Archive for the ‘writing’ Category

Tuesday, January 31st, 2023

Story: The Greatest Cartoon Writer Of All Time

Warren Foster

The other day, a discussion on cartoon writing erupted in response to recent posts on the subject in John Kricfalusi’s blog. One of John’s main points is that the golden age cartoons that we all regard as the greatest cartoons ever created were written by cartoonists as storyboards, not written in words as scripts. In support of his argument, he presented video clips of Walt Disney and Walter Lantz discussing the qualifications of the people who wrote their cartoons. (See also, Page 5 of the 1938 Disney Training Manual).

typewritertypewriterThe scriptwriters in the comments dismissed John K’s points as old fashioned and irrelevant to the current scene, while expressing respect of a general sort for the classic cartoons of the past. They claimed that it was just a matter of John’s personal tastes, not a reflection on the effectiveness of the process itself. They never seemed to address the fact that prior to 1960 stories for cartoons weren’t created and developed with words in script form- they were drawn. In listening to these arguments by current cartoon scriptwriters, I began to wonder how much they really knew about the process used to make the classic cartoons they expressed respect for. I posed a simple question…

Who was your favorite golden age cartoon writer?

It’s a fair question- one that I’ve heard animators discuss and argue about on many occasions. Surely current cartoon writers would have golden age writer heros, just like animators study golden age animators like Milt Kahl or Grim Natwick

Disney Story Dept

Disney story man, Joe Rinaldi

But none of the scriptwriters participating in the discussion could name a single golden age cartoon writer. The only names they could mention were other current scriptwriters, or novelists, journalists and live action screenwriters who worked in totally different media. They had no idea who pioneered their profession and the process these people used to create cartoons for nearly half a century. To be fair, this sort of ignorance of the history of our craft isn’t just limited to writers. I’ve heard the same sort of admissions of ignorance from producers and directors, as well as artists and animators.

Here is an example of a story by my favorite golden age story man… Warren Foster.

Warren FosterWarren Foster Warren Foster is responsible for writing many of the greatest cartoons ever made… He started as a gag man on Fleischer’s Popeye series in New York, and moved West in 1938 to join Bob Clampett at Warner Bros. He wrote a string of classic cartoons… "Coal Black And De Sebben Dwarfs", "Birdy And The Beast", "Falling Hare", "Baby Bottleneck", "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery", and perhaps Bugs Bunny’s most shaded performance, "Tortoise Wins By A Hare".

After Clampett’s departure from the studio, he wrote for McKimson ("Gorilla My Dreams", "Easter Yeggs", "The Foghorn Legorn") and Freleng ("Ballot Box Bunny", "Bugs And Thugs", "Birds Anonymous"). Freleng said that Foster was the best story man he ever worked with. In the TV era, Foster wrote episodes of Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, The Jetsons and The Flintstones.

Here is a storyboard by Foster from his days at Hanna-Barbera. This is a model of clarity and simplicity, designed to meet the stringent economics imposed on TV animation at the time. This is a board from the pilot episode of The Yogi Bear Show.

Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster
Warren Foster

WHAT ABOUT ADVENTURE SHOWS
AND COMIC STRIPS?

In his article, "Detour Guide For An Armchair Marco Polo", master comic strip storyteller, Milton Caniff writes…

There has been a tendency recently for artists to automatically assume they cannot write their own stories because they see so many double by-lines. I contend that any man who can invent pictures can invent situations and dialogue. In fact, it should be easier for the artist to pilot his own action because he is not likely to write himself into one of those undrawable dilemmas in manuscripts about which illustrators have complained for years. –Milton Caniff

Sound familiar?

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.

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Wednesday, June 15th, 2022

Story: Terry-Toons Storyboard by Jim Tyer

Jim Tyer Storyboard

Archive supporter, Wynn Hamonic shared a real treasure with us today. This is a complete storyboard by Terry-Toons’ most unique animator, Jim Tyer. It’s a great batch of drawings. Terry-Toons art is very scarce, and complete storyboards are even scarcer.

Around 1959 Tyer did storyboards for at least three films in the format of Paul Terry’s early Aesop’s Fables cartoons. The first one, “The Tiger King” (1960) was released, the other two were unproduced. This storyboard, titled “Blood is Thicker Than Water” is particularly interesting because it includes both finished panels and roughed out ones. This gives us a chance to examine Tyer’s working process and see how he planned out his compositions. At Terry-Toons, storyboards were done on full sheets of animation paper and attached to the wall by binder clips. You can see Carlo Vinci and Connie Rasinski pitching a board at Terry-Toons in this photo…

Terry Production Process

It appears that Tyer swept through the board quickly with blue pencil first, roughing in the basic compositions and poses. Then he (or his assistant) went back and began to tighten up the drawings in black pencil over the top of his roughs.

Jim Tyer Storyboard

The cartoon was evidently designed for fairly limited animation. It would even have worked well as an animatic in the style of the earliest Crusader Rabbit cartoons. The story is told primarily in voice over narration- see the breakdown of the VO script at the top. Tyer’s amazing expressions and fun designs make the whole thing work beautifully.

I’d like to thank Wynn Hamonic for giving Animation Resources the opportunity to digitize this important piece of Terry-Toons history for our permanent collection. Enjoy the genius of Jim Tyer!

Jim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard
Jim Tyer StoryboardJim Tyer Storyboard

Stephen Worth
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.

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Thursday, November 18th, 2021

Story: Alvin Show Pilot Board

Alvin Show Pilot Board

This is a very special post. Here is the complete storyboard to the pilot cartoon for The Alvin Show (1961). This is the board that Format Films and Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (aka: David Seville) used to pitch the show to the networks. It was probably done by Disney/UPA storyman, Leo Salkin. Salkin was the Associate Producer on the series and handled a lot of the story duties, working side by side with Bagdasarian to develop both the Chipmunk and Clyde Crashcup cartoons.

Alvin Show Pilot Board

I know that this might look like a checkerboard on your screen at this resolution. I made an extra effort to make the large size images big enough for you to read clearly, so please click on the pages and take the time to sit down and read this from beginning to end. I think you’ll be amazed at how well it plays in your head. It’s like you’re watching the cartoon.

Alvin Show Pilot Board

The drawings are simple, yet funny and expressive. Note how the compositions frame the action clearly, without clutter. Many current TV shows repeat the same oblique two-shot setups over and over. But this board keeps things interesting through clever staging and cutting.This is truly a model for television storyboard artists to follow. Enjoy!

Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board
Alvin Show Pilot Board

Stephen Worth
Director
Animation Resources

Animated CartoonsAnimated Cartoons

This posting is part of the online Encyclopedia of Cartooning under the subject heading, Animation.

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