The Biker

Chowder Site

The official Chowder website has gone live. Soon it'll have games and other assorted fun stuff. Right now it just has a teaser clip from the pilot. And yes, the pilot is part of the series (it'll be in the premiere episode). This shot was taken outside the Turner building in Atlanta.

Another Late Night

It looks like I'll be staying at work all night tonight. There's so much to do and I can never get caught up. I guess I should have figured it would get to the point where I wouldn't even get to go home. All I do there is sleep and shower anyway. The bright side is the network is telling me to work harder. That's always motivating when you're at the office for more than 60 hours a week. (Sarcasm)

Chowder Surprise

Here's a peek at a something special. I'm not going to say much about it. You'll have to tune in to the show to find out more. A big thanks to the folks over at Screen Novelties: Robin, Shamus, Mark, Chris, Pete, Ralph, and everyone else whose names I don't rememeber too well, and B.J. from Puppetown Productions.

Mung Design Evolution

Looking at these old Mung Daals makes me shudder. I'm so much happier with this new version. Like the Chowders in the previous post, I can't believe how stiff, even, and cluttered he looked. To me the real difference is in the front view. That's the angle I struggled with the most in the previous versions. This time it flowed naturally. I guess that's a good sign.

My original concept of Mung was that he was the love-child of Don Knotts and Yoda. With the pilot version, he's got crap jutting off his head in all different directions. Nothing takes visual precedence or helps gives a line of action.

In the next version, I removed the eyeglass temple from the outside of his face and more importantly, I tried to emphasisze his nose as his most prominent feature. His shoes and hands got slightly bigger, his ears became much smaller. But it was incremental. Too subtle. His features still didn't read well. He didn't bend well. And now with a season behind me, I can see those faults.

So with the new version, the first thing I tackled was proportions. He's all head and neck now; the weight is in his nose. His body is smaller. He's not so stiff, but forms a nice "S" cruve with his head and body. His moustache extends farther than his ears, giving his face a balance point. The bump on his nose has always been a vexing issue. I originally put it there to give space between nose and his eyes. In the footage we've gotten back, his eye and nose often tangent anyways, and the stinking bump blocks his eye! So it's created more problems for me rather than solving them. I've made his eyes bigger, flattened the bump and moved it so the eyes are no longer covered. His eyebrows are clearer too. Now his expressions should read a lot better. There's no extra line defining the side of glasses. And I've removed his far ear in the 3/4; it keeps the curve of his head consistent now. His hands are bigger. His shoes have been simplified and extended, giving him a floppier look.

Now he feels like he has gesture, direction, and balance. And he feels overall sillier. Which is good. I really want this show to be cartoony, and I'm realizing it's time to start pushing the crew to make it that way, starting with myself. For now, I'm really happy with this new design. But maybe in a season or two, I'll think he looks like garbage and he'll get another revamping.

Next to tackle: Truffles!

Chowder Design Evolution

As happens with all shows, the characters really come into their own over time. You learn a lot about who they are from a full season of writing, as well as dealing with the animation footage that comes back from the overseas studio. Plus just drawing the character hundreds of times over causes you naturally learn the economies, the proportions, and the necessities of the design.

Being between seasons, I decided to take a stab at reworking the characters using the information I've gained. Chowder was first on the list. Look at the difference from the pilot to now! Wow! He really feels like he's finally coming together. Clay Morrow put it best in describing the Season 1 design: "Everything touches." The theory was that he's a fat kid. It makes for a a mess though. The original concept of Chowder (I'll post the doodles someday) was a fat, shy kid who often hid low in his oversized collar and wore his pants on his head. His features are supposed to be all squished up. That's why I made those shapes on him. But look how even in proportion he is. He's more body than face. Where's the focus?

I'm also seeing how stiff the drawings are. Especially when we are getting some pretty stiff drawings back from overseas. Noooo! The funny thing is my drawings don't tend to be that stiff. I draw "stiff" characters (maybe cuz I'm so uptight), but I usually try to give them some life and energy in the drawing. I think that in locking down a "definitive model," I lost a lot of that energy and life.

After drawing him consistently for a year, I started making his head bigger and bigger, diminishing everything else. I've tried to simplify him by removing the tangenting cheek lines, focus the visual weight into his cheeks, make his eyes read better. I made his hands stick out a little more. I think the most drastic change is in his profile view. Now he has a muzzle and his face doesn't flatten out as he turns. And while his clothing no longer feels oversized, he feels more like a fat kid. He's now all about the chubbyness of his face. And that's his defining characteristic. It only took me a few years to get there. I'm learning.

More characters to come soon!

Screwed in the Teeth

It goes without saying that my job has become a bit more stressful. And one of the wonderful side effects of stress is clenching your teeth at night. I've become so good at it that I cracked one of my molars. But after going through the trouble of getting it crowned, the pain still returned. So I had to choose between a root canal or completely replacing it. Since the crack could eventually cause the tooth to break, I opted to pull the sucker. This was a few months ago.

