Owner of Wendy's

Farewell Ricky Garduno

2011-12-08T08:51:00.000-08:00

I am sad to say that Ricky Garduno has passed away, losing a long battle with depression.

Ricky was a board artist on El Tigre. We had a lot of great artists on the show, but Ricky was special. His work always stood out.

Like his boards, Ricky was rebelious, anarchistic, and undisiplined. But also passionate, hilarious, and at times brilliant.

Ricky and I didn't always see eye to eye. But I will say this: Ricky was the closest thing to a true Artist that I've ever know. I admired him, and have often wished I had the courage to be more like him. He lived by his beliefs and his ideals.

Ricky boarded the series finale of El Tigre. And it seems a fitting tribute to post that here.

Farewell, Ricky. You will be missed.

No Belt, no boots, no 'brero

Working in animation is fun!

2011-10-31T11:46:00.000-07:00

Every year Nickelodeon throws a Halloween party, and it's really special. Each crew transforms their work area into a haunted house, and gives out candy to the all the lucky kids who are invited. This year the TUFF Puppy crew built King Mutt's tomb, and I wanted to share it with you.

It started out with a little animation of the Chief - which I did in Flash.

Then comes the amazing stuff! Like entrance to King Mutt's tomb:

Inside, we find the tomb is filled with booby traps!

And finally you come to the treasure chamber. And guess what? The treasure is CANDY!!

Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to craft such an amazing Haunted House!

Lights Out

2011-10-10T12:57:00.000-07:00

New week - new storyboard. Actually, an old board: Fairly Oddparents, Lights Out. I thought this episode would be really easy because so much of it happened in the dark - and from a draftsmanship point of view it was. But from a thinking POV it turned out to be a real challenge to keep things interesting and to imply all of the action in a clear way. Usually I split my time 50/50 between planning and drawing. this time it was 80/20.

Hats off to Kevin Sullivan for his fine script.

Lights Out

Sneak Peek!

2011-10-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Here's one of my favorite panels from an upcoming FOP special - drawn by the man himself: Butch Hartman!
What diabolical scheme could these losers be hatching?

Dog Daze

2011-10-03T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I finally figured out how to post full boards. In the future I'll be posting TUFF Puppy boards as the episodes air, and FOP stuff as well. First up is Dog Daze - my first Tuff Puppy assignment!

Dog Daze

TUFF Puppy gets 20 more half hours!

2011-07-29T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the press release:

Nickelodeon Greenlights Third Season of Newest Animated Hit, "T.U.F.F. Puppy"
20 New Episodes from Creator and Hit-Maker Butch Hartman to Roll Out in 2012
Burbank, Calif., July 29, 2011 - Nickelodeon, the number-one kids' brand and largest producer of television animation in the world, has picked up a third season of T.U.F.F. Puppy, the newest hit animated series from Nicktoon hit-maker Butch Hartman (The Fairly OddParents), it was announced today by Brown Johnson, President, Animation, Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group. The network is adding 20 episodes to the series, bringing the total number to 60. T.U.F.F. Puppy, starring iCarly's Jerry Trainor as Dudley, currently ranks as the number-two animated program with kids 2-11, only behind SpongeBob SquarePants.
"Currently our second highest rated animated series, T.U.F.F. Puppy has been a huge success on Saturday mornings right out of the gate, which is no surprise coming from the incredibly talented Butch Hartman, the only creator at Nick with three shows under his belt -- The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom and now T.U.F.F. Puppy," said Johnson. "The show is laugh-out-loud funny in no small part due to iCarly's Jerry Trainor, who brings his incredible comedic sensibility to the role."
"I am truly thrilled to be able to make a brand-new litter of T.U.F.F. Puppy episodes," said Butch Hartman. "I love working on the show and I'm looking forward to expanding the world of Dudley Puppy with more villains, more gadgets, and even some surprises from Dudley and Kitty's past." A hit since its October 2010 premiere, T.U.F.F. Puppy ranks as the number-two animated program on television with kids 2-11 (behind only SpongeBob SquarePants) year to date. The series currently averages 3.6 million total viewers (source: Nielsen Media Research, Live + 7 Day data 12/27/10- 6/19/11, Live + Same Day data thru 7/3/11).
T.U.F.F. Puppy will be launching internationally on Nickelodeon Australia later this month with all other international channels premiering the series in August.
T.U.F.F. Puppy follows Dudley Puppy (voiced by iCarly's Jerry Trainor), a gung-ho, dim-witted dog who finds himself accidentally thrust into the role of secret agent when he's recruited by the supersecret, crime-fighting organization, T.U.F.F. (Turbo Undercover Fighting Force). He partners with Kitty Katswell, a feline superspy who is an amazing kung-fu and weapons expert. Naturally, they don't get along, but together they protect their hometown of Petropolis and the rest of the world against the evil animal organization, D.O.O.M. (Diabolical Order of Mayhem).
In addition to Trainor as Dudley, the T.U.F.F. Puppy cast features Grey DeLisle (The Fairly OddParents) as Kitty Katswell, Jeff Bennett (The Penguins of Madagascar) as Keswick, Daran Norris (The Fairly OddParents) as Chief and Matthew Taylor (Open Season) as Snaptrap.
Butch Hartman began his animation career as an assistant animator on An American Tail. He directed cartoons and created his own shorts for What a Cartoon!, and also wrote and directed episodes of Dexter's Laboratory, Cow & Chicken and Johnny Bravo. Hartman joined Nickelodeon in 1998 where he created and produced several cartoon shorts for the Oh Yeah! Cartoons series, including the Emmy Award-winning The Fairly OddParents, which is celebrating it's 10th Anniversary this year with a live-action/CG animated movie A Fairly Odd Movie, Grow Up Timmy Turner! that premiered on July 9. Hartman also created Nickelodeon's Danny Phantom and is the only creator in Nickelodeon's history who has had three hit animated shows on the network.

