co m on discrod — 07/12/2022
What was the exact year you started to work on the show?
thenamebeing (she/they) — 07/12/2022
What extent did Collideascope have in terms of production with the series other than general animation work? (Editing, Writing, etc)
Torin tinders — 07/12/2022
What made you get into animating?
thenamebeing (she/they) — 07/12/2022
When was the test animation for JT exactly made, and have the team ever seen the flash-animated pilot for the series produced in-house at Warner Bros. beforehand? https://youtu.be/osAkUlbs-cM
YouTube
gooberloll
"Johnny Test" Upfront promo (2005)
Torin tinders — 07/12/2022
Have you worked on any other cartoons that are not Related to Johnny Test
Molly Test — 07/12/2022
Any thoughts on the Netflix reboot?
How did you guys come up with the bootie song? https://youtu.be/1pasjS0psLY
YouTube
eazyone83
Johnny Test - The Bootie Song HD
co m on discrod — 07/12/2022
When working on Bruno and The Banna Bunch, was the series originally supposed to air on Noggin in the US?
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — 07/12/2022
When exactly did season 3 of JT finish production?
Torin tinders — 07/12/2022
Was there any specific reason for the ending of Johnny Test?
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — 07/12/2022
Which shot(s) was your favorite to animate?
Molly Test — 07/12/2022
Were there any premieres that had to be delayed for a reason during it’s Season 2/3 run? (Cartoon Network specifically)
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — 07/12/2022
What is your favorite episode of the show?
co m on discrod — 07/12/2022
Did you work on Gym Partners before working on Johnny Test?
thenamebeing (she/they) — 07/12/2022
Did WB contact the studio for any other shows before they backed out of it, or was it just Johnny Test? Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island was originally meant to have a second season (another WB show) before getting cut entirely.
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — 07/12/2022
Were there ever any interesting scrapped episodes or deleted scenes (to your knowledge) worth mentioning?
Were the censors ever unreasonable? If so, was there a good scene or joke that was hindered by S&P?
co m on discrod — 07/12/2022
Was your experience with Johnny a fun time? What did you learn from the show that you later took on in your animation career?
thenamebeing (she/they) — 07/12/2022
How much production material was given to the team from S1 by WB before production on the second season commenced?
Are there any more plans to release more production material from the show at all?
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — 07/12/2022
Though you were an animator and weren’t involved with sound mixing and such, were you aware of the infamous usage of whipcracks throughout the show?
Were you surprised at the regained interest the show had after it moved to CN in January 2008 (or were you not keeping close track of it outside of production)?
cind — 07/12/2022
How did you feel about JT’s sudden cancellation during 2013/2014?
Torin tinders — 07/12/2022
Do you still do animating now in days?
NCA'S Archives — 07/12/2022
what was it like working on jt?
D4Crimson — 07/12/2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R4i3tQR4ic years ago, you posted an animatic of JT episode "downhill johnny" and you posted extracts of storyboards on your blogspot. I was wondering if you still had full storyboards/animatics and would be willing to share any with us?
YouTube
Ron Doucet
Johnny Test Animatic
D4Crimson — 07/12/2022
another question, did you have any interaction with scott fellows or any other writers? did you have access to the Johnny test writer guide/ show bible?
xanmanyt — 07/13/2022
Which episodes of Johnny Test did you have fun animating the most?
HotSpongCharles — 07/13/2022
1. When did you start animating on JT? 2. If you worked before JT joined the CN lineup at the time, how did you feel that your work was gonna be shown on Cartoon Network?
NSaneStone — Yesterday at 6:13 PM
Okay I've got some: Can you describe the event of Collideascope's closure, and what was it like finding animation work in NS afterward?
Were assets or crewmembers shared between different projects at the studio, like Delilah and Julius for example?
It's implied that the show was originally meant to come to an end after the third season; can you confirm if that was the case, or was Collideascope ever in talks for a fourth season before its closure?
cind — Yesterday at 6:34 PM
During the Kids' WB era of the show, how were the working conditions around that time?
Torin tinders — Yesterday at 6:37 PM
Was there any reason for why The shoe was moved to Kids WB at some point
xanmanyt — Yesterday at 6:44 PM
How do you feel about Johnny Test Last 3 seasons after it got moved to Cartoon Network?
