Chromeo

Here's a band a friend of mine turned me on to. It's pure 80's fun and they know it. Give in and enjoy.



"Bonafide Lovin" - a nod to the "Money for Nothing" video.


"Needy Girl"


"I am Somebody" - This is actually a DJ Mehdi song featuring Chromeo. 30 points if you know where the vocal sample comes from.

Nickelodeon Magazine

I did a two page comic for this month's Nickelodeon Magazine. They asked me to write a short biography about my career path and how I got a cartoon show. Here's a little sample:



In a month or two I'll put the full version up.

Guest Voices

We've been lucky to have some really talented guest voices on the show. This week's episode is no exception. In "The Heavy Sleeper," Tone Loc stars as Chestnut, a tiny fella who lives in the city and collects whatever junk he finds lying around. Tone has the deepest voice of any man I've ever met, and he's super nice as well! We like this character a lot, so be ready to see him in future episodes.


In the second episode, "The Moldy Touch," Jon Polito stars as Funjl, a mischevious mold pixie. I've been a big fan of Jon's work from the Coen bothers' movies, and he was great to work with.


Be sure to watch the new episode this Thursday at 8pm pacific on Cartoon Network.

New Chowder Next Thursday!

Here's a scene I boarded from next week's episode called "The Heavy Sleeper." Click them to get a better view.


Edit: I was mistaken. It's not this week. It's next week.

More New Chowders

It'll be a few weeks before another new episode airs, so please be patient. We've got a lot more Chowder coming. I promise.

And yes, there are a few really special Panini and Gorgonzola stories we're working on. One is a full half-hour called "The Apprentice Games." That should give you some idea of what to expect.

New Chowder. New Night. New Time.

Finally! March 6th, this Thursday night at 8pm Pacific.
This will be our new night from now on. Viva la Thursdays!

Radda Radda Doily

What more needs to be said. Someone please buy it.

Lightspeed Champion

This is my new favorite album from Dev Hynes, ex-guitarist of the Test Icicles. It's a bittersweet ride from start to finish.


"Midnight Surprise"
A 9 minute opus of heartache.


"Tell Me What It's Worth"
Watch the signs.


"Galaxy of the Lost"

Happy Valentine's!

Hope everyone has some love and chocolate today. And what better way to spend this evening than with Chowder and Panini! The two characters (as puppets) will be hosting an evening of cartoons. Check your local listings to be sure.

EDIT: Sorry to get anyone's hopes up abut a new episode. Keep hanging on. The new ones will begin trickling out soon.

Kitty Sneezes Interview

Here's a fun interview I did for a nice cartoonist named Joe Meyer.

More Puppets

We deliver every episode to the network with a 30 second skit over the end credits, but sadly they never run them. The network thinks the puppets will turn kids off the show. Luckily, we're still getting to make them. Maybe someday you'll get to see them all. In the meantime, here are some photos to look at.

Chowder Patterns

I really love seeing all the fan art that's out there. We've printed out a bunch and put them up around the office. So I thought I'd post the actual patterns that we use for Chowder's outfit. Feel free to use them to keep making more great art.


Here's a quick way to apply them with Photoshop:
- select a big chunk of the pattern, then "copy" it
- with the magic wand, select the areas you want to fill in
- paste in the pattern

New Chowder Episodes

You may have noticed there wasn't a new episode this week even though it had been advertised. I'm sad, too. There may not be any new episodes airing for a little while. I think the network wants to hold them so they can do a longer run of new ones, rather than in short spurts. I can't say much else except to hang on patiently. We've got some really, really good ones coming up.

In the meantime, here's an absolutely incredible Chowder short made by a very talented fan, AnimateEd. Be sure to give him some love. He obviously worked very hard on it.

New Chowder this Week!

Friday night at 7pm Pacific. Our time slot has officially changed (for some unknown reason, they changed us just 2 months into our run). The first story in this week's show, called The Puckerberry Overlords, was boarded by Billy & Mandy creator Maxwell Atoms! Chowder gets sucked into his own mouth when he eats a super sour fruit and must fight for freedom. It's a bit darker and weirder than the usual stories. I hope you dig it!