Read more:Breaking News - Nickelodeon Greenlights Third Season of Newest Animated Hit, "T.U.F.F. Puppy" | TheFutonCritic.com http://thefutoncritic.com/news/2011/07/29/nickelodeon-greenlights-third-season-of-newest-animated-hit-tuff-puppy-603013/20110729nickelodeon02/#ixzz1TWTT7p2v

A huge "thanks" to everyone who watched!

2011-07-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Nickelodeon’s The Fairly OddParents scored a top-ranking 5.8 million total viewers this week with the premiere of A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! (Saturday, July 9, at 8 p.m. ET/PT). The telecast, basic cable’s top show this week, also ranks as the number-one original TV movie on basic cable with kids and total viewers this year.

As a result, Nick has decided to air ALL UN-AIRED EPISODES OF FOP in the coming weeks.
Set your DVR's!

I Blame Dinkleberg!

2011-06-29T13:45:00.000-07:00

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, the I Blame Dinkleberg page on tumblr is a hilarious way to kill a lunch hour. Enjoy:

http://iblamedinkleberg.tumblr.com/

Invasion of the Dads

2011-06-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to the 3,752,000 fans who tuned in Father's Day, and put FOP in the Cable Top 25 again!

Top 25 Cable Shows for June 13 – 19, 2011 (via TVbytheNumbers.Zap2it.com)

Rank Program Network Day Time Viewers (000)

1 PAWN STARS HIST Mon 10:30P-11:00P 7,488
2 PAWN STARS HIST Mon 10:00P-10:30P 7,287
3 FALLING SKIES TNT Sun 09:00P-10:56P 5,905
4 AMERICAN PICKERS HIST Mon 09:00P-10:00P 5,650
5 WWE RAW USA Mon 10:00P-11:06P 4,961
6 SPRINT CUP RACNG/MICHIGAN TNT Sun 12:59P-03:58P 4,890
7 WWE RAW USA Mon 09:00P-10:00P 4,702
8 SWAMP PEOPLE HIST Thu 09:00P-10:00P 4,572
9 A.N.T. FARM DSNY Fri 08:30P-09:00P 4,334
10 NASCAR POST RACE SHOW TNT Sun 03:58P-04:08P 4,232
11 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE DSNY Sun 08:00P-08:30P 4,133
12 SHAKE IT UP DSNY Fri 09:00P-09:30P 4,113
13 WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE DSNY Fri 08:00P-08:30P 4,048
14 SPONGEBOB NICK Sat 11:00A-11:30A 3,957
15 SPONGEBOB NICK Tue 11:30A-12:00P 3,951
16 COVERT AFFARIS USA Tue 10:00P-11:00P 3,919
17 SO RANDOM DSNY Sun 08:30P-09:00P 3,879
18 SPONGEBOB NICK Sat 11:30A-12:00P 3,834
19 WWE RAW USA Mon 08:00P-09:00P 3,831
20 ICARLY: IPARTY W/VICTORIO NICK Mon 04:00P-05:30P 3,767
21 FAIRLY ODD PARENTS NICK Sat 10:30A-11:00A 3,752
22 SPONGEBOB NICK Tue 11:00A-11:30A 3,728
23 FAMILY GUY ADSM Wed 11:30P-12:00A 3,716
24 WHITE COLLAR USA Tue 09:00P-10:00P 3,714
25 PRETTY LITTLE LIARS FAM Tue 08:00P-09:00P 3,678

FOP Live Action

2011-06-06T14:43:00.000-07:00

An air date has finally been announced for the FOP live action special: Saturday July 9th!
Check out the preview on youtube:

By Request

2011-05-03T11:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sneak peak at the upcoming FOP special! It has it all!

Love!

Danger!!

Solid financial advice!!

No air date yet, but keep your eyes peeled.

Oh, and there will be 3 more specials after this one :)

Sneak Peek

2011-05-02T08:30:00.000-07:00

I just finished my board for the X-mas Special, and I thought I'd give you a (spoiler free) preview.

Trouble at the North Pole:

Christmas in prison :

Santa's last stop:

I gave a little extra love to the bg layouts because of a book my friend Tod Polson is working on. I can't give too much away, but if you have love for golden age animation BG's and layouts, 2012 is going to be a VERY good year!

Dream show

2011-04-27T09:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a little peek at a show I had in development a while ago.

The chances of getting a show on the air are slim, so I just tried to have fun. That's why I made the mini bible look like a little golden book. It was fun! I even printed it up the same size, mounted the cover on card stock and staple bound it. Just like a real Golden Book.

I based the main characters and the villain on my three favorite people in the whole world - which made it easy to write, and fun to make up stories for.

The project didn't move forward, but I wanted to show a little of my own work, and the kind of thing I'd make given the chance. I hope you like it

More Watch Dog

2011-04-27T09:09:00.001-07:00

More Great Ratings

2011-04-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

#16 in the Cable top 20... With a rerun!