HotSpongCharles — Yesterday at 7:13 PM
EXTRA: Did you have any form of JT merchandise? (crew shirts, toys, etc.)
xanmanyt — Yesterday at 7:42 PM
Do you think that the first season from Warner Bros. is better than the rest?
NSaneStone — Yesterday at 7:43 PM
Okay, can we not ask things like that
thenamebeing (she/they) — Yesterday at 7:47 PM
^ yeah I agree
co m on discrod — Today at 1:41 AM
What is your favorite Johnny Test character?
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 1:32 PM
Which character(s) was easiest to animate and which was the hardest?
glurtzen — Today at 1:35 PM
what was your personal favorite scene in an episode that you worked on?
Boombip — Today at 1:39 PM
What was it like to join the series right after the first season?
ServoRoBOTVA — Today at 5:57 PM
Why did warner sell out
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:38 PM
Did you ever get to see the episodes you and your team produced live on television?
Torin tinders — Today at 6:42 PM
What do you love so much about Johnny Test?
floobynooby — Today at 6:42 PM
I'm here!
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 6:43 PM
There’s quite a few questions to go through…
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:43 PM
Alright! So I'll ask the questions to you in #deleted-channel, and you'll answer them in there, thank you so much for being here!
floobynooby — Today at 6:43 PM
No prob.
I'll start at the top and I'll start to type out answers.
xanmanyt — Today at 6:44 PM
Alright!
Systic — Today at 6:44 PM
awesome
floobynooby — Today at 6:45 PM
I started working on Season 2 of JT in fall of 2007
after 6 months they gave us the go-ahead to do season 3
It was the first time my studio had to do a "test" to see if we were capable of doing it
which is very much common-practice nowadays.
they gave us a clip to re-create from scratch that was from Seqason 1, they dind't belive Phosotshop + Flash (Adobe Animate) could do hand-drawn style 2D animation, me and two guys did the 30 sec test in 3 days, and it looked exactly like the season 1 clip so we got the job.
xanmanyt — Today at 6:47 PM
But didn't the credits specify that you worked in 2006?
floobynooby — Today at 6:47 PM
JT was created by Scott Fellows
look him up on IMDB he's a cartoon writing machine!
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:47 PM
Thank you for all this info! And yeah Scott Fellows has done so much work on television
floobynooby — Today at 6:48 PM
And it was owned by KidsWB (an off shoot of Warner Bros Animation) kinda how Nicktoons is the lower budget little bastard child of Nickelodeon hahaha
xanmanyt — Today at 6:48 PM
Agreed
floobynooby — Today at 6:49 PM
Kids WB closed their doors so after Season 1 Johnny Test had aired, it was kinda cancelled along with all the other properties on Kids WB unless other broadcasters could adopt them and find them a home to be made for cheaper. A company called Cookie Jar in Canada bought the distribution rights, retained the voice actors and had the creator write 52 new 11 minute episodes for a 2nd and 3rd seaons
as long as Cookie Jar could find a canadian studio to animate it for cheaper than Korea had done it for seaon 1
that's where I came in.
Scott Fellows is a legit genius by the way.
xanmanyt — Today at 6:50 PM
Cookie Jar is a pretty good company. Despite the budget cuts.
Molly Test — Today at 6:50 PM
ye
isn't it DHXmedia now?