In the second story, The Elemelons, we get some special Truffles time. Truffles' temper gets her locked in a cage with some unruly fruit beasts, and the only way out is to discover her softer side. I see a theme in this week's show - being trapped! This half-hour should be the first of 5 new episodes in a row, taking us to our initial run of 13 half-hours. Season 1 was extended to 20 half-hours, so there'll be plenty more to come.

WonderCon

If anyone is planning to go to Wondercon in San Francisco next month, stop by and say hi. I'll be doing a Chowder signing and panel (along with a sneak peek screening) on Saturday the 23rd. I'll post all the details when I get them.

Shnitzel FAQ

So to ring in the new year, I thought I'd take a few minutes to answer some questions about Shnitzel.

Q: What is he?
A: He's a big, strong rock monster. His job is to help lift and move stuff, along with other grunt work, around the kitchen.

Q: Why a rock monster?
A: Well, here's a little history on him. Shnitzel originally began as a drawing I did in the late 90's as an exercise to see if I could clean up a character in Adobe Illustrator. I was even going to try and animate him in Flash, so I did alternate pieces of him. Back then he was called "Tapiocaca." He was supposed to be sort of like a big rock tiki monster that was always on fire. I even made a cool logo for him. Well I didn't really do anything with him after that, but I still liked the design. So when I was forming the world of Chowder, he seemed like a good fit. I like to think of him as a living menhir from the Asterix comics.

Q: What're all the lines in his pattern supposed to be?
A: The idea is that he's covered with scratches and grooves from all the abuse he's taken over the years. In the pilot (Froggy Apple Crumple Thumpkin) his pattern is swirly. But I felt it looked too much like hair, so I changed the lines to straight criss-crosses.

Here's a very early scribble of Shnitzel from 2000. He was a bit stubbier and didn't have his apron yet.

Here's the way to construct him now.

Q: Why does he have ears?
A: To hear things.

Q: Why does he have chest hair?
A: Because he's a MAN, and real men have chest hair.

Q: Why "Radda radda"?
A: It sounded funny. No real reason. Casting for his part was surreal - Hearing dozens upon dozen of actors saying those words then trying to decide just from some gibberish.

Q: Who does his voice?
A: In the pilot, he was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. But Kevin was unavailable when we started the series, so John DiMaggio (Bender on Futurama) jumped in and saved us, doing an amazing job.

Q: Will he ever say anything other than "Radda radda"?
A: I'd rather he didn't. It's like asking if Chewbacca will ever speak English. You can pretty much say he won't, but you don't want to rule out any weird alternate universes or anything.

Q: Is it hard to write a character that speaks in gibberish?
A: The key is context. If other characters repeat back what he said then you'll always know what's going on. Like if he says "Radda radda radda," Mung says "No, we can't chuck him in the furnace!" It gets really hard if he's alone and you have no characters to translate for him.

Q: Is he married?
A: Originally in my head he was. He had a wife that we'd never see, like Norm's Vera on Cheers. But it never came up and didn't really give us anything to add to his character. Plus it's more fun to think of him as the swinging bachelor. So he's definitely single.

Q: Will we ever see his private life?
A: I like his life outside of work to remain a mystery. He's the guy that clocks in, does his job, and goes home. He doesn't share a lot of personal info. Occasionally we'll get glimpses. Like in Gazpacho Stands Up when we saw him doing stand up comedy and he was horrified to be caught by Mung and the rest.

Q: Why does he stay with Mung, Truffles, and Chowder if they make his life hard?
A: They're like his family. Your family can drive you crazy, but they still love you. We're making a special half-hour episode right now that answers that very question. Watch for it in about a year.

So that's it. I'll put up some more history and early doodles on the characters soon. Happy new year!

Chowder is in TV Guide this Week

And they seem to like us! I, however, never won an Emmy.

A Real Life Mung Daal

Or Papa Smurf... your choice. Yes, he's real. Watch the CNN video.

Urinal Bonanza

Here's a funny three-minute movie made by a good friend of mine, Kevin Kramer. It's rated PG-13, so all you kids out there better not watch it. Kevin has written a few Chowder outlines and you'll see his name pop up in the credits occasionally, like in last week's Taste of Marzipan episode.