Hey, I just got an idea for an episode: Dudley opens a pawn shop/ NBA franchise/beverage themed girl band wrestling team that picks through the junk of hoarders! What do you think?

Rank	Network	Program	Day	Viewers (millions)
1	HIST	Pawn Stars	Mon	6.45
2	HIST	Pawn Stars	Mon	6.15
3	TNT	NBA	Sun	6.00
4	DSNY	Lemonade Mouth	Fri	5.70
5	USA	WWE Raw	Mon	5.55
6	USA	WWE Raw	Mon	5.35
7	HIST	American Pickers	Mon	5.15
8	TNT	NBA	Sun	5.05
9	NICK	SpongeBob	Sat	4.85
10	NICK	SpongeBob	Sat	4.65
11	DSNY	Lemonade Mouth	Sun	4.55
12	DISC	The Deadliest Catch	Tue	4.35
13	NICK	SpongeBob	Sat	4.25
14	NICK	iCarly	Mon	4.00
15	NICK	Victorious	Sat	3.95
16	NICK	T.U.F.F. Puppy	Sat	3.95
17	NICK	SpongeBob	Sun	3.80
18	HIST	Swamp People	Thu	3.80
19	A&E	Storage Wars	Sun	3.80
20	NICK	SpongeBob	Wed	3.70

Watch Dog

2011-04-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Split screen/multi image/letterboxy fun

What a week

2011-03-09T11:45:00.000-08:00

More good news - Tuff Puppy has been nominated for "Best TV Series" at the 2011 Annecy International Animated Film Festival!

Annecy is the number one competitive international festival entirely dedicated to animation. The capacity to present and promote animation in all its different forms has made Annecy a world-wide point of reference for animation professionals.

Annecy 2011 will take place from June 6 – 11, 2011 in Annecy, France.

For a complete list of programs included in the competition, please visit their website at http://www.annecy.org/annecy-2011/festival/official-selection.

Tuff Puppy in the Cable Top 25 AGAIN!

2011-03-09T08:18:00.000-08:00

Check out Number 14!

Rank Program Network Day Time Viewers (000)

1 JERSEY SHORE 2B MTV Thu 10:00P-11:00P 7,772
2 WWE RAW USA Mon 10:00P-11:11P 5,610
3 WWE RAW USA Mon 09:00P-10:00P 5,599
4 SPONGEBOB NICK Sat 10:30A-11:00A 4,909
5 SPONGEBOB NICK Sat 10:00A-10:30A 4,703
6 SPONGEBOB NICK Sun 10:30A-11:00A 4,472
7 SPONGEBOB NICK Sat 09:30A-10:00A 4,399
8 ARMY WIVES LIFE Sun 09:00P-10:00P 4,228
9 SPONGEBOB NICK Sun 10:00A-10:30A 4,181
10 SPONGEBOB NICK Sun 09:30A-10:00A 4,110
11 GOOD LUCK CHARLIE DSNY Sun 08:00P-08:30P 4,059
12 SPONGEBOB NICK Sat 09:00A-09:30A 4,046
13 JERSEY SHORE AFTER HOURS MTV Thu 11:00P-11:30P 4,004
14 T.U.F.F. PUPPY NICK Sat 11:00A-11:30A 3,958
15 SPONGEBOB NICK Sun 09:00A-09:30A 3,945
16 American Pickers HIST Mon 09:00P-10:00P 3,911
17 PAWN STARS HIST Mon 08:30P-09:00P 3,898
18 SHAKE IT UP DSNY Sun 08:30P-08:55P 3,817
19 SUITE LIFE ON DECK DSNY Fri 08:00P-08:30P 3,806
20 SPONGEBOB NICK Mon 05:30P-06:00P 3,755
21 GAME, THE S4 BET Tue 10:00P-10:30P 3,746
22 SPONGEBOB NICK Thu 05:30P-06:00P 3,680
23 NCIS USA Mon 08:00P-09:00P 3,665
24 NCIS USA Mon 07:00P-08:00P 3,619
25 PAWN STARS HIST Mon 10:00P-10:30P 3,547

Thanks to everyone that watched!

Ratings Bonanza!

2011-02-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

FOP and TUFF Puppy continue to do well in the ratings! Check out the info on Thunderdog/Snapdad:

TUFF Puppy hit a series high across key demos

Delivered a 7.52 K2-11, 7.92 K6-11, 4.74 T9-14 and averaged 4.2 million total viewers (Sat 10a-1030a)
This was the highest TUFF Puppy episode of the series among K2-11, K6-11 and total viewers (for tweens it was the highest since the series premiere on 10/2/10)
TUFF Puppy retained approximately 90% of its SpongeBob lead-in among K2-11 and K6-11 while boys 6-11 grew slightly from the lead-in (+2%)
Big gains from the season to date average: +33% K2-11, +30% K6-11, +23% T9-14

And here's the breakdown on Love Triangle:

Most watched Fairly Odd Parents telecast since November 2009 with K2-11 and K6-11. Most watched Fairly Odd Parents telecast with Tweens since March 2008

Delivered a 5.56 K2-11, 6.38 K6-11, 5.06 T9-14 and averaged 3.4 million total viewers (11a-1130a)
On par among K2-11 versus year ago but up double digits among K6-11 (+20%) and Tweens (+31%) (yago: SB)
Compared to the prior four week average, FOP was on par among K6-11 and up +12% among T9-14
Strong retention out of Penguins, retaining 95% of K2-11, all of the K6-11 audience and growing +17% among Tweens

That's phenomenal news! Thanks for watching!

