Another Cartoonatics Milestone

Steven Spielberg Bop Bag by Bruce Timm

Here's a caricature of Steven Spielberg as drawn with markers by Bruce Timm on the back of a Yogi Bear Bop Bag.  Circa 1992, back in the Tiny Toons/Batman era.   

The inflated version...it has been inflated since '92!

And below, the deflated version. 

 ....and signed by Bruce Timm. 

 

Cartoonatics' 2nd Anniversary: July 9, 2010-July 9, 2012

Thanks for stopping by over the past two years.  

Gnu with the Gnews.

Platypus Duck, checkerboard, incoming.

Red Zebra in shades.

Rex at dinnertime.

The Alps.

Hello Nurse and Dr. Scratchansniff

As they appear in the Animaniacs full-color main model line-up, circa 1993:  Hello Nurse and Dr. Otto Scratchansniff.  

A Cartoonatics Milestone

"Tiny Toon Adventures" Early Logo -- Part 3

Here's yet another previously-unpublished Tiny Toon Adventures logo, circa 1990.  This one was among the finalists before we settled on the rings logo.   I believe a variation of this piece was used in some preliminary promotional art.  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Histeria's Father Time and the (Big Fat) New Year's Baby.   

Farewell, 2011, we hardly knew ye!  And welcome, 2012!

May the new year be a great one for all of you, and for everyone important in your lives.  

"Iggy" by Milt Gross

Of all the oddball characters drawn and created by Milt Gross, Iggy is by far my favorite.

   

In the "Count Screwloose of Tooloose" comic strip (1929-1934), Iggy is the emotionally unstable pooch with a Napoleonic complex who resides at the Nuttycrest Sanitarium along with the other patients, including Count Screwloose.   Iggy is hopelessly devoted to the Count, who is constantly escaping from the asylum, leaving Iggy behind in a state of utter distress and nonstop weeping at the thought of being away from the Count for even a moment.  Outside the walls of Nuttycrest, the Count invariably finds the real world to be much crazier than the nuthatch, and in the final panel of each Sunday strip, we find the Count racing back to Nuttycrest, where Iggy reacts with tears of joy at the return of his beloved pal.   Every time the Count jumps back into the compound, he calls out:  "Iggy, keep an eye on me!"

Milt Gross's drawings of Iggy were always a batch of fast and frantic lines that captured extreme cartoony emotions, filled with goofy expressions, tics, laughter and tears. 

At some point during the course of the strip -- and by the time Gross arrived at MGM to make a couple of Count Screwloose cartoons --  he had replaced Iggy with a different cartoon pooch named J.R., who didn't have a hundredth of the demented personality of Iggy. 

There have been many great cartoon dogs in the history of  comics, and while Iggy may not be one of the most famous of the group, he is truly one of the funniest and most emotive, quirky and unique canine creations in the realm of comics and cartoons.   

Cartoon Constellations Chart from "Film Comment" (1975)

Back in 1975, when I was in the thick of making my first animated cartoon, Film Comment came out with an all-cartoon issue, which included an interview with Chuck Jones, one of my major animation heroes.  This issue also featured a poster-sized wall chart by Joe Adamson (author of "Tex Avery:  King of Cartoons") that highlighted the major cartoon stars from each Hollywood studio during the Golden Era.  This chart went on my wall in '75 and stayed on my wall, wherever I happened to be working, until the early 90's when it started to disintegrate.  I took it down, put it in a drawer, and I never saw it again.  Until today!   I was looking for some papers in a drawer and instead I found, lo and behold, the long-lost "Cartoon Constellations" chart by Joe Adamson!  I spent the last few hours scanning and restoring my old copy of it, cleaning up some of the scratches and pushpin-holes that it's collected over the past 36 years.  I can't find another copy of it on the web, at least at the moment, so I thought I'd share it with you.  I've always found it very inspirational.

Joe Adamson's book on Tex can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Tex-Avery-King-Cartoons-Paperback/dp/0306802481