Mahjongg Night

This Friday night's Chowder episode is a very personal one. I wanted to do this story from the moment I pitched the show. Every Tuesday night since I was a little kid, my mom would gather with four of her friends and play Mahjongg, a Chinese tile game that's sort of like bridge. (Jewish women love it!) Four play at once, one rotates out each hand.

Each week, the ladies gather at a different person's house, and the hostess serves up yummy snacks for the rest. So when it came to our house, my mom would set out goodies that we rarely got to have (candies and such). She made egg salad too, and while I'm told it's awesome, I'm not terribly partial to egg salad. Of course, I'd get a handful of peanut M&M's then be banished from the kitchen as they played. As I laid in bed, I could hear the clacking of the tiles and a stream of expletives as the women yelled at each other for taking their money. They weren't big rollers. I think they usually played for something like 35 cents a game, and a big winner would walk away with $5 for the night.

So when you watch it, think of chubby little me, dozing off to the thoughts of chocolate while the sounds of "You bitch! You took my money!" ring in my ears.

(And yes, Truffles is based on my mom. She doesn't really have the accent, but everyone is actually scared of her. And she's tiny.)


(Some random women having their own Mahjongg night. This is what it looks like for real. Notice the snacks on the table!)

Truffles Chases Shnitzel

This was shot in Atlanta when they dressed up for Halloween. It's pretty incredible, even if it is just a loop. Yet every time they pass, it just gets funnier to me. I can swear Truffles comes closer and closer to catching him. Benny Hill music and fast forward makes everything better.

Chowder Cake

Here's a cake Atlanta sent us as a congrats on premiere day. I think it helped. We've been getting really strong ratings since we hit the air and we keep growing. Thanks to everyuone who's watching!



And check out this awesome Chowder fan site made by Tyler K! You'll find art and info from this and other blogs collected there, along with news and forums. Give it a look! Chowder Zone

What is Chowder?

Everyone's been asking "What the heck is Chowder? Is he a cat?" Not exactly.
He's a cat, bear, rabbit... thingie. And so is Panini.
I hope that clears things up.

And yes, his nipples are big. The board guys started drawing him that way and it kind of stuck. Be prepared.

Fred Fredburger Sighting Tonight

The Billy & Mandy/ Kids Next Door crossover airs tonight at 7 pm (pacific) on Cartoon Network. Fred has a cameo in it. I haven't seen the finished version, but I hear it turned out great. Give it a watch if you like either show.

Chowder is a "Throw-Away Series"

Why do I get a giddy delight out of the bad reviews? I dunno. Everyone is very much entitled to their opinion. Here's a fellow from my old college giving his two-cents on Chowder. When I went to school there, I worked at the Daily Texan as a cartoonist from '91-'94. I think the people writing for it were just as cynical back then. Gotta love college students.

"All in all, 'Chowder' is pretty much a throwaway series in an endless string of mediocre cartoons. The animation is nothing special - although the colors are a little trippy - , the dialogue is cliché kids show speak save for a few adult references, and the stories are the same contrived ones we've seen over and over again. It is cute, however, which is more than can be said for a lot of today's cartoons. It might interest your nieces and nephews, but until Chowder gets embroiled in controversy via a sex tape or a crack addiction, very few others will care."

The Daily Texan

Oh, and University of Texas, you can stop calling me for money now, please.

I Got Red Ringed!

As thousands upon thousands of xbox 360 owners have discovered, the system is very prone to failure. Well as of this weekend, count me in as one of those thousands. The darn thing went kaput and I got the dreaded red ring of death! So it'll be at least a month and a half before I get a working one back from Microsoft. And just as I was getting into the new Katamari!

Speaking of Katamari, there's a big homage to my favorite rolling game in this week's Chowder. Watch it! Friday night at 7:30 Pacific!

We Made It!

Well we finally got the show on the air! I wasn't sure we we going to make it for a while there. A big thanks to everyone who helped make the show possible and to everyone who watched. If you missed it, don't worry. CN will be re-running it everyday. Seriously. And there'll be a new episode premiering next Friday at the same time. So keep watching.

