Some Junk To To Tide Things Over

Mike's Thrills

Raising The Kids Right

I Wish I Had It

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even more HB Toys

sorry I haven't put any thrilling posts up latelyI'm kinda burnt out on cartoon theories for the moment-or at least writing about themhowever, I always love when Mike Fontanelli sends me these wacky toy images, so I just put 'em up in case anyone else likes funny toys tooI would love to be in the board meeting when someone says "I got it! We'll make a line of Yogi toys where all the characters

Doggie Mommy Suckles His Young

Mother Nature is amazing.The mammalian teat is such a utilitarian and beautiful piece of equipment.As are other things.

Here

Boys were built differently in the stone age.Ed Benedict told me that a lot of animators didn't like animating "UPA" style characters because they couldn't turn them around.But there were some excellent toy sculptors who didn't seem to have any problem doing it. I love how these designs of Ed's are so full of subtle angles and carefully designed asymmetry - and the sculptor caught it all! Today

Things I Wish I Had

If only they made these slippers in my size.

Yearning For Cockamamies

Who can live without skin pictures?Skin was a much cheaper printing surface than paper in the 1960s.Remember the song? "Cockamamies, Cockamamies,Made from Human Skin.They will lift your spirits highHow they'll make you grin.Hide your blemishes and pimplesWipe away your molesDrape your flesh in CockamamiesPurify your souls...Flintstone FlintstoneFred and WilmaBarney, Dino TooClothe your flesh in

Eisenberg Studies

I like how Eisenberg controls all his shapes and spaces to make clear readable and appealing poses. He is an extremely clever cartoonist and I am slowly learning some of his techniques.and here is an old Flintstone sketch I found.

Teeny Tinykins

These are some of the best mouth theories I have seen on toys.Some pretty appealing eyes too.We used to get these toys for free in Colgate toothpaste and Lipton's Tea. The tea would stain your teeth and the toothpaste would clean the stains. These tiny little toys would reward the never ending cycle of tooth destruction and renewal.They also sometimes sold huge bags stuffed full of Teeny Tinykins

BathTime

Hanna Barbera characters love to watch each other bathe.http://funkyhb.blogspot.com/2010/09/bubble-bath-bumper.html

Reality Host

http://funkyhb.blogspot.com/2010/09/meeces-doodles.html

What If Milt Gross Drew HB Characters?

I was thinking about how HB cartoonists blended their different styles into interesting new combinations and wondered what would have happened if some of my other favorite cartoonists had worked on the cartoons.Like what if Milt Gross had done the layouts on a picture or 2?Some random scribbles...PLAY THIS WHILE JINKS CHASES MEECESI also wonder who decided which parts of cartoon characters have

Classic Character Studies

When I want to learn how to draw classic characters, I don't only look at the model sheets but it's a good place to start. I try to find the earliest incarnations first.After studying the models I then also look at animators' drawings, storyboard drawings, toys and comic book or comic strip drawings too.I look for the most appealing incarnations of the characters and try to incorporate them all

Papa Yogi: George Nicholas

Limited animation done rightHere's a good Yogi cartoon animated by George Nicholas and laid out by Walter Clinton.The drawings and animation are cartoony and stylish at the same time. It show hows when you don't force (good) artists to trace model sheets you can get unique and funny cartoons - even when they only cost $3,000 for 6 minutes.One thing I love about the earliest HB cartoons is that

More HB Doodles

HB GAG REMINDERS

Jinks Is Iconic - a Real Character

A lot of animation fans, particularly of my generation, were mad at Hanna Barbera's limited animation cartoons and blamed them for ruining animation. I admit they sure had a big part in that.But they also created some iconic characters, which is not an easy thing to do.When they started limiting their animation, they must have figured they had no choice but to find some new creative aspect of

Harder Angles

Forcing New Information To Stick In The Brain

I copied a couple of my HB Rubber toys to see what I could glean for future use. (HB characters make the best toys)I took two characters and turned them to see what general characteristics they had in common,and what features were specific to the particular design of each. Whatever they had in common might tell me about what happens to cartoon faces when rotated - and more, what happens when toys