job. D:
Dude I loved Fish Police, but the local station had no idea it was pretty adult....
Robert Guillaume...but the humor was more in a punny Flintstones type of vein rather than the dark noir-ish storytelling in the original Steve Moncuse comic. CBS yanked it after 3 airings. I did see the series in the original broadcasts...had promise. Angelfish was a looker.
Great career...a blast from the past with the great cartoon series on your list that I had watched.
I've seen a good chunk of those shows that made it to air, but the one that sticks out to me is Fish Police!
I saw the first coupla episodes before it got canned when I was just a lad, but for some reason, I always thought it was called Carps and Robbers, or something.
That's way cool!
Sad. It'd be awesome if they could revive it, as a more 'adult' animation.
When the creative fountain flows, you had a waterfall.
Thank you for your contribution *bows*
"And i like to cook, bake, garden..."
I'm a professional geek... seems active minds share a similar relaxation
"Moved to Canada -"
Were you ever involved with Coffee Cup Entertainment?
(Tripping The Rift, Life's A Zoo)
er, no hadn't heard of Coffee Cup or shows - will look them up.
Got any munchies?
Made me super happy to know you worked on that. Probably my favorite holiday special of all times.
You already saw me fanboy out about this once, but, point stands. Lots of Respect here.
i avoided watching The Halloween Tree for over 15 yrs, because i saw what they were doing to the designs. Ray Bradbury and David Kirschner (then head of studio) both approved my designs - but the director thought they might be too hard to animate, or too different (was a blend of Edward Gorey and Disney Sleeping Beauty style). As soon as i got called off to save the Captain Planet fiasco he (director) changed the designs without letting them (Bradbury and Kirschner) know, making the cartoony redesigns close enough that he could hem-and-haw if called on it. He also kept my Bernie Wrightson book. Basrad. --- When i finally steeled myself to watch it....yeah, it wasn't bad. A hint of the original stuff in there.
The unaired episodes of Fish Police DID air in the UK, though. I think it got rolled into a package of 'animated shows with just a few epsiodes' for the BBC.
I was so bummed when that was canceled. I really liked that show, back then.
Since you're the first person I've chatted with who really worked in animation then, I'd like to ask: Do the folks who actually -worked- on this stuff get any dough from DVD set releases and the like? (I'm guessing 'no', that it was strictly a 'do the work, here's your paycheck' situation, but I'm curious.)
The downside, of course, is that the actual creators don't get any more money if the thing becomes a mega-hit, and don't get any residuals. And that's a major bummer, especially if it's something that wasn't a hit at the time but became a cult classic later.
The upside is, the rereleases can at least happen. Can you imagine what a nightmare it would be trying to release BluRay sets of a cartoon that came out in the '60s if you had to negotiate new rights with everyone involved? Or with their estates? It's my understanding that rights issues are the main reason The Muppet Show Season 4 still hasn't been released on DVD.
I only vaguely recall the show now (the episodes i recorded are likely long-gone, I don't have a VCR anymore anyway); I remember enjoying it greatly but nobody else seemed to remember it even existed. <X P
So I have a question, given all the shows you've worked on, some longer than others... how do you feel about Rule 34?I mean, I've seen you draw your own style of other toon chars), but I guess I mean rule 34 of series' you've worked on. Weird? Indifferent? Oh man *name* would get a kick out of that?Oh man *name* would be pissed to see that character depicted that way?
I've always wondered...