Here are some early reviews of the show, good and bad:

The Hollywood Reporter

Toonzone

Animation Insider

The New York Times (I don't think this person watches too many cartoons)

Happy Halloween

The residents of Marzipan City are out in force! Thanks to Lori, Thom, his lovely wife, and all the others for making these incredble costumes!

Toonzone Interview

With the premeire just days away, I've been running around like a madman getting everything ready. To get you warmed up for Friday, here's some reading material - a recent interview with the animation website Toonzone. It was definitely one of the more thoughtful interviews I've had. Thanks to Ed Liu for doing a great job.

This drawing was made over three years ago for the pitch packet I first showed to the network. I'll post more of these soon.

Fred Fredburger Doll

Here's the doll I mentioned in the last post. Bet you didn't think it was real.




And yes, CN should sell these, but they don't. And no, unfortunately, I can't get you one. Like I said before, try writing to them and let them know you want this stuff available. Maybe someday they'll listen. Someday far far in the future.

Chowder Hat

Occasionally CN does something right. Hard to believe, I know. While they never seem to make any noticeable consumer merchandise for their shows (except Ben 10), they have a great in-house department that makes awesome premiums. Unfortunately they're only available to employees. It's good for the employees but bad for the fans. This stuff should be sold in stores, but that's not up to me, and it may be discussed in a future post titled "Cartoon Network: We Don't Like Money."

In honor of Chowder, they've made these incredible hats. Seeing all my friends from the Atlanta office wearing them made me truly happy. Since I've been getting so many bad feelings from Atlanta recently, this little ray of sunshine really helped. They even got one on Dracula, and we all know Dracula don't like wearing no goofy hats!


*Sorry, I can't get you a hat. They were given to employees. Write to CN if you think they should sell them. Pester them incessantly. And ask about the cool Fred Fredburger dolls, too.

Just Two Weeks Until Chowder Premiere!

Friday, November 2nd, at 7:30 pm!

Chowder Website Update

The official show page has gone live. Thanks to all the folks in Atlanta who worked hard on making it great. Three weeks until premiere!

Chowder Sneek Peek!

Cartoon Network has begun running sneek peeks of Chowder. As far as I know, it's a few short clips from the pilot and some of the early episodes. Tune in and see if you can catch a glimpse.

EDIT:
Apparently I was wrong. The clips are running all day today (Monday!)

Today's Forecast

Things feel quite a bit gloomy over here. With the premiere coming up, this should be a very exciting month! But instead there's a pervasive feeling of tension in the air. Like other productions here, we're sort of just dragging along on life support. Please, someone just put a pillow over my face and end it! I'm tired of all this crap.

New Dracula Episode

My last Billy & Mandy episode airs tonight. It's called "Dracula Must Die." I wanted to go out with a bang, and of course, being the generous fellow that he is, Maxwell Atoms let me run wild with the story. It's one of the few episodes that has a direct change on what we know about the characters in the B&M universe. And it even connects to UNDERFIST, Atoms' B&M spinoff special. (A big thanks to Shaun Cashman for his deft directing and Phil Lamarr for his excellent acting)

In my time on Billy & Mandy, I got to create a lot of fun characters: Fred Fredburger, Principal Goodvibes, Grandmama, and of course, Dracula. He first showed up in an episode called "The Home of the Ancients" that involved a bunch of retired monsters. In the original outline, written by Nina Bargiel, Dracula was written as an older version of the monster we all know and love.


But I wanted to put a different spin on him. So I thought about Blacula and what he might be like as an old man. I basically crossed Redd Foxx and James Brown, made him speak in the third person, and viola - Dracula was born. To Grim he was like a sports hero, but really he was just a crotchety old man who wanted to get with the ladies. I think their realtionship really blossomed in "Fear and Loathing in Endsville." We got to see how much Dracula could take advantage of Grim's adoration.

Tonight's episode teaches us something new about Dracula. It teaches us about love. About betrayal. And about revenge. And most of all, that Dracula don't suck. He do the scrape and lick.

Goodbye old man.