And thanks to Nickandmore.com for putting this all together!

Is it candy?

2011-02-14T08:54:00.000-08:00

Here's a few pages from my Thunder Dog board.

It was my favorite script from Season 1 of Tuff Puppy; and I was super stoked I got to board it.

More Tuff Puppy headed your way!

2011-02-08T11:21:00.001-08:00

It's official. Nick has just picked up 20 more half hours of TUFF Puppy!

Congratulations to our amazing crew!

2010 Annie Nomination

2010-12-14T08:21:00.000-08:00

Great news! I have been nominated for a 2010 Annie Award for my storyboarding work on Fairly Oddparents!

The complete board can be found online here:

http://frederatorblogs.com/odd/2010/12/07/congratulations-dave-thomas-2/

Add A Dad

2010-11-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

Whoops! My first TUFF Puppy Episode, Thunder Dog, won't air till much later this year, so until then, I'll continue to post FOP boards!

Season 7 had a lot of good scripts, but this was one of my favorites. Written by Kevin Sullivan, it all the things that I think make a great FOP story: a simple story, a problem kids can really relate to, a wish that creates lots of fun visuals, tons of jokes, and most importantly, HEART.

Squirrelly Puffs

2010-10-26T10:07:00.000-07:00

Anti Poof Pt 1

2010-10-25T12:10:00.001-07:00

Back to work on Fairly Oddparents! I started working for Butch Hartman way back on January 2, 2002! And I'm working for him again today - on Fairly Oddparents and a new show called Tuff Puppy. I can't show you any Tuff stuff till next week, when my episode, "Thunder Dog" airs - so until then I post some FOP work. So here are my first FOP boards after a 3 year Tigre sabbatical: Anti Poof Pts 1 and 2!!

Anti Poof Pt 2

2010-10-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last Dance

2010-07-28T06:51:00.000-07:00

Back To Escuella is the last El Tigre episode I directed.

The experience of the series was the high point of my career. I consider myself fortunate to have worked along side so many talented people. And we were lucky to work for a creator who trusted and encouraged us all to add our personalities to the production - to take risks, challenge ourselves, question how things were done, try something new, fail, learn from our mistakes, grow, and ultimately do the best work we could do.

It was a great time.

SDCC 2010!

2010-07-20T09:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you willing to brave the San Diego Comic Con on Saturday - I'll be on a panel:

11:30-12:30 Nickelodeon: Hartman’s Heroes: The Fairly OddParents and T.U.F.F. Puppy— Butch Hartman, creator of The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, and his all-star team — story editor Ray DeLaurentis(Shaggy and Scooby-Doo: Get a Clue!), art director George Goodchild (Danny Phantom), and producer Dave Thomas (El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera) — present Nickelodeon’s new animated action/comedyT.U.F.F. Puppy, starring iCarly‘s Jerry Trainor. Plus, you’ll get a sneak peek at what’s in store for Fairly OddParents as they prepare for the show’s 10th anniversary! Then, be the first to view never-before-seen footage of T.U.F.F. Puppy. Moderated by Stacey Kim, executive in charge for Nickelodeon. Room 24ABC

We'll also be doing a signing afterwards down at the Nickelodeon booth. Stop by and say "hi!"

Emmys!

2010-06-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night was a big night!

They pile up all the trophies on stage, like pirate booty!

This was the sign on my chair. I read it less as a seating assignment than an affirmational message. I'm going to start putting them on my friends chair's too.

This is the category I won:

It's the one category that you know you've won ahead of time, so I practiced my speech over and over and over again... For a week! - But the second I stepped on stage, my mind went blank! Thank goodness I made a cheat sheet with everybody's name on it. I'd post a picture of the notes to show you that they actually said, "WIFE," because I knew I'd forget. (I have in the past!) I swear, those stage lights take away 50 IQ points as soon as they hit you.

This is me, hugely relieved that I remembered to thank everybody. Whew!

Mustache Love

2010-06-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

The episodes featuring Raul The Mustache were good sweaty fun to make. Raul couldn't talk - he would change his shape to pantomime out his intent, and this forced the artists to be extremely creative. Luckily we had no shortage of creative board artists! Ricky Garduno was the first artist to try his hand at it, and did an amazing job with The Mustache Kid. Eddie Trigueros took it as a personal challenge to top him in Miracle City Undercover, and did some of his most clever and interesting work. Super artist Sean Szeles was up for the third one, Mustache Love, and did not disappoint either.

My main goal with the beat board was just to do a little of the heavy lifting ( crowd shots and location design.) and then to get out of Sean's way.

I still have regret fueled, guilt-nightmares over the was the massive multi-plane pan I drew - and made poor Roman Laney paint... Only to cut out of the finished cartoon.

If you're reading this Roman, I'm still sorry.

The Cuervo Project

2010-05-26T08:51:00.000-07:00

Episode 24. About this time, I felt like I was starting to hit my stride on El Tigre. Composing in depth, which I hadn't really done before, was starting to feel more natural. The visual structure was becoming more instinctive and less cerebral. And I also had developed a real love for the characters, espeically Zoe Avez.

I never really thought of her as evil. I though of her as tragic. Here was a girl with a crush on on a boy who didn't like her back - and who often took advantage of her. Her father was long gone, driven off by her evil and abusive mother, or perhaps done in my her Grandmother. Who wouldn't feel sorry for her? I was always rooting for her, and glad that in the end, she finally got a win.