Now that my mouth has healed, it's time for phase 2! Today they drilled a large hole in my jaw and inserted a monster screw right into it. I'm still numb, so I can't comment on the pain. Tonight should be fun, fun, fun. The oddest thing about it was the torque of the drill on my jaw. This was no delicate dentist drill, the kind ordinarily used for little fillings. It was a Black and Decker with flames painted on the side. The dentist had to wear a hard hat. I had stepped into an episode of "This Old Mouth."

So phase 3 will be in another month or so, after the bone grows around the screw. That's when I get my new, fake tooth.

Handolf the Wizard

Watch Out for the Finger!!

It's Been That Kind Of Day

This is how it felt like my morning started. The rest of the day wasn't so bad, but I had a metaphorical turd wiped across my lip, so that was all I could smell. A good night's sleep will make me feel better. It always does.

Birdy

This is an attempt to add some color to my drawings. Maybe someday I'll try a full fledged painting. Until then, you just get this pseudo-coloring.

ComiCon Highlights

Well the Con came and went and I had a blast. I met tons of really nice fans and got to show off a little bit of Chowder as well. Here are a few photographic highlights:

Mr. Maxwell Atoms and myself, expressing our true feelings for each other. He had a great farewell panel this year and deserved all the fan loving he got.


A highly rendered Milennium Falcon, complete with highly rendered Jedi. I couldn't beleive the amount of Star Wars merchanise they had this year. It constituted at least 50% of the floor!


A 5+ foot Gigantor sculpture! Last year I bought a 2 foot tall Gigantor from these people. I still love it.


An incredible family that all got dressed up as classic monsters, posing in front of the Ark of the Covenant! This is how you do the con right!


The BEST Zena I've ever seen, along with a real Mach 5! It was a 2 for 1 photo!

ComiCon 2008 - The Call of the Nerd!

Well that time is upon us again, when the great horn is blown and all the sweaty nerds crawl out from their parents basements to descend upon San Diego. I'll be there of course, wandering around through various fart clouds and feral armpit odors.

I'l also be doing a signing at the Cartoon Network booth to promote Chowder. Come on by and say hello. We're giving out some really cool messenger bags with all the current CN characters doodled on them. There will also be a Chowder preview screened between the Billy & Mandy and Foster's panels.

Preview: Friday, July 17th, 12:30 at the CN panel room

Signing: Saturday, July 28th, 10:30-11:30 at the CN booth

Gorgonzola

Sometimes someone hates you for no good reason. It's just that your very existence wrongs them. Gorgonzola hates Chowder. He's an apprentice candle holder. Maybe that's why he's so surly. He got the cruddy job while Chowder has a dream job.

Rocks Are Magical

We saw this big rock formation when we were up in Sequoia National Park last month. I'm not sure why, but it reminds me of something.

King for a Month

Good news! That Warcraft comic I posted a little while back - It won comic of the month on the Warcraft site! I am Nerd King for the month of June! (I'll take little bits of joy where I can get them.)

Chowder and Kimchi

Every boy needs a pet stink-cloud.

Nature

I spend a weekend in beautiful Sequoia National Park, and this is what I come up with. What's wrong with me?

See If This Works For You...

Animation Magazine Interview

Here's a brief phone interview I did for this month's Animation Magazine. I hate doing interveiws and they wouldn't let me use the tomato picture of myself. They said people wouldn't be able to tell if it was supposed to be a character in the show or what. That's even better - I want everyone to think it's a show about a tomato-headed guy! I'd watch that show! This picture was taken on the Small World ride at Disney Land. It's very scary there.

I'm a Big Nerd

Here's another World of Warcraft comic I did. If you get it, you're a big nerd too. All I know is I'll never be able to afford an epic flying mount. It's so sad to be virtually poor. It's even sadder to be sad about it.

Here Comes the Post-Production

We get our first batch of color footage back this Friday. I can't wait to see it all start to come together. After looking at static pictures for so long, it'll be nice to see real animation with sound and music.

Speaking of music, we've got a great sound for Chowder. It's a late 60's kind of funky groove. Take a listen to The Meters and you'll have an idea what to expect. The music is being handled by two very talented gentlemen, Zac Pike and Dan Boer. I met them through one of the storyboard artists on the show, and their music fit perfectly with what I had in mind. They did music on the pilot as well, so if you watched the promo reel from an earlier post, you heard what it sounds like.

Gazpacho

One of Chowder's few friends and confidants, Gazpacho sells all sorts of bizarre fruits and vegetables at the farmer's market. His mother controls his life and he bases all his decisions on her. It's a bit sad.

He dreams of breaking free, but will he ever muster the willpower to do so?

Gazpacho is voiced by the very funny Dana Snyder, also know as Master Shake on Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Think Pink!

