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Desperate-for-a-new-hit-show Nickelodeon debuted a new animated series Sanjay and Craig this morning. The show, which is about an Indian boy Sanjay and his talking pet snake Craig, was created by Jim Dirschberger, Jay Howell (designer, Bob’s Burgers) and Andreas Trolf, and exec produced by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi (The Adventures of Pete and Pete, KaBlam!, Bravest Warriors).

Early reviews have been positive for the hand-drawn series. Entertainment Weekly says that the show is “a quick-paced, eminently GIF-able product of the Internet age,” while also being “a clear throwback to a simpler time.” The AV Club acknowledges the show’s Calvin & Hobbes-like dynamic”

If you’ve seen the show, report back here with your thoughts. As always, these talkbacks are open only to those who have seen a show and wish to discuss it.

As Blue Sky’s Epic opens theatrically in the United States, we continue our week of featuring artists who worked on the film. Today we look at the work of storyboard artist Dan Shefelman.

Dan has worked as a story artist at Blue Sky in addition to doing boards for television series such as The Venture Bros., Robotomy, Celebrity Deathmatch, and Doug.

When drawing caricatures of celebrities and politicians, Dan distorts and renders faces with equal humor in digital paint, marker, pencils, ink and watercolors.

Dan previously worked as an editorial cartoonist for Newsday and continues to draw illustrations and cartoons that you can see on the pages of his website DanShefelman.com.

Above are a few of Dan’s story drawings from the Ice Age cave painting sequence. The finished version from the film can be seen below:

Cartoon Network has released a seven-and-a-half-minute preview episode of theibr upcoming series Steven Universe. The show was created by Adventure Time artist (and Singles director) Rebecca Sugar. Notably, she is Cartoon Network’s first-ever solo woman series creator.

See more Cartoon Brew coverage about Rebecca Sugar.

Just two months after Disney cancelled the Cartoon Network series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, they have announced a new series called Star Wars Rebels. The show will debut on the Disney Channel as a one-hour special in 2014, before continuing as a regular series on Disney XD. The show will be set during the two-decade timespan between Episode III and IV, at a time when “the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape.”

Dave Filoni, who was supervising diretor on Clone Wars, will head up the production as exec producer. He will be joined by Clone Wars veterans Kilian Plunkett (Art Director) and Joel Aron (CG Supervisor), as well as some fresh faces:

Leading the development of the series is a creative team of exceptional talent. Screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is an executive producer on Star Wars Rebels and will write the premiere episode. He is joined by Dave Filoni as executive producer, who served as supervising director of the Emmy nominated Star Wars: The Clone Wars since 2008. Executive producer Greg Weisman brings with him a wealth of animation experience with credits such as Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Gargoyles.

Rebecca Dart lives in Vancouver and works on animation productions as well as creating comics and drawings for personal projects.

A difficult subject for artists to draw well is the horse. Rebecca renders horses, warriors and all sorts of fantasy creatures in powerful, confidently inked brush strokes that make it seem effortless. Perhaps her horse drawing ability aided her in securing a job as part of the crew that recently rebooted the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic television series, although you won’t see her art from the show on her blog where she has decided not to post any Pony-related concepts.

Instead, you’ll find her slice-of-life comics:

And various pieces from Rebecca’s art book, Battle Kittens, which features fearsome weapon-wielding ladies riding gigantic kittens into battle.

Many more mythical and original creatures are in Recca’s Flickr collection.

Rhizome.org published a great interview with David OReilly about his recent Adventure Time episode “A Glitch is a Glitch” and the challenges of making convincing styistic glitch:

“In general, doing stylistic glitch is easy compared to doing good character animation. Mixing the two gets very tricky though. One of the hardest things was corrupting the scene near the end of the entire broadcast so that the earlier clip is superimposed over Finn & Jake to give them an idea (i.e., using glitch as a kind of thought bubble). It was easy to storyboard that idea, but making it work properly took a lot of grind…It was all generated from ‘real’ glitches—but since everything is run through compositing software and sort of controlled you could also say it was all fake. The glitches needed to begin locally—inside objects—then spread out until they became part of the scene itself. The local stuff was done by generating a ton of sprites that had random pixels move outwardly to create the colorful flourishes we associate with video compression. These had a decent amount of control—a blob of glitchy stuff could move around a scene, for example. Once the scenes were fully animated and rendered the global full-frame glitches were done. There was some jpeg corruption added on top of the battle scene at the end.”

Eric Robles, creator of Fanboy & Chum Chum, recently made a micro-short for Nick called Zombie Brothers, which can be seen on Nickelodeon’s website. It was part of the same shorts program that resulted in Carrot and Stick along with numerous other shorts.

