Jul 22, 2007

Cleaning out Closets



You find the funniest things in boxes under boxes. These are character layout drawings from the very first job I had, in 1989. I loved them so much I saved them(this scene was cut). Imagine my utter dismay when the episode arrived back from overseas and had none of this quality in it, unfortunately.
They're not by me, but by Chris Reccardi, who back then sat in the next cube over. While his IMDB resume lists but one or two episodes of this series he really worked on it for well over a year before moving on to Ren and Stimpy. As a matter of fact, most of the original crew at Spumco worked on this show's first season.
These drawings were done fast, yet the sureness and emphasis of the Prismacolor line over the loose roughs is a beautiful thing. They're pretty funny, too. Hope you enjoy.
Be sure to CLICK the images to enlarge if you're so inclined.






13 comments:

mark kennedy said...

Your closets have better artwork in them than I have hanging on my walls.

Scott Wright said...

These are so impressive.

Thanks for sharing!

James Hull said...

Man those look fun.

Chris Battle said...

Chris is one of the most brilliant artists ever. Oh, if you could only see what he did on EL SUPERBEASTO.... (Don't know if it's ever gonna see a release at this point)

Glen said...

I'm Usually just a lurker, but had to comment. Amazing. It's like being there at the birth of Ren and Stimpy. The drawing style is a dead giveaway.

the doodlers said...

Mark Kennedy stole my line. I'll be downloading these and keeping them in my posing reference file now... :)

~Arna

Boris Hiestand said...

love it to bits! could have been from the golden age

Lee-Roy said...

Love all the distortion. Dang balloons squashing and stretching and bouncing around. The shapes are changing all the time, but there's still a through-line.

John Pannozzi said...

Thank you so much for posting these. These look great. What episode where they supposed to be in?

Jenny Lerew said...

You're very welcome, John.
These were from a segment called "Oh! For Art's Sake!"(the episode number--#406-161--is at lower right stamped on the drawings), directed by Eddie Fitzgerald...it was 1/3 of "The Acme Home Shopping" Show episode. I honestly can't remember the plot, but Eddie wanted a big fight at the end with this dog and cat going at it. I think the fight may have been in it in some form but this scene was cut for time.

Jenny Lerew said...

btw, I sw the post on that TTA forum; did that guy not believe that these are real? or that Spumco never did freelance n TT? I of course know they are because I worked on it(which is why I have them). ; )
As for Spumco doing freelance(or not), well, as I wrote above in my post virtually the entire Spumco/"Ren and Stimpy" crew worked at WB on TTA first, up until R&S was ready to go into production when John got the green light...I think Jim Smith and perhaps some other guys did a little freelancing after they left, and certainly John K. himself did some designs for his pal Kent Butterworth, but Spumco as an entity didn't freelance episodes of Tiny Toons. They were much too busy with their own show!

Unknown said...

These are really, really, bad. No animation experience at that time. For God's sake, let me send you something that DOES flip and is drawn well, so that these unwitting innocents can see the difference.
-C

Jenny Lerew said...

Chris--I will be thrilled to post up anything you send--but though I'm not surprised you have no love for these(jeez, man, you're hard on yourself! and were then)--I still say they are beautiful--and after all, they were done 17 years ago, and you were a child! Anyway, look at what other people here think-some of these guys don't know you so they're not just whistling dixie. Incidentally, I just saw alink to your show at either Boingboing or Drawn!; what lovely paintings your're doing now, and have been for a long time. Send me a scan of that or any drawing you like!
Your fan ever, Jenny