These are two unrelated images from two different episodes. One is coated in sass. The other is coated in gum. I've seen the dancer moving in pencil test - It's a sight to behold. He'd make Bob Fosse proud.

Flibber-Flabber

Eventually we've all got to go on a diet. But as my great aunt Bob used to say, "If you aren't living large, you aren't living." Bob was attacked by giant clams.

The Cinnamini Monster

He's every friend that you felt sorry for, so you hang out with him, only to be sorry that you decided to hang out with him. You know what friend I'm talking about.

Reuben

This portly fellow considers himself an entrepreneur. Whatever needs done, he's your man. Not that you'd want him to be your man. For one particular episode, he happens to run a ramshackle chef certification school under the freeway. Note the tire track pattern in his clothes. Paul Reubens kindly came in and voiced him. How ironic that he's named "Reuben," don't you think?

Mung Exercising

Be sure to get off the computer and move your butt every once in a while. It's all about the glutes.

Panini

A love-struck apprentice to Ms. Endive, she believes that Chowder is her boyfriend. Unfortunately for her, he's still in the "girls are icky" phase.

When Will Chowder Air?

All I know is sometime in Novemeber. So feel free to take a little nap until then.

Brushing is Important

Not the most exciting shot ever. Here's another scene from the Mahjongg Night board. But you get a glimpse of Chowder's bathroom and his burlap-sack pajamas.

The Thrice Cream Man

He's a dream come true for Chowder. Or is he a nightmare?

We originally called him the Twice Cream Man, but someone owns that name. We didn't find that out until we had already recorded half the episode! So we had to go back and re-record every mention. That's an issue we've run into a lot. We make up stupid food names only to be told they're already tradmarked. We were even told we couldn't use the name "Kimchi." That's like saying we can't use the word "Ketchup." Screw that. We're using it.

I'm all for protecting copyright infringement, but it's getting kind of out of hand. Soon every word will be trademarked. I should get a jump on it and trademark the word "and." I'll be a gazillionaire from royalties.

The Lamp Lighter

Here's another scene from Mahjongg Night. This little guy is in charge of turning on the lamps in the city. What a fun job. Kudos to the crew for making this stuff look so amazing. Here's a quick run down of whose work you're seeing as I post this stuff:

Art Director - Dan Krall!
Background Design - Bill Flores & Rebecca Ramos
Background Paint - Joe Bingelli & Anna Chambers
Character Design - Phil Rynda & Serapio Calm
Prop Design - Mark Bachand & Tara Whitaker
Model Cleanup - Frank Homisky & Laura Dalesandro
Color Stylists - Roger Webb & Brain Smith

Ms. Endive!

She's the thorn in Mung Daal's side. A meticulous mountain of a woman who insists on perfection in everything she does. Her cooking style is the complete opposite of Mung's. He cooks from the gut. Make food with love and it'll taste good. Endive doesn't understand love. If one wants proper food, one must cook properly. She's basically Martha Stewart taken to the millionth degree. With Oompa-loompa colors.

Mahjongg Ladies

A while back I put up a panel of the mahjongg ladies from my Chowder board. Well here they are in their multitude of colors.

The story is inspired from my own childhood. Each Tuesday night my mom plays mahjongg with her friends. They rotate who hosts it. When it was my mom's turn, she would set out all sorts of goodies that I wasn't allowed to snack on. I'd lay in my bed at night and hear the clack-clack of the tiles as the women yelled expletives at each other for taking their nickels away. Apparently her friends' favorite part of coming over was my mom's egg salad. I wasn't into the egg salad so much. I wanted the chocolate.

My mom believes there's a direct correlation between each character here and the actual ladies she plays mahjongg with. That's not true. Her friends are weirder looking. (If you read this, mom, that's a joke.)

King of the Sky

This Chowder character is the King of the Sky. When I was working on the second board, I wanted to have the wind blow. I thought it might be fun to turn the weather into a character, like when you see a big face in the clouds. But I wanted him to be weirder and more of a real character. And since I love Katamari Damacy, I was inspired by the king in that game.

Here's the the Katamari version. The purple tights are a direct lift.

And yes, there is a full fledged Katamari-inspired episode in season one.

Kiwi

This is a Chowder character named Kiwi. He occasionally pops up and makes a random comment. He started as a doodle I made back when I was working on the pilot. I never found a place for him in that board, but I was able to squeeze him in my second board. He's shown up in a few boards now. His arms wiggle. Oh, and when you see him, he'll be stop-motion.

Bus Driver

This is a character from a Chowder board I did called "Shnitzel Makes a Deposit." As is often the case, I over-board my episdoes and so I had to make trims. He's gone. I always gotta kill my babies. Poor little dead babies.

I like this guy, though. He'll have to show up some other time.

Channel Frederator Interview

There's an interview with me up on the Channel Frederator Blog. As usual, I sound like a massive douche and ramble on way too long. But I would like to give a big thanks to Jeaux Janovsky for curating such a nice series of interviews there and including me in the mix.