Lightning strikes twice

2010-05-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Holy Cow! I won a second Emmy!

What's super rewarding about this win is that, since my son was born, I've been trying hard to balance being a good artist and a good father. I've given up working late nights, to make sure I'm there every night to give my son his bath, tuck him in and read him stories. This award makes me feel that I can have my cake and eat it too!

Here are a few images from the board. In the story Timmy wishes his Dad's lame magic act was real.

Crocker tricks his Way into becoming Dad's agent:

Dad plays goes on the road, and plays bigger and bigger venues:
Dad gives up fame for the love of his son:

Denzel Crocker becomes a fairy:

Silverwolf

2009-09-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

This episode was not only storyboarded by the Emmy winning Eddie Trigueros, he wrote the story as well! And what a story he wrote- full of love, betrayal and jealousy! Juicy stuff!

Jealousy is the funniest emotion as far as I'm concerned - and it's certainly my favorite to draw.

It's so shameful and socially unacceptable - and everyone tries so hard to pretend that they don't feel it - but everyone does.

But my favorite thing about jealousy makes sane people lose their minds in ways that are both terrifying and hilarious. Like the Astronaut that put on diapers to cross state lines and kidnap that woman. Terrifying and hilarious. She said she did it for love, but that was jealousy, pure 100% uncut, crazy jealousy. So once you establish that a character is jealous, they can do the craziest stuff, things that would normally be unthinkable, and it will ring true with an audience.

People do the same kind of thing when they're in love - which is why Frida acts like she does. They crap on their friends, turn their back on their family... All good stuff too.

And The Winner is...

2009-08-30T09:35:00.001-07:00

El Tigre!!! Four times!!!!

Our crew made a sweep, bringing home four Emmys for the little tiger that could

Jorge Gutierrez for Character Design

Jerry De Jesus for Production Design

Eddie Trigueros for his EL TIGRE board - Frida's Brain

And The Director's won for Best Directing!!!

The winning episode was "The Good The Bad And El Tigre."

Check out the beat boards below!!

Big Night This Saturday

2009-08-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody,

Wish the El Tigre Directing crew luck on Saturday night. We're nominated for an Emmy!

Jorge and Jerry DeJesus have already won in their Individual Achievement categories, for Character Design and Production Design. Tigre alumnus Eddie Trigueros also won for Storyboard on The Mighty B! Hopefully we directors can keep up with out super talented colleagues!

Here are the beat boards for Chupacabros. There are only four more Tigre beatboards after this. Then I'll start posting beatboards from my current job - The Fairly Oddparents.

Mech Daddy

2009-01-12T08:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a huge giant robot nerd. Working in Los Angeles, you don't get a chance to direct many shows about giant robots. So when Jorge gave me a chance, I really wanted to do a good job.

One thing I tried to do was push the contrasts - between close ups and wide shots:
Contrasts of small objects and large objects
Between wanton destruction and suburban life

Three dimensional character movement and two dimensional character movement.
Contrast between dark interiors and bright interiors
The rockets not starting was a little experiment in adding tension...

There's a killer shot missing here of Giant Robot Sanchez flying above the clouds with his children in his hand - and the bright sun at his back. It was put in after the pitch because of a suggestion by Audrey Diehl -one of our Network Executives, who always had really good ideas.

I think the shot worked so well because it nicely contrasted all of the tension built up at the end of the sequence.

Contrast between fast cuts and long cuts. This last shot ended up over 20 seconds long. The previous 20 shots were all shorter than three.

It was an experiment, and I think it came off. And if we had more episodes, I definitely would have tried to do more.

Tigre + Curevo

2009-01-05T08:27:00.000-08:00

This was the last beat board I did before Gabe Swarr became our second Director. Prior to this I had directed every episodes myself. It was an awesome experience, but mentally and physically I was at my limit - and you can see at the end of the beatboard, my arm just gave out.

After Gabe came on, life got a lot better, and so did the shows. With half my Directing workload lifted, there was a lot more time to spend on everything! As the Supervising Producer I still worked on every episode. But with a super genius like Gabe at the helm, I didn't have to worry about much. His episodes are some of our best. My only regret is that we didn't promote him sooner.

FRIDA'S BRAIN

2008-12-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

In 1982, Thriller taught the world a fact little known out side of monster circles: Zombies are excellent dancers. That, and syncronised dancing is terrifying.

Since then little has been done with either. We on El Tigre are proud to have done our part to bring the horror of syncronised dance to a new generation, and I think we managed to maintain and honor the proud dancing zombie tradition, picking up the mantle our forefathers dropped.

Board artist Eddie Trigueros and I both drew our dance inspiration from figures of animation history. Eddie looked to legendary animator Ub Iwerk's Skeleton Dance. I looked to animation great MC Scat Cat, and his colaboration with Paula Abdul

Alt Ending

2008-10-13T08:10:00.001-07:00

Oops! I forgot to post my beatboards for the alternate ending. Some of my best work too!... Or at least the stuff I had the most fun drawing. Something about Tigre being evil really inspired me. It was also really rewarding to finally give Frida a legitimate hero moment. Her lack of super powers made her the butt of jokes thruout the series, so it felt great to board her one moment in the sun.

Ricky Garduno and Eddie Trigueros added tons of great stuff in their boards. Directing duities were completed excellently by Gabe Swarr.

Animales!

