Our friends at the Van Eaton Galleries have just sold the complete storyboard to the classic 1949 Merrie Melodies cartoon BAD OL’ PUTTY TAT. This kind of material is extremely rare. The studio threw out the majority of its production materials decades ago. Thankfully, Van Eaton has posted the entire board on their website for all of us to enjoy.

Some will considered these to be awful, others will praise them as genius. Either way, these hilariously off-model cartoon maquettes from Brazil are worth a look. Get a load of the looney Peter Potamus and this pathetic Hoot Kloot. I don’t know about you, but know what I want for Christmas!

David Gerstein at Gemstone Comics has a new Disney comics anthology in the works for August release, Disney Comics: 75 Years of Inspiration. This 160 page volume, cleverly designed as a print equivalent to the Disney Treasures DVD series (tin case not included) features rare, restored and, in some cases, never before seen stories by golden-age greats Carl Barks, Al Taliaferro, Floyd Gottfredson, Dick Kinney, Paul Murry and Gil Turner - as well as the best of the current generation: Don Rosa, Daan Jippes, Willian Van Horn and others.

Mystery solved! Rich LaPierre, at Hallmark Cards, is the artist/designer of the new Looney Tunes greeting cards I’ve been raving about. He saw my earlier posts and contacted Cartoon Brew to give us some insight as to what he is up to.

A number of people told me I should check out the Cartoon Brew web site because my cards were featured on it.Warner Bros. has recently given their licensees a wider latitude in how we depict their characters. Actually, they’ve been GREAT to work with! I’ve wanted to utilize the early versions of the characters for years so as soon as the gate was open, I took off.I’ve always liked the 1943 model sheet of Bugs Bunny and Bob Clampett’s 1944 model sheet of Tweety so those two characters were easy.Porky was a challenge because his early depictions were all over the place. He fluctuated from being a cute child to an unappealingly obese… well, pig. I was inspired by some pictures in your own COMPLETE GUIDE on pages 82 and 100 and the ALI BABA BOUND picture on page 142 of Steve Schneider’s THAT’S ALL FOLKS. I thought that version of Porky was the most endearing. Poor Porky! He was once WB’s top star and now very few people like him. I thought he needed to go back to his glory days. This must be the right version because several people commented that they were pleasantly surprised that Porky could be cute. They never liked the later versions.Daffy was the hardest of all. At first I was drawn to the DAFFY DOC version because it is truly funny. However, I quickly realized that that depiction was very limiting in both personality and design. Then I created a version that is a hybrid of Clampett’s Daffy in PORKY’S DUCK HUNT and some of the old posters. That was working pretty well until I settled on a version from the early 40’s as seen on the samples I sent. Please forgive my Daffy indecision.I’ve been trying to stick to the four core characters: Bugs, Daffy, Tweety and Porky (with occasional appearances by Sylvester, Elmer Fudd and Petunia). I hope I will not be asked to create “antique” versions of others such as the Road Runner and Coyote, Pepe LePew or Lola Bunny.I’ve taken some liberties in an attempt to make these styles cohesive with one another. I made their hands a bit more antique-ish and gave them all a “drip” highlight in their eyes (to be different from Disney’s “pie eye” wedge). I try to ink or paint the characters in an old style by taking a cue from some of the artists who created the antique merchandise. They didn’t try to make their art look like animation cels. When they rendered a character (whether in ink or paint), they added details and line qualities that were not possible on cels. My goal has been to capture the very best of the antique animation and render them in the very best styles of the old merchandise. I’m NOT trying to be totally, historically accurate. I’m trying to create an appealing style with some level of authenticity. I am also bound by the fact that most consumers are not diehard animation fans. They may like the vintage characters but they still want bright, fresh colors on their greeting cards. Its a difficult balancing act.My favorite piece so far is the TA TA TOODLES card (above, at top). The cover is a fictitious Broadway-style poster with the “real” cast inside (click here to see the inside spread). I had the rare opportunity to both write and illustrate this card.Your web site leads me to believe there’s a number of people who like this older style. Hallmark does not have an entire line of vintage Merrie Melodies. After the initial success of the one-shot cards I did, Hallmark is experimenting with a few more to determine whether the initial cards were flukes or something people really want. Write to Hallmark and let them know your thoughts.

Thank you, Rich. I love what you are doing. Thank you for putting so much thought and care into your work.

BOOKMARK ALERT: Animator and cartoon historian (not to mention a friend of mine for over 30 years) Mark Mayerson has started a blog. And this is big news. Mark is one of the most intellegent writers on history of animation as well as the current state of industry - and he’s also an astute critic. First up, Mark discusses animators Fred Moore, Bill Tytla, Al Eugster and breaks down who-animated-what on Disney’s classic Mickey Mouse short, THE NIFTY NINETIES. His blog will be one of my first stops everyday.

You know it. You have it. You’ve studied it from cover to cover. Preston Blair’s ANIMATION is the book on character animation basics. First published at the height of Blair’s career in the late 1940s, this Walter Foster Art Book has become a classic, and a must-have, in every animator’s library.Now, Steve Worth at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has scanned a copy - my copy, obtained from the late Dave Tendlar - of the original 1947 edition of the book, titled ADVANCED ANIMATION. This legendary first edition is rarely seen because it was quickly pulled from the market. Blair illustrated the book with characters from films and studios (mainly MGM) he’d worked on, without bothering to get permission to use the trademarked characters. He had to redraw most of the book to keep it in print. That’s the version most of us have - until now. Go to the Archive to see the the book as it originally appeared, the first half here and the second half here. Enjoy!

We received a lot of positive feedback when we did “Jazz Cartoon Friday” so here’s another themed collection of cartoons. Today is, of course, Cinco de Mayo so let’s celebrate by taking a look at how Golden Age animators depicted Mexico (and Mexicans) in classic cartoons.

First up, the introduction of Panchito from Disney’s THREE CABALLEROS (1944).
The scene was animated by the one and only Ward Kimball.

SENOR DROOPY (1949, MGM)
Director: Tex Avery

MEXICALI SCHMOES (1959, Warner Bros.)
Director: Friz Freleng

SNAKE IN THE GRACIAS (1971, DePatie-Freleng)
Director: Hawley Pratt
Not exactly a classic, but the Tijuana Toads were created
by John Dunn, who is featured prominently in the almost-finished ANIMATION BLAST 9.

Worthwhile read: A couple days ago, the LA TIMES published an ARTICLE about the possibility of currently independent DreamWorks Animation being purchased by a larger media conglomerate, like Paramount. Steve Hulett at the Animation Guild also has some thoughts on the topic.(Use BugMeNot to bypass registration)