KND ROUGH CONCEPT DRAWINGS

When

Codename: Kids Next Door

first started

things were 

different.

It was the first season so

everyone was looking to me to

tell them what the show 

was about

and what it should look like.

And I had to act like I knew

100%

EXACTLY

what it was about

and what it should look like!

(even though I didn't)

Here's one of the earliest drawings

I did of the KND:

Yuck, right?

But things evolve.

And they get better.

(hopefully)

I've always said you have to draw a character 

2000 times 

before it starts to looks right.

Then draw it another 3000 times to make it good.

So I drew the KND another 5000 times until I got them

to be the kids you know and love.

I'm exaggerating.

But when the show got green-lit

 I had to give the designers

some kind of window into my style

(so they could make it better)

How?

By whipping out quick doodles

to get them started.

Early on the sketches were filled with

philosophical ramblings:

But most often it was just

a rough idea,

like for the

MOSQUITTOH:

Or an ice cream monster:

For the first episode or two 

I did some sooper triple rough storyboards:

And then whenever a new character got introduced

I'd throw up a sketch for the designers to elaborate on:

And then...

one day... 

you get to a point where

your designers start 

drawing your style better than you do.

(which wasn't hard in my case)

Big ups to

character designers

Tom Evans

and

Todd Myers

and

Kevin Kobasic

and 

everyone else who helped

transform my

scribbles into

sheer

awesomeness!

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE 2 SCREENING

One of the benefits of being a member of

ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD

is the plethora of

free screenings!

Like this one:

It's a good thing I get to bring two guests

because these guys follow me wherever I go:

And while the gremlins 

like animated movies

they don't like

Q and A sessions.

So I missed out on hearing director

Cody Cameron 

talk about making the movie

afterwards. 

BOOOOOOOO!

But we got goodie bags!

YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

Personally, I thought the first movie was much better.

But the kids 

LOVED

all the animal/food creatures 

and are 

STILL

talking about them.

That can't be a bad sign.

Thanks Sony Pictures

and 

Thanks ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD!

BYE-BYE FISH HOOKS VOICE ACTORS

The last couple weeks have 

been filled with good-byes.

We knew 

Fish Hooks 

was coming to an 

end so

back in March

we brought all the 

voice actors in

to record the

final episode.

We even had a little party

and handed out diplomas:

Here's the ever swaggable

Kyle Massey

(aka Milo)

Steven Christopher Parker

(aka Jumbo Shrimp)

Atticus Shaffer

(Albert Glass)

Kari Wahlgen

(Shellsea)

Vanessa

"Donut Snob"

Marshall

(voice of Mouse)

Kimberley Mooney

(Finberley)

and best friend forever

voice director

Kris Zimmerman

We didn't

REALLY

say

goodbye,

though.

We still had

MONTHS

of smaller

ADR sessions

(additional dialogue recording)

to record after we got the shows 

back from being animated.

But then 

August and September 

crept up on us.

And one by one,

the actors 

came in for those last

couple lines:

Milo

Oscar

(rocked by Justin Roiland)

and of course,

Bea

(played by the always deliciously carbonated Chelsea Kane)

Shellsea came in for her last

"Giiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrl":

Albert gave his final turn:

 

Ironically,

the very last line of dialogue 

to be recorded

was a

"HELLO!"

from Clamantha

(by Alex Hirsch)

(of the Gravity Falls Hirsch's)

And then there were none.

Except that big dummy Maxwell Atoms.

(he played Bo Gregory)

I know every show says they

had the 

BEST

MOST TALENTED

cast

EVER!

But 96% of them are lying.

That honor

goes

to the

FISH HOOKS

cast.

FLOATING TO THE TOP

I've done something terrible.

Last Friday I helped deliver the final episode of FISH HOOKS.
Yes, after three seasons, and 60 half hour episodes we're done.
It may come as a surprise to you, but we've known for a long time that the third season would be our last. Disney Channel decided not to renew us any further than that. So... The writers left last fall. Then the storyboard artists. The designers. Even show creator Noah Jones left to make a new pilot for Disney XD.
And then it was just me and my  merry band of post production people. Over the last couple months I've often described myself as the hospice nurse  making the show more comfortable  before it passes on.
I owe it that.
Fish Hooks has been nothing but wonderful to me over these  past three years. But every show ends at some point. We had a great run. Some shows never make it this far. But it's time for new adventures. Can't wait to tell you about them!

GUIDE TO JAPANESE ANIMATION

Two hundred years ago

(in 1985)

nobody knew

nothin' 

about

Japanese animation.

Sure,

there was 

Speed Racer

and 

Star Blazers 

and stuff.

But there was also this 

MASSIVE

hidden world of 

movies and TV series

from Japan

that had no way of 

getting to the US.

And then one day I was at
a teeny tiny comic book convention in
Valley Forge, PA
and I stumbled across a table
where a bootleg VHS copy of this
was playing:

Macross: Love -  Do You Remember?

I immediately bought a copy and watched it 

over and over and over again

even though

I HAD NO 

IDEA WHAT THE HELL

WAS GOING ON!!!

It was completely in Japanese with

NO SUBTITLES!

And there was

no such thing as

internets

to help me find out

WHAT THE HELL

WAS GOING ON!!!

But there were giant robots 

shooting lasers and missiles.

I can understand that

and

I soon bought other movies:

Black Magic M-66

Vampire Hunter D

Angel's Egg

Area 88

All of them were incredibly cool and

incredibly different from American cartoons

AND I HAD INCREDIBLY NO 

IDEA WHAT THE HELL

WAS GOING ON!!!

My growing fascination with anime

eventually led me to a Japanese book store

in Philadelphia called

Books Nippan.

That's where I found this:

It was originally the program guide for 

a Japanese animation festival at

Baycon '86.

But this edition was distributed

by Books Nippan

as a primer for people

like me that needed to 

know what the hell was going on

in their bootleg anime VHS tapes.

If you like anime,

you should really find

Toren Smith

and thank him since he's one of the 

original pushers of anime on the

American public.

The book is filled with

basic synopses

of over 50 

old-school anime titles.

Like Urusei Yatsura:

Lupin:

Lensman:

Crusher Joe:

Nausicaa:

Area 88:

Vampire Hunter D:

And my first love,

Macross: Love - Do You Remember?

Since Japanese storytelling is often 

a bit wonky compared to what we're used to,

the synopses were often only marginally helpful.

In the case of

Angel's Egg,

which is just a moody,

stream of consciousness story,

there wasn't much to explain:

But in the pre-interweb

days this book

was a life saver!

If you're into old-school anime,
see if you can find a copy of this book!