2008-10-06T08:36:00.000-07:00

This was our attempt at a (mostly) silent episode - which is a really hard thing to do on a TV budget and schedule. Luckily everyone rose to the occasion. Scott Kreamer wrote a great script. Artist Sean Szeles added hilarious gags and did an amazing board. Boulder did the best TV animation of the year. And Composer Shawn Patterson did some of his finest work as well.

Good Bad El Tigre Pt 2

2008-09-04T09:26:00.001-07:00

Back to posting.

Seven weeks ago we put El Tigre to bed officially. A sad, premature end to a great show.

Now I'm back working with my old friends on Fairly Oddparents, and a few new friends too.

But back to Tigre. I had been holding off on posting because we're not supposed post art for shows that haven't aired, and I thought I was out of broadcast shows. Turns out I was wrong.

Here's Pt 2 of The Good, The Bad, and El Tigre - which at the time I thought would be our last episode. A lot of fans did too.

Luckily we got 6 more half hours after this - all of which have now aired, and all of which I will be posting in the weeks to come.

Enjoy

The Good The Bad and El Tigre

2008-06-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the greates motion picture of all time, Jean Claude VanDamme's Bloodsport, The Good the Bad And El Tigre is one ofd my favorites.

We had originally wanted all El Tigre episodes to be half an hour long. After the pilot we knew that the kind of stories Jorge wanted to tell would be difficult to tell in 11 minutes. With 30, we could tell an epic story, had lots of action and relax the pacing to let the jokes breathe. The Good The Bad And El Tigre gives you a pretty good look at what we had in mind.

Mother's Glove

2008-06-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

I had a feeling that the episode with the super sexy super hero lady would get some extra love from the fellas on the crew - both at home and in Ireland... And I was right! Everyone did an amazing job on this episode, from Sean Szeles' board, through Boulder's animation, up to Shawn Patterson's music. All top notch!

Cactus Kid

2008-06-02T14:36:00.001-07:00

Cactus Kid is by far the strangest El Tigre episode... Which is why I love it! We thought the strangemess would put a lot of people off, but we've gotten some of our best fan feedback from this episode.

There was a valid concern expressed at the script phase that Tigre sliceing up the Cactus Monsters might be too graphic. So we went with a sort of David Fincher/Friz Freeling solution to the problem.

Instead of actually seeing Tigre slice up the monsters, we implied it by cutting to reaction shots of Frida and Granpapi, and splattering cactus juices across their faces.

Wrong And Dance

2008-05-27T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wrong and Dance is the second cartoon of our strongest half hour. Another great personality driven story, executed with great imagination by Ricky Garduno.

Charlie Update

2008-05-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

My boy is growing fast. He's 12 pounds now, and almost half as tall as his mother! (He's 24 inches tall, and she's 64 inches.... Okay, that math doesn't really work, but he is getting really big!)
I haven't seen Speed Racer or Iron Man, and I'm probably going to miss Indiana Jones too. This is what I do with my time instead:

...Which is way more rewarding to me. Charlie loves picture books, and I love reading them to him. M. Sasek's books are his favorites. He kicks his legs and squeels at the good pictures - which is pretty much all of them. He also likes to babble along with me as I read to him. It's a hoot.

So if you see me around, I won't be able to give you my opinion on the new Hulk tor GTA 4. But, if you need any facts on the Saturn rocket, or the name of the first monkey in space, I'm your man!

Love And War

2008-05-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

Something really cool happens in second seasons. After a dozen or so half hours, the artists and writers figure out the characters, and move away from plot driven stories and gags, toward personality driven stories and jokes.

Love and War marked that turning point in Tigre. We knew the characters well enough that we could start looking for entertainment not just the situations, but how the individual characters reacted to them. From this point on the episodes just got better and better, for as long as it lasted.

...Not that I did any of that in my beatboards. I continued to focus on the visual structure, and action - leaving all the juicy stuff to the people who are way beter at it than me. In this case, the phenominal Eddie Trigueros.

Crouching Tigre

2008-04-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

I like all of the individual parts of this episode. The music, the script, the board, the animation - they're all really good, but they don't really come together as a whole, which, as the director, is my fault. So, appologies to everyone on this episode. But we did come back gangbusters on,"Love and War," amd Wrong and Dance!"

Burrito's Little Helper

2008-04-21T08:54:00.001-07:00

Grave Escape Pt 2

2008-04-07T14:31:00.000-07:00

One great thing about digital storyboarding is that it makes it easy to experiment with lighting. The shading and color effects can be added on a separate layer behind the line art, so if they don't work out they can easily be deleted without damaging the original.

It's easy to get carried away and over render your panels. But on the flip side - you can also use tones to pull masses together out of very rough sketches

I'm just starting to get my feet wet here - but by later episodes I really dove in. Hope you like them.

It's a boy!

2008-04-02T10:22:00.001-07:00

Sorry about the lack of new posts, but I've undertaken a new project: Fatherhood.

I've taken some time off to spend with him. Most of the day I just stare and smile.

Those are great days.

Grave Escape Pt 1

2008-02-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

First boards done 100% in Photoshop

One of our best episodes. Some of my best work. Some of everyone's best work, I think.

Animated in Hollywood, USA - by the great 6 Point Harness Studio.

Coup De Race

2008-02-19T09:59:00.000-08:00

Here's the last of the beat boards done in Corel Painter. At this point in the production, the general instability of Painter was costing us more time than it saved. I had to finish with pencil and paper to make the deadline.