xanmanyt — Today at 6:51 PM
Yes
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:51 PM
Wildbrain now after a lot of acquisitions
Toon4Thought — Today at 6:51 PM
It was changed to DHXMedia at some point, and it's now Wildbrain
xanmanyt — Today at 6:51 PM
Now called WildBrain
co m on discrod — Today at 6:51 PM
wow! thats very cool
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:52 PM
I think during the first season, other than the voice acting, the only canadian studio working on the first season was Studio B Productions in BC (Blair Peters/Chris Bartleman), although I am not sure of the extent of their production since a good chunk of their animators were left uncredited
floobynooby — Today at 6:53 PM
What made me get into animating? Well all through school I was doodling and sketching and daydreaming - I was ALWAYS drawing cartoons, only after graduating high school and taking a 2 year graphic design course did I notice that there's courses on how to do character animation, a brand new one opened up just 4 hours away from where I grew up, called Digital Animation, which was a 2 year program made to teach you both 3D and 2D animation. The software was complicated (Alias Power Animator the predecessor to Maya 1.0) was very technical, but I learned the old school way, light table, peg bar, hole-punched paper and pencil and a pencil test camera
cind — Today at 6:53 PM
ahhh
xanmanyt — Today at 6:54 PM
Voice acting was done at VoiceBox Productions inc.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:54 PM
It's amazing how the process of people finding ways of learning animation has evolved from then to today
xanmanyt — Today at 6:54 PM
For the first season
floobynooby — Today at 6:54 PM
I was lucky that the first studio I worked in was one of the very first to adopt the wacom tablet + Mac computer + Macromedia Flash combo to essentially draw just like those old Disney guys just without paper, drawing with a tablet instead of a mouse, and just doing it hand-drawn frame-by frame
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 6:54 PM
Atomic Cartoons also helped out too, at least in storyboarding a couple episodes
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:54 PM
oh yeah them too
xanmanyt — Today at 6:55 PM
Yeah, but then in Season 4-6, they took care of the animation.
floobynooby — Today at 6:56 PM
And our studio did things very backwards from the typical 2D/digital North American Studio where you usually do "service work" for 10+ years before any broadcaster trusts you to pitch your OWN properties in hopes to land a contract that has you create and develop and produce your own series.... we did that with TWO shows, our very first things in the industry, THEN we did service work, which is essentially just doing other people's shows for them.
Our first ones was Ollivers Adventures and then Delilah and Julius, good luck finding stuff online, it was only aired in Canada and Austraila and wasn't that popular hahah
I haven't worked on too much that's "related" to Johnny Test.
You can see a full list of things here
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronalddoucet/
a few Warner Brothers related things.
Torin tinders — Today at 6:57 PM
Very nice!
EncodesTelevision — Today at 6:58 PM
true
xanmanyt — Today at 6:58 PM
Trivia: Cookie Jar used to have an Action brand called Colosseum Entertainment, the company who assisted on Johnny Test's first season and then did Season 2
floobynooby — Today at 6:58 PM
in terms of style 4 seasons + a movie of Teen Titans Go might be the closest thing, but that more of a Cartoon Network/DC thing (all owned by Warner Bros).
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 6:59 PM
Oh it says here you worked on the ROTMNT Movie!!!
floobynooby — Today at 7:00 PM
I only saw the Netflix Reboot last month for the first time, I like it, they kept the same tone, and I like what re-designs they did, it modernizes it... One stipulation for Cookie Jar (the distribution company) to inherit Johnny Test for seasons 2-5 was to have a dedicated broadcaster, and that was Teletoon, the canadian version of Cartoon Network, and they aired it as much as CN airs TTG hahahah, it was around the clock non-stop for 2 years it seemed.
I didn't invent the Bootie Song, the writers did hahaha
xanmanyt — Today at 7:01 PM
Johnny Test is now airing on Family Channel and WildBrainTV in Canada
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 7:49 PM
Norman Monkeybars!
Molly Test — Today at 7:49 PM
looks like I'll be needing a VPN to watch that
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 7:49 PM
Do you still have any of the original FLAs/SWFs to the seasons of the show, or have those been lost to the sands of time?
floobynooby — Today at 7:50 PM
this one was a tough one, but lots of fun
https://youtu.be/admlyQrCZWM?list=PLwHTNWVGhkSY7Tw3MZXD38rRAXzlywC9d&t=654
YouTube
Johnny Test - WildBrain
Johnny Test - JX5: A New Beginning // JX5: The Final Ending
"Do you still do animating now in days?" not too much, I just fix and tweak, I still do some FX animating, cuz there's rarely anyone around that can do it, stuff like fire, smoke, fumes, explosions, water, ripples, bubbles, sparks, energy beams and lasers
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 7:52 PM
I love the shots you animated in this one, plus Here Johnny, Here Boy
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 7:52 PM
SAME
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 7:53 PM
There’s also a single shot in Johnny’mon that I think you animated
floobynooby — Today at 7:53 PM
most have been lost in time.
