Monday, August 8, 2011

Waging Wabbits and Scribner Joy

This is by far one of the greatest Bugs Bunnies ever made. Directed by Bob Clampett, and mostly animated by Rod Scribner, this film is animated ecstacy. This cartoon always makes me proud to be a cartoonist, mainly because it's the kind of film I'd love to make: pure wackiness, incredible acting, amazing jokes, and wonderful charcters.
This the famous scene in the film, amazingly animated by Rod Scribner. When you look at it frame by frame, it looks almost disconected, but when you see it move, it flows by so smoothly.
When I first saw this cartoon, it was a revolation. The fact that it moved different than the other director's cartoons. The extreme wrinkles, perfect construction, wonderful wackiness, the feeling this gave me was different, but exilerating.
Scribner always drew realistic teeth on his characters.
Somehow, it adds to the fun of it all.
Also, kudos to Mel Blanc for probably the best Bugs Bunny performance he ever did.
The rhythm of his voice is wonderful to hear. It's extreme and and almost violent, yet still retains it's fun appeal and that kinduv thing. This, and his Sylvester in "Birds Anoynimous" are probably his greatest performances ever.
God, Scribner draws beautiful hands!
And tons of goofy expressions!
The zanniness grows.

Nice use of carrot chunks.
On an artist level, this pose is brilliant. Great expression, flowing line of action, and the weight on Bugs is magnificent.
More carrot chunks!



Scribner always drew great, big eyes - a big influence on me.


Nice lip action here.
Boy does Bugs have tons of manic expressions here! They're all filled with those big eyes and teeth!
Bugs looks like an insane murderer!



Nice close-up on Bugs' toes - Note 4 on the the clode-up and 3 on the other foot.
These wrinkles just crack me up!
These faces just get weirder and weirder!









MORE TEETH!
These two expressions (above and below) are two delightfully odd faces.

Clampett had an bizare habit: he'd frequently switch animators in the middle of a scene, mostly between Scribner and McKimson, like above. Maybe Clampett liked to see the difference between two great animatiors (and directors).

This cartoon isinspirational, and you can find this and other Clampett classics on these:


















The Origins of Shorty Duck

I now introduce you to the one and only Shorty Duck, the leader of my merry cartoon stars.
I created wen I was young. Probably since I was 7 or 8, inspired by Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker to create my own character. He's evolved a lot over the years and still is front and center.
Shorty started out as a regular wiseacre smart-aleck, who regularly beat up on poor old Carl Cat.
But after being exposed to the aforementioned cartoon characters, the comics of Robert Crumb abd Vaughn Bode, and the comedy of Groucho Marx and Doug Walker (the Nostalgia Critic), Shorty was born again. Here is really what the character is summed up in:
-He's mischivious
-He's incredibly smart and maripulative
-He's a womanizer who lusts after women, but in a calm and cool way
-He is incredibly violent and loud-mouthed, yet is subtle and foxy
-Knows how to take control, yet can easily go crazy with it
-Insane, but with self-control
-Can get jealous and angry easily

           He's also evolved from Looney Tune-type protagonist to a villian for another character of mine, Captain Aardvark (whom I'll show you in another post) to pretty much both. He's by far my favorite character I've made and he's the one I'm most proud of.