After this it was all Photoshop.

Coup De Race was animated by the supurb 6 Point Harness studio in Hollywood, and they really delivered.

Musically, the cartoon tips the hat at Hair Metal Masters , Motley Crue. And I've never seen Composer Shawn Patterson happier!

El Tigre Wins!

2008-02-09T14:14:00.000-08:00

Holy Cow! El Tigre won the Annie last night for Best Television Production for Children!

To stand on the same stage as three of my biggest animation heroes, Brad Bird, John K and Glen Keane...Unbelievable!

Here's what I wanted to say last night, but forgot the instant I stepped up to the podium:

An award like this belongs to the entire crew, so I'd like to thank everyone - both at home and abroad, who worked so hard to make something we can all be proud of.

I would like to give a special thanks to our friends at Boulder Media for giving us the best animation on TV.

Also a special thanks to Shawn Patterson for his beautiful music.

A big thank you to Tim Yoon, the World's Greatest Line Producer.

And a big thank you to Jorge and Sandra for letting us not just work on, but really be a part of their wonderful creation.

A few pictures:

Sandra, Jorge, Me and Tim Yoon - World's Greatest Line Producer!

World's Toughest Composer Shawn Patterson!

Me, Annie Nominated super genius animator Monica Kennedy, her friend, Annie winner Sandra Equihua, and DOUBLE Annie winner Jorge Gutierrez!

Eye Caramba

2008-02-05T10:14:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a script wouldn't be ready when beatboard were due to begin. When that would happen, I would talk with the writers to find out what the network was happy with and what was likely to change.

In the case of Eye Caramba, the only thing we were sure of was that there would be a fight at the end.

As a side note, one of the things that did get approved (and boarded) was a sequence where the Mayor's goons torture and murder White Pantera's hero liscence.

We cut it for length and taste reasons.

Dia De Los Malos

2008-01-28T11:26:00.000-08:00

El Tigre Happy Meal Toys at McDonnald's!

2008-01-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

Check em out:

http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/standalone.html?s=ElTigreIntro&swfW=772&ID=&swf=/en_US/swf3/sections/toys/elTigreIntro.swf&bgc=%23000000&swfH=450&bs=ElTigreToys#ElTigreIntro

Here's the TV ad if you missed it:

http://www.happymeal.com/en_US/index.html#Video_PageELTIG

Sadly there's no Frida, but a prototype was made. She's a little thick in the middle to accomodate a walking mechanism:

There was also a Chipotle Jr - which was totally awesome. I don't know why he wasn't made.

Get 'em while you can!

La Tigressa

2008-01-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

La Tigressa is a Frida driven story - so direction wise, I didn't want it to feel like a Manny driven episode. Frida's personality is a bit more aggressive than Manny's, so I attempted to reflect that in the pacing and shot choices of the cartoon.

A big inspiration was Paul Greengrass, director of the Bourne Identity and the Bourne Supremacy. He created a sort of impressionistic style of editing action sequences. They move so quickly you can't tell exactly what's going on - so what you're left with is a feeling.

That's what I was attempting to do in the montage sequence of La Tigressa. Not just simply, literally, illustrating what she did with her new found powers - but trying to convey her feeling of exhilaration through the editing.

Wether it was successful, I don't know. But that was the theory anyway! And it was an awful lot of fun.

Bride of Puma Loco

2008-01-10T08:03:00.001-08:00

The script for The Bride Of Puma Loco was terrific: fun premise, personality driven humor, and settings and situations that lent themselves to lots of visual contrast.

The opening sequence was the first storyboarding assignment for Animator and Animatic Editor Sean Szeles. His first board pitch blew everyone away, and he's become even better since!

Happy New Year

2008-01-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

People Magazine published it's list of the ten best television shows of 2007, and El Tigre made the list. What a great way to start the new year!

Clash of the Titan

2007-12-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

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

2007-12-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

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.

Mother of All Tigres

2007-08-13T18:26:00.000-07:00

Mother of all Tigres is one of my favorite episodes, because it offered the most interesting set of challenges yet.

It was Nickelodeon's first on screen family break up, which presented a whole host of hurdles.

Lots of kids come from divorced families, but the last thing we wanted to do was remind kids of the pain of their parents divorce.

It was also the introduction of Manny's Mom, Maria, who we needed to establish as a likable character - even though she essentially abandons her husband and child to pursue a career as a musician in the very first sequence we see her in. Not the best first impression a character can make!

So, for the walking out sequence, shorter seemed better. After two days, I boiled it down to six panels. Even at that it seemed like a pretty bitter pill to take - so it's immediately followed with gags - Granpapi bouncing in on a tiny donkey, and his blimp crashed into a hamburger stand. - to take your mind off it.

As for making Maria likable - half of the work was done by Sandra Equihua's super appealing character design. I mangled her pretty bad in my drawings, but on TV it's really hard to take your eyes off Maria! The other half was done by the superb storyboarding Of Eddie Trigueros, whose great acting and funny drawings really made her come to life.

