Day: March 25, 2005

A Well Earned Vacation

andertoons

My wife teaches first grade and has next week off for spring break, so I’m playing along and taking a well deserved break as well.

No new art, no writing (unless stuff pops into my head) and no blogging.

But fear not, gentle reader, your favorite cartoon blog will continue with hot cartoon news thanks to cartoon compatriot Mike Lynch, who’s been kind enough to accept an offer to guest-blog next week.

Mike’s not only a good friend, but a wonderful cartoonist whose work challenges me to try to stay at the top of my game.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy what he has to say as he’s a wealth of knowledge on all thing cartoon!

So, see you in a week or so, and play nice with Mike. Peace out!

Adult Swim Wants You! (To Be Funny…)

andertoons3 Comments

Adult Swim

Lately I’ve been really into the whole Clone Wars thing over on Cartoon Network, and in my surfings I ran across this article.

It’s a nice look behind the scenes at Adult Swim.

Hopeful writers often have no concept of what Adult Swim wants. Someone once pitched Weidenfeld a feature-film length script about a woman who discovers she has breast cancer, becomes a yoga instructor, finds love and recovers. In other words, the perfect Lifetime movie, but completely wrong for the fast-paced, “something different” comedy that the Adult Swim audience expects.

Many pitches are derivative twists on other Adult Swim shows, starring more defunct superheroes and classic cartoons. “People pour their hearts into these things, and they just aren’t funny,” says Weidenfeld. “It’s like I break 10 people’s hearts every day.”

But Adult Swim needs fresh ideas. The staff is stretched thin with many people working triple duty on multiple projects. “There’s like three people at [Atlanta’s] Williams Street [lab],” says Weidenfeld, exaggerating for effect. “They can’t produce any more shows.”

Maybe I’ll have to send them something. It’d be a nice change from syndicate rejection.

Check out the whole article here…

Mark Heath at The Comics Reporter

andertoons

Spot the Frog creator, and frequent Andertoons Blog commenter, Mark Heath is the subject of a fascinating interview over at The Comics Reporter.

Not only is Mark a brilliant cartoonist, but he’s a great writer as well. Check out this thoughtful excerpt:

“By default I have a Pogo-like strip — in the way that a rowboat might suggest an ocean liner because both can float and take on passengers. But few would confuse one for the other. And Peanuts — my prime inspiration — is so big I can’t really see it whole. It’s just there, informing everything I do. I don’t like to compare my strip to others because it would be ridiculous — I’m the flea dodging an elephant’s foot. I’d rather hop onto the elephant’s back and see how far I can go.”

The whole interview is like that! Dont miss this! Go read now!

Charles Schulz: Middle-Class Genius

andertoons

Sparky

There’s a wonderful article over at New York Press on Sparky:

“…Charlie Brown was not serious. He was earnest. He believed in things—such as that Lucy would someday hold the football still so he could kick it. When I read “Peanuts” at length, something inside me says, “Yes, this is us!” only to raise my eyes, find it is no longer us and grieve. It’s a jolt to see the suburban vision as nostalgic. When the detritus of the 20th century is collected, sifted and pondered, suburban American childhood will emerge as the utopia we didn’t love until it left. And Charlie Brown will remind us.”

It’s a great read! Check it out!