Clash of the Titan

More Titanium Titan goodness.

The purple, red and green text below the descriptions is an attempt to incorporate the visual structure into the beat boards, instead of having it on seperate pieces of paper - that would often get lost or misplaced.

The basic idea of Tigre's visual structure was that family, school, law and order, the safe and and stable parts of Miracle City, were best represented with balanced compositions, and limited depth. Genrally formal compositions.

Adventurous things, like crime fighting, were presented in deeper space -with more unbalanced compositions. For the most part, informal compositions.

For the most dynamic sequences, we tried to go with a mix of the two - for maximum contrast within the sequence.

It sounds pretty straight forward, but it's actually really hard to keep consistant when you're storyboarding. Fortunately, the board crew on Tigre was amazing, and eventually all these things became second nature.

Annie Nominations

The 35th Annual Annie Award nominations were announced yesterday, and El Tigre was nominated for four!

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children
El Tigre

Character Animation in a Television Production
Monica Kennedy – El Tigre

Character Design in an Animated Television Production
Jorge Gutierrez – El Tigre "Fistfull of Collars"

Music in an Animated Television Production
Shawn Patterson – El Tigre "Yellow Pantera"

For those keeping count, that's more nominations than any other television show.

The first Annie winner was announced as well: Jorge Gutierrez!
His designs were so awesome, that no one else was even nominated!

So congratulations and thanks to everyone on the crew for making El Tigre something we can all be proud of!

Yellow Pantera

You may have heard that Nickelodeon has decided not to make anymore El Tigre's for the time being.

Our ratings didn't justify the budget, so that's that.

My only real regret of the series is that I didn't get to work on more scripts by Scott Kreamer. Episodes like Yellow Pantera are the reason I feel this way.

Scott thinks visually, which makes boarding from his scripts a pleasure. On top of that

he's really funny. And even better than that, his humor is character based.

But one of my favorite moments of Scott Kreamer writing isn't funny, or particularly visual. It's the argument with Rodolfo, when Manny calls his father a coward. In the Miracle City universe, this is about the worst thing you can call someone. Rodolfo loses control of himself for just a second. And in this moment of rage he terrifies Manny. And after recomposing himself, Rodolfo instantly feels regret.

It wasn't an easy thing to convince the studio that what their network needed was more parents yelling at their children. But to their credit, they trusted us, and I think we played it well. A little humor was added to lighten it, but it still plays pretty honest. To me that's the mark of some pretty good writing.

Albino Burrito

I love Davi Rocco, (AKA the Albino Burrito.) Being the little brother to someone much cooler, I totally empathise with him. The fact that "Davi," is my name (David) minus the last "d" probably doesn't hurt either.

He is supposed to be annoying - and I guess he is, but I see him as a well meaning and enthusiastic kid. Like a lot of us, he wants to be better than he is, but comes up a bit short.

But I like his moxy. He's got a good attitude. We hold the same beliefs - that I may suck now, but if I apply myself in earnest, I won't suck forever.

Miracle City Worker

This episode's new villain, El Cucharon, was voiced by Napoleon Dynamite's Efren Ramirez.

Everyone was excited to work with him, and he didn't disappoint.

I left for my honeymoon just after the board pitch, so the the wonderfully talented Gabe Swarr stepped in to direct the episode. And did a great job!

Gabe is now directing full time on El Tigre - so look for more great cartoons from him!

Rising Son

Ah, re-inspired! This episode had a lot to get excited about. Samurai, Robots, Demon Ninjas, and a voice by George Takei - Star Trek's Sulu! The exact show I hoped I'd be working on when I was 14 years old!

Mr. Takei was awesome to work with. He really understands the difference between acting and voice acting - and was terrific about taking direction ( not that he needed it.) He had put a lot of thought into his character and the performance before he arrived - which made the record a breeze. And, to top it off, he was incredibly gracious - signing everything the crew put in front of him. Which, believe me, was a lot.

Some days, you just can't believe your luck.

Puma Licito

My back was against the wall on this one. I dug down deep and came up with...Nothing. A handfull of stiff drawings, some shots I'd done before, and a couple of ripoff shots from better films.

What do you do when inspiration deserts you? I get really selfish with my insprations - spend a fortune at the comic book shop - and watch a ton of dvd's. After this board I think my comic shop guy added a new wing to his house, and Blockbuster had to close early.

Oh well - as the saying goes - fail, fail again, fail beter.

Moustache Kid

Ever notice how just about everything in El Tigre has a moustache? Robots, lobsters, goats....Anything even remotely masculine. Heck, even some of the women have moustaches!

It's pure Jorge Gutierrez. He's the undisputed King Of the Moustache Cartoon. He's made at least three whole cartoons completely about moustaches, and they're all awesome. Coincidentally, all three (including this one) were storyboarded by the very talented, but moustacheless, Ricky Garduno.