Corel Painter Blues

2007-07-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

Corel Painter 9 was the standard program we used for digital storyboarding. It was a great application – super easy to learn, and the tools really mimicked traditional media well. Unlike Photoshop it was designed to paint pictures, so it could do a really good job without too much customization of brushes, or writing of scripts. Unfortunately there were a few problems. Problem #1 It crashed constantly. Problem #2 The default Painter RIFF format would fragment our hard drives like crazy. Problem #3 The RIFF format would frequently get corrupted resulting in the “green screen of death” - a lime green layer that would destroy all of the art in a file. And all attempts to find a work around just made things weirder. To avoid disk fragmentation these Riffs were saved as Photoshop PSD’s. But for whatever reason, every time I’d open them, the images would get turn blue! First time – a little blueish tint. Second time - more blue. Third time – almost totally blue! And after they were uploaded – they turned brown, yellow and purple! Maybe Painter 10 is better…..

Old Money

2007-06-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

This is the episode that got me to wondering if Jorge had sold his soul. He comes up with too many awesome designs too fast for their to be any other explaiantion. And every character has an amazing back story! I particularly love Jorge's old man designs.Super unique, and really fun to draw!

One interesting side note about this episode - we had to pull out the gag where Manny and Frida smash mail boxes as a prank. Turns out that's a Federal Crime, with serious time behind it! So, lession learned - "Characters can't commit felonies."

Unforgiven

2007-06-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

Zebra Donkey is another episode based on life experience.

In seventh grade, the most popular class was Life Science. The room was full of cool animals like snakes, lizards, hamsters and guinea pigs, but the most popular by far was the tarantula. Guys would put it on their biceps - pose for yearbook pictures with it. Girls would let it nest in their hair, or try to find its spider lips and kiss it.

Because there was only one spider and several hundred seventh graders, love time with the tarantula was in very short supply - so it was rationed out by the teacher - bestowed as a high honor upon the highest quiz score recipients.

This made most kids study like crazy. But for me, hating spiders, it had just the opposite effect.
Life Science was my favorite class - but I made sure to get at least one wrong answer on every quiz so I wouldn't have to hold the hairy monster.

At the end of the year party I thought I was in the clear. But the teacher, an equitable and just woman, had been keeping track of the spider love time, and noticed I hadn't had any. To my horror she made a big deal in front of the whole class about righting this injustice, and before I knew it, the beast was on top of my hand.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. And to be honest, I kind of enjoyed basking in the reflected glow of the spider's celebrety.

But then disaster. Right then and there- in front of the whole class, the spider did something it had never done before - it bit. It must have known I secretly hated it, and out of pure malace it gave me a chomp. It hurt like ten bee stings all in the same spot. I flinched. The spider fell.

Later that day word went out the the student body that the tarantula had passed away. The campus mourned.

Needles to say, the last four hours of the school day represent an all time low for my popularity.
People refused to acknowledge that I had been bit, and eventually the story was twisted to the point of me spiking the thing like a football.

Lucky for me summer is long, and kids forget. I replaced the spider, and to this day I go well out of my way to be nice to spiders - because - even though I've forgotten most of what I learned in that class, one thing stuck with me. Spiders have thousands of childern - and one day, one of them may come looking for revenge.

El Tigre El Jefe

2007-05-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

Some stories are a lot harder to pull off than others. This was one of them. But thanks to the awesome storyboard by Eddie Trigueros, great music by Shawn Patterson, and beautifully executed animation by Boulder, this one turned out in the end.

Adios Amigos

2007-05-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite episodes for a number of reasons. It has lot of heart, a great board by Ricky Garduno, terrific music by Shawn Patterson, and stunningly great direction by Roman Laney and Tod Polson.

The inspiration for this episode came from a traveling carnival that had set up in my neighborhood church parking lot (presumably so that when the amusements fell apart, the prayers of those aboard could be more easily heard by the Almighty.) Definitely the kind of place that only people actively courting danger could enjoy. People like Manny and Frida.

Visually, we needed somewhere even cooler than a carnival to stage our climax, so naturally we went with secret volcano lair. The Pantera Pit obviously owes a lot to the bat cave, but to me it was more a nod to the greatest secret volcano lair ever, Ernst Blofeld's, rocket snatching headquarters in 1967's, "You Only Live Twice."

...If only we could have had ninjas attack at the end.

Famous Artist's School

2007-04-14T13:41:00.000-07:00

The early 90's were a dark period in art education. Most of the instructors were of a mindset that rejected formal training in favor of, "having an experience with materials."

When I expressed my frustration to an instructor, he dismissively said, "Well if that's all you want to know, you should enroll in the Famous Artist's Course. "

So I did. And that's where I learned to draw.

The books were written by the most successful commercial artists and illustrators of the 1940's and 50's - guys like Norman Rockwell and Robert Fawcett, and they didn't hold anything back. Every drop of information they knew about the craft of creating art went into the course.

If you're frustrated with the quality of the art instruction you're recieving,
I can't recommend this course highly enough:
FAMOUS ARTIST'S SCHOOL

Fool's Goal

2007-04-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

Jorge's hand out to us was very simple, "Make the greatest soccer cartoon, ever!" I don't know if we did, but me and board artist Kevin Kaliher sure had a lot of fun trying.

Kevin and I both played soccer growing up, and it just so happend that the World Cup was on at the time. The highlight reels of the Brazillian team provided a lot of inspiraton!

Sole of a Hero

2007-03-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

One of the ways we come up with stories on El Tigre is to think about the worst things we did as kids. This episode is based on the time I "borrowed" my Dad's Corvette...and forgot to remove the parking break.

Diligent observers will notice a big change from the beatboard to what wound up on screen. White Pantera's "Power Punch Pick" was originally written as a punch, not a kick. After the storyboard pitch, it became obvious that our boot themed hero should have a kick as his big move.