Robles also created his own ‘making of’ video with a Flip Cam to document the stop-motion production that took place at Screen Novelties:

Seth MacFarlane’s The Cleveland Show had been widely expected to be canceled, and The Animation Guild recently confirmed that the show is finished. The show had a respectable four-season run on FOX comprising 88 total episodes.

Fox Animation Studios is still humming along with Family Guy and American Dad so MacFarlane remains busy, though an undetermined number of Cleveland Show rank-and-file will likely be laid off.

(Thanks, Graham)

Raphaël Chabassol, who also goes by Mokë, works in London and has a portfolio of animation design and direction work here, including a page that features his character designs from the second season of Cartoon Network’s The Amazing World Of Gumball.

Considering its multimedia art direction, Gumball seems like a fitting show for Raphaël to work on. His blog shows off his broader interests and personal work which include illustrations, prints, tattoos, mural art and dimensional character pieces.

Colin Howard is working as a character designer on Steven Universe, the new show in production created by Rebecca Sugar. You can see Colin’s current Tumblr here. He seems like a good match for the show, as many of Colin’s sketchbook drawings and characters seem to be built of the same cartoon materials as Rebecca’s—similar lines, forms, and convincing solidity.

For more drawings and recent CalArts school work, Colin has another blog here. Perhaps of special interest to future animation school applicants, you can peek at Colin’s even earlier blog, which he describes as his character animation application work.

Nickelodeon’s weekly ratings serve as a sobering reminder of the network’s perputual stasis and its inability to produce a hit show for well over a decade. But this wasn’t always the case. In an earlier era, Nick used to be the dominant name in children’s entertainment, pumping out hit show after hit.

That classic era of Nickelodeon is the subject of “It’s the shizNICK”, a group art show that will open Friday, April 19, from 7-11pm, at the iam8bit gallery (2147 W. Sunset Blvd., LA, CA 90026):

Nickelodeon—a network brave enough to broadcast bold, awesome, epic and irreverent programming that embraces the free-flying spirit of being a kid, ignoring the conventional rules of TV development and just… well… going for it!

An entire generation was raised on Nick’s onslaught of 90′s awesomeness – truly weird, funny, and honest entertainment that speaks for itself:

The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Rocko’s Modern Life, Salute Your Shorts, Doug, Double Dare, You Can’t Do That on Television, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Rugrats, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Hey Dude, SpongeBob SquarePants, etc.

The list flows on, but you get the picture. Nickelodeon has had a lasting cultural influence, far deeper than any other cable channel can claim.

The line-up of artists exhibiting in “It’s the shizNick” is impressively eclectic:

Opening night festivities will include DJs, drinks, an “Animated GIF Theatre”, a photo playset, and, of course, green slime. Full details on the Facebook event page.

Iam8bit provided Cartoon Brew with an exclusive preview of some of the art that will be exhibited:

Ryan Quincy worked for well over a decade as part of the South Park production crew as an animator, animation director and supervisor. On the side he also created several music videos over the years which can be seen on his website.

After a long period of development and pitching that began in 2008, which included three shorts produced for FOX, Ryan’s show Out There recently premiered as IFC’s first animated series.

Ryan shared some artwork and photos of whiteboard doodles from the production which is written and boarded by Ryan and a small team in Los Angeles, and then sent to Bento Box Entertainment’s satellite studio in Atlanta, which draws from the talent pool established there by the various Adult Swim productions.

I was considering using some business-jargon to describe this bi-coastal production to a draw contrast with shows that ship animation to Asia–“in-sourcing” came to mind–but while trying to verify if I was using the terminology correctly I came upon this gem on Wikipedia, and decided to call the whole thing off:

The prefixes to “-sourcing” and “-shoring” remain in flux: Outsourcing gave rise to the term in-sourcing, and offshoring resulted in on-shoring. However, onshoring is sometimes called in-shoring. Insourcing is sometimes named “backsourcing”. Insourcing may be done by “onshoring”, “offshoring” or just “remotely”.

Anyway, the animation is done in Atlanta.

Ryan says that he drew from his childhood experience growing up in the midwest U.S. when he created Out There. The quirky designs of the characters also stem directly from the type of doodles that Ryan says he has been drawing since he was a kid, drawing inspiration from the work of Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Ub Iwerks, Jim Henson and a stew of others.

Derek Iversen, a writer on SpongeBob SquarePants, writes with some news:

Today Nickelodeon released Carrot & Stick, a short that I created with Miles Hindman last year. Marc Ceccarelli did the storyboard and Joel Trussell directed, and we couldn’t be happier with the result!

