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To the average cartoon viewer, SpongeBob is SpongeBob and Bart Simpson is Bart Simpson, but cartoon connoisseurs recognize that characters evolve over the years, not just personality-wise but graphically.

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:

With parents allowing looser rules over children’s media consumption in summer months (it’s no wonder kids dread fall and back-to-school time. During the summer, 49% of children watch more TV, 46% play more video games, 45% surf the Web... Read the rest of this post

Happy Birthday, Nicktoons! (Twenty years ago, Nickelodeon debuted “Doug,” “Rugrats,” and “Ren & Stimpy” – the very first Nicktoons, which revolutionized children’s TV! Thankfully “Doug” is currently part of the network’s... Read the rest of this post

Na na na-na-na; the opening credits to Nickelodeon’s hit 90s show “Clarissa Explains It All” (1991-1994) begins. A teenage Melissa Joan Hart pops up onscreen in a crop top and high ponytail as retro graphics and the all too familiar theme song... Read the rest of this post

Lauren Appelwick

The morning of June 9th, I and about 500 NYC elementary school students gathered at the Apollo theater to dance, gawk at rap music icons, and…learn about healthy eating. Hip Hop HEALS (Healthy Eating and Living in Schools) is a program that seeks to teach young people the rules for healthy living, ways to prevent heart disease and strokes, and curb the incidences of childhood obesity.

The showcase featured rap stars Doug E. Fresh, Kool Moe Dee, Artie Green, Chuck D (via video), Grandmaster Caz, Easy A.D., DJ Webstar and New York State first lady Michelle Paterson, among a number of student performers.

“You’re giving energy and you’re getting it back,” said Doug E. Fresh. “We wanna use hip hop as a positive tool to influence and enlighten.”

To the beats of Snoop Dogg, for instance, students were encouraged

If it’s deep fried and greasy
Drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot
If it’s high in calories
Drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot
If it’s rotting out your teeth
Drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot, drop it like it’s hot

“We believe it’s the music and cartoons that really are the heart and soul of the program,” said Stroke Diaries author and Harlem Hospital’s “Hip Hop Doc” Olajide Williams, MD.

Dr. Williams is the founder and director of the Hip Hop Public Education Center, which has also partnered with the National Stroke Association to develop the Hip Hop Stroke program. In a video, Williams says, “When I first saw the program that they had developed, I was very excited, I thought, ‘This has terrific potential.’ There was only one thing missing: in the program they had developed, there was no hip hop.”

So the Hip Hop Doc teamed up with Doug E. Fresh to produce a series of cartoons to further the mission. Each video features a rap song. Stroke Ain’t No Joke, <