I’ve been in a MAD frame of mind recently because of our friend, producer David Levin, who introduced us all to the magazine’s inner workings on Pulp Secret last year, and brought by a couple of his MADdest friends (editors actually) to talk a few weeks ago. Meeting them put me into the frame of mind to read David Hadju’s The Ten-Cent Plague about the repressive moment in the 1950s when states across America actually tried to censor books (in this case, comic books).

So much of it revolved around the mythology of EC comics’ and MAD’s publisher William Gaines that I started routing around for something to read on the history of MAD. Unfortunately no one’s seen fit to research anything resembling an objective view, so I settled for this 1972 virtually authorized biography. Which made me try and find one of his obituaries that so influenced me on the eve of my joining Hanna-Barbera and the cartoon business full time in June 1992.

Why such an influence? I was new to the cartoon business, never having had anything to do with making anything with characters or stories (I’d produced quite a few animated commercials), and I was scared to death because I had no idea what to do. Then I read one of Gaines’ mythologizing quotes and I started to feel like, even if I couldn’t begin to be the kind of eccentric character he was, maybe I’d have a chance.

“My staff and contributors create the magazine,” Gaines said. “What I create is the atmosphere.”

WALL·E toys are showing up in toy stores everywhere. Today I dropped some money on the U Repair WALL·E figure that you can take apart and reassemble.

Here is a quick video of some of the various WALL·E toys that are available…

For the mid range collector types, the InterAction Talking WALL·E might be a good choice. It seems to be the equevelent of the talking Buzz Lightyear figures that were so popular during the first Toy Story film release.

If you are a really hard core collector, and you have around $190 bucks to spend, you might want to look into this toy…

I usually don’t buy the Pixar toys (I think the last one I picked up prior to my purchase today was a Zurg figure) but I may have to pick up some more WALL·E figures.

-Floyd Bishop 

So here’s the schedule for the production of “What a Prikk”! (yes, I did create it 127 years ago) I’ve given myself a fairly good amount of time for each step of the production. I definitely believe I will finish many of the deadlines early, which will give me more time for the animation, which is planned to be 11 weeks. I’ll post about everything along the way, you can count on that! Sunday my friend Jeff is coming over to record for the voice of the BUMblebee! That will be the final of all the voices, and then I plan to cut the audio for the animatic. You might be wondering who has done the voices of the other characters…Well, not me BUT more on that soon!…I’m just all the background characters.

More to come soon!

Steve

First, we had “Fan Fiction” in which the viewers wrote and animated segments with any Meth Minute character they wanted:
Then I took all the real voice messages we’ve recieved from fans and animated the best bits into the way I imagine the callers.

The fans are more important than ever to the Meth Minute. They know and love the characters, they can quote catchphrases and know all the inside-jokes. We got a Meth Minute Universe here, folks, and you’re all welcome to come inside! I love it!-

Dan

The song “P-Cok” from the cartoon of the same name turned out to be a surprise hit. Download it right now, playa.

-Dan

Take a look.now watch the ORIGINAL:

Now look at the ORIGINAL:

Hey folks, Steve Lambe here! I was recruited by the Erics to start posting up some of the super cool stuff we’re working on daily for Fanboy. Mr. Homan just gave you guys a glimpse in the last post of the final Griffin design we did, so I thought it’d be interesting if I showed a “behind the scenes” on how we arrive at the final designs. I don’t know about you, but I love reading through “art of” books” just to see the evolution of characters. So here we go!

Step One : Read the script!

Knowing who the character is, and what they’re going to be doing is crucial. You don’t want to design a robot with cool tank treads, and then find out later in the script that he has spring loaded copper feet. Time is valuable so doing the research can save you headaches later.

Step two: Rough sketches.

With this being a CG production, there is a limit on new characters, so each character is precious. Eric loves to see exploration, so here’s what two versions I came up with to show him. (Digital sketches in Flash. I’m addicted to the cintiq.)

Step 3. Notes and Revisions.

Once Eric’s seen the sketches, he’ll go over it to suggest any improvements that can be made. Since he’s a badass designer, he usually has buckets of great advice and tweaks that help make the character really sing. (He probably did this in 2 minutes while listening to a voice track , making storyboard notes, and sculpting an ice monster. He’s magic like that.)

Step Four: Cleanup:

Once I get Eric’s notes, I incorporate his feedback into the final cleanup in Flash. After the lineworks done, I export a nice high rez jpeg for approval, and color.

Step Five: The Texture Wizardry of Chris Near.

Once everythings approved, the cleanup is wisked to the desk of texture wizard, Chris Near. Chris is fantastic at taking 2-D designs and bringing them into the third dimension. I heard he hunted down a real griffin with his digital camera just so’s he could use it’s feather textures in the final model.

I guess that brings us fully through Stage One of the design process. Coming soon…..Stage Two: Turnarounds, Mouthcharts, and Expressions. So please stay tuned!

-Steve.

That’s right folks! This is your chance to participate in the Second Annual Channel Frederator Awards.
We’re looking to get your input and feedback for our episodes. So upload a clip, send us an e-mail or call the Channel Frederator hotline at 888-414-8148. Tell us your thoughts on:

Your favorite nominees
Why Cartoons?
Who should be Cartoonist of the Year and why?
or
Just give us a shout and tell us you’re excited for the awards!

We want to make sure that our viewers, the most important aspect of the Channel Frederator Awards, get heard! - Carrie

That’s right folks! This is your chance to participate in the Second Annual Channel Frederator Awards.
We’re looking to get your input and feedback for our episodes. So upload a clip, send us an e-mail or call the Channel Frederator hotline at 888-414-8148. Tell us your thoughts on:

Your favorite nominees
Why Cartoons?
Who should be Cartoonist of the Year and why?
or
Just give us a shout and tell us you’re excited for the awards!

We want to make sure that our viewers, the most important aspect of the Channel Frederator Awards, get heard! - Carrie