The two-minute pilot short can be seen on Nickelodeon’s website. It was recently selected for competition in the Annecy animation festival’s TV Specials category.

Joe Pitt, a designer on Wreck-It Ralph and director on the Disney show Gravity Falls, posts personal and professional work on his blog, such as this behind-the-scenes look at the process of developing the perfect design for gnome barf.

Recently he moved over to the position of Lead Character Designer for Craig McCracken’s new show, Wander Over Yonder, also in production at Disney.

Joe also synchs his blog-flow of art with Twitter, where you can occasionally see work like these pieces below from a personal project in development.

When it comes to the classic Filmation television series, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, it’s not much of a stretch to find homoerotic subtext in its ham-fisted dialogue and hyper-masculine, brutish-ness. However, there are times in the sci-fi hero’s quest to fight the forces of evil with his “fabulous secret powers” that it seems to move beyond mere inadvertent sexual suggestion and right into “oh, that’s just gay” territory. Here are five of He-Man’s gayest moments.

1. “The Cosmic Comet”

In the very first episode of He-Man: MOTU, titled “The Cosmic Comet”, the evil Skeletor harnesses the power of a wandering comet that, ever since its mate was accidentally destroyed, has grown bitter and evil. Under the sorcerer’s control, the comet attempts to stop a self-deprecating old wizard called The Comet Keeper from rebuilding its destroyed lover by attacking him with genital-less, ‘roided out rock men. He-Man wrestles with the evil comet long enough for his friends to fill the new one with their love, defeating Skeletor and enabling the happy couple to once again travel the galaxy in harmony. And just when you think this storyline couldn’t be more of a head-scratcher, you discover that both of the comets are actually male.

2. “Quest for He-Man”

In the “Quest For He-Man”, our hero falls through a rainbow colored time corridor and into the environmentally devastated world of Trannis where he encounters Plundor the Spoiler. A lisping, rabbit-headed captain of industry with an unexplained penchant for polluting the seas and killing off his planet’s wildlife, Plundor is immediately enamored by the “powerful looking brute” and offers to make “great use of his muscles”. He-Man politely turns him down in a way that only he can: by straddling Plundor’s “liquid filled” rocket and riding it into the stratosphere. Literally.

3. Any appearance of Duncan, Man-at-Arms

Ok, this is example is pretty general, but we’re including the overall presence of Duncan, aka Man-At-Arms, the royal family’s master of weapons. A middle-aged man with bare midriff armor, a Seventies ‘stache and nothing better to do than go on long trips with Prince Adam and keep his secrets? The whole thing reeks of human growth hormone, a secret past and late night slap-and-tickle in the darkened corridors of Castle Grayskull.

4. “The Laughing Dragon”

In He-Man: MOTU’s sister series, She-Ra: Princess of Power, She-Ra, in an episode titled “The Laughing Dragon”, encounters a socially put upon Dragon named Sorrowful. With hopes of recruiting his help against the Horde army, the show’s token male, Bow tries to intimidate the tormented reptile into finding its courage. However, even the bullied beast can’t help but mock the archer, who has inexplicably chosen to wear a belted pink frock, with limp-wristed jabs at Bow’s masculinity. An anti-bullying episode, where even the bullied bullies someone else for being different? As you can see, Bow’s catty companion, Kowl is not impressed.

5. “Fisto’s Forest”

And lastly, I draw your attention to an episode called “Fisto’s Forest”. He-Man & Co. is called to help some forest people whose diminutive leader, the Elf Lord, has been imprisoned by a bushy bearded bully named Fisto. Fisto, whose name can’t help but bring to mind vats of aqueous cream and neoprene gloves, is killing off their crops by using his over-sized metal fist to create a blockage in the river. The whole situation is only made more vivid by Fisto’s choice to douse his opponents with a sticky white goo as a means to subdue them.

From a report on ComicBookResources.com:

Cartoonist Bruce Timm has stepped down as supervising producer at Warner Bros. Animation to develop his own projects. He’s been replaced by James Tucker, a veteran of Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League and, more recently, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

It’s the end of an era.

(Thanks, Paul Burrows)

From a report on ComicBookResources.com:

Cartoonist Bruce Timm has stepped down as supervising producer at Warner Bros. Animation to develop his own projects. He’s been replaced by James Tucker, a veteran of Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League and, more recently, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

It’s the end of an era.

(Thanks, Paul Burrows)

The answer is 56 writers (and 3 story editors). The show was THIS.

In early January, I posted a clip from Family Guy that one of our readers thought was making of the drawing style in the Fox show Bob’s Burger. Yesterday, I received an email from Alex Carter, a producer on Family Guy, who explained the backstory of the gag. Alex explains that Bob’s Burger creator Loren Bouchard suggested to the Family Guy crew that they “take a shit on my show.” So if you’ve been losing sleep over this gag, rest assured, they’re all friends.

My thanks to Alex for writing to clear the air. Below is the full text of his letter:

Hello Cartoon Brew amigos! My name is Alex Carter, a writer for Family Guy. Don’t stop reading, just continue. A recent episode I wrote, called “Space Cadet”, contained a somewhat controversial joke when it aired in January. The joke involved Chris getting a failing grade in art by submitting an art project showing the face of Bob Belcher, from Bob’s Burgers. Some of you guys here decried us for bashing an “actually good show”. But, I just have to admit some stuff.

First, Loren Bouchard, the creator of the show, was in on the joke the whole time. Everyone here in the Fox writing department knows each other pretty well. Bob’s Burgers was in between production between the show’s second and third seasons, so Loren went to a pitch meeting one day to see how our show works. We were pitching out ideas for “Space Cadet”, and Loren told us his idea that Family Guy, would, in his own words, “take a shit on my show.” And things went on from there.

Second: How did we discover the whole controversy? Well, after episodes air, we look on review sites and see what went right and what went wrong. That way, it will help us for future episodes. And Brian, one of our writers, showed me a link to Amid’s article about the incident. I was a little upset, so I was hesitant to e-mail you until now. I just want to say that even though I may disagree with your opinion, Amid, I respect it.

Third, some of you mentioned that it was “all Seth’s fault”. I just want to make something clear: Seth has had no involvement in the writing process nor the animation process since about season six. If you want to blame someone, blame Steve Callaghan and Mark Hentemann. They’ve been running the show for three seasons now, and they have a very tight grip on the show’s content. So, if you see something you don’t like, don’t blame Seth. But this season, Rich Appel was brought back on the show, Steve left for American Dad, and Mark was demoted to producer, and it’s been a little freer than other seasons. Let me say this, I think you guys might enjoy next season.

Thank you guys for taking the time to read this message (if this is posted on the site), and want to let you know I read Cartoon Brew every day. It’s a nice place, and I hope it continues for years to come.

Sincerely,
Alex Carter
Supervising Producer
Family Guy

Bill Plympton made a new Simpsons couch gag, titled “Film Noir,” that will premiere on this Sunday’s episode of the perennial TV series. The whole thing is posted online and can be seen below. Plympton also made a Simpsons couch gag last year.

Bill also just released the trailer to his new short Drunker Than a Skunk adapted from a poem by Walt Curtis:

I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge that the TV series Beavis and Butt-head premiered twenty years ago today—March 8, 1993—on MTV. The show’s crude production values and even cruder humor look quaint today in a South Park/Adult Swim/Webcartoon world, but it was a bold experiment in its time and cleared a path for much to follow.

In a statement on StarsWars.com, Lucasfilm and Disney announced today that “Lucasfilm has decided to pursue a new direction in animated programming.” Their first move is to cancel production of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars in anticipation of Episode 7. The show, directed by Dave Filoni, aired 108 episodes over five seasons on Cartoon Network. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that future Star Wars TV animation will appear on Disney-owned channels like Disney XD.

Lucasfilm said on StarWars.com that they are still producing “bonus content”:

While the studio is no longer producing new episodes for Cartoon Network, we’re continuing production on new Clone Wars story arcs that promise to be some of the most thrilling adventures ever seen. Stay tuned for more information on where fans can soon find this bonus content.

They also released this personal video message from the show’s director Dave Filoni:

Venture Bros. is returning to Adult Swim with new regular episodes after a two-and-a-half year hiatus. The season 5 episodes will debut at midnight on May 19th.

C.H. Greenblatt is the creator of the Cartoon Network series Chowder, part of the production crew on the Disney series Fish Hooks, and the creator of a new series pilot that has recently been completed for Nickelodeon called Bad Seeds.

C.H. keeps a blog with funny drawings and sketchbook doodles here. An older blog here stretches back through the Chowder production era, beginning in 2006. He also contributes to the Unofficial Official Fish Hooks Blog here, which offers a glimpse into the the production of that show.

C.H. is generous with advice. He often responds to readers’ questions on his blog, and the answers offer valuable insights into his methods.

A recent post included a sneak peek at some of the background artwork and background characters from the Bad Seeds pilot.