Johnny_Test_sick.fla
2.85 MB
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 7:53 PM
Thank you for this!!! This scene is great!
glurtzen — Today at 7:54 PM
i agree as well they have alot of expression put into them
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 7:55 PM
Also do you happen to have a higher quality version of this test? Don't want to sound like i'm asking for so much from you https://youtu.be/V_Ky6ASUav8
YouTube
collideascopeanim
Johnny Test test
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 7:56 PM
Oh wait - make that two shots…when Johnny signs into the stadium and this awesome freak out at the very end
floobynooby — Today at 7:56 PM
"I can see why, the episode is really good in art direction and the crew went all out with it" at this point in the studios career, we didn't have barely any classic Photoshop (painterly style) artists, but we had gotten really good at creating detailed background art in any style and when JT came along, we were lucky it was all flat graphic shapes and forms, like Powerpuff girls or Dexter's Lab, wonky perspectives, the only textures we'd create in Photoshop only to import and mask into Flash were for scorch marks or the tops of ricks sticking out of the ground.
NSaneStone — Today at 7:56 PM
Are answers from before 7pm missing for anyone else...?
floobynooby — Today at 7:57 PM
"late question but do you have the boards for saturday night alright for johnny? it's a fav of mine" i do not.
co m on discrod — Today at 7:57 PM
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 7:58 PM
I think I fixed it...
floobynooby — Today at 7:59 PM
"The third season had a noticeable shakeup in terms of animation, animators had a lot of fun with it" oh yea, I had some ace animators and new rookie animators that I allowed to just go nuts with their scenes.
D4Crimson — Today at 7:59 PM
ah, i thought cause you had the mint chip episode you would have that one as well
floobynooby — Today at 8:00 PM
"there is still a chance, didn't some international channel air season 1 in widescreen?" as you saw with how Disney+ wrecked the early seasons of the Simpsons with their attempts at up-resing 4x3 (non HD/widescreen) episodes, it's a tough process to do.
"I’m guessing because the theme song wasn’t completely finished until episode 7? Or at least an instrumental wasn’t given to whoever was in charge of that" that is correct
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 8:01 PM
Well that’s likely because the show was animated on physical cels while S1 JT was all hand-drawn digitally
floobynooby — Today at 8:01 PM
often intros and theme songs are the last thing to be done while the first season is almost done being animated
co m on discrod — Today at 8:01 PM
That FLA looks kino!
floobynooby — Today at 8:01 PM
"Another late question: not sure if you’ve heard both versions, but which JT theme do you like better: season 1 or season 2-6?" Season 2 actually was the best
Torin tinders — Today at 8:02 PM
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:02 PM
For episodes mastered before then, were they temporarily paired with the old intro?
floobynooby — Today at 8:02 PM
"was it Bardel or Atomic that did the redone episodes? also Sweet Sweet justice" Bardel did season 4, Atomic did some of season 5
Molly Test — Today at 8:02 PM
"Got a head of firey hair and a turbocharged backpack"
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:03 PM
Here's a bit of widescreen JT
floobynooby — Today at 8:03 PM
"I forgot to ask this when you joined, you can answer later; any idea when Johnny Test start airing on the Boomerang network?" I don't think it's the type of show that will air on that network
Molly Test — Today at 8:04 PM
I mean, I remember back when I was little Johnny Test was on the schedule around 2013
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 8:04 PM
Yeah it did air very briefly
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:04 PM
I don't think Ron can answer that type of question about broadcasting
Molly Test — Today at 8:04 PM
oh
sorry
NSaneStone — Today at 8:04 PM
Erm I asked these a bit too early so:
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 8:04 PM
Yeah did we skip a few questions or is it just me
NSaneStone — Today at 8:05 PM
In case they weren't answered already It's implied that the show was originally meant to come to an end after the third season; can you confirm if that was the case, or was Collideascope ever in talks for a fourth season before its closure?
co m on discrod — Today at 8:05 PM
No we definitely did
floobynooby — Today at 8:05 PM
"Also do you happen to have a higher quality version of this test? Don't want to sound like i'm asking for so much from you" I do not
co m on discrod — Today at 8:05 PM
But I’m sure Ron knows those questions
floobynooby — Today at 8:05 PM
"For episodes mastered before then, were they temporarily paired with the old intro?" yes
NSaneStone — Today at 8:05 PM
2. Were assets or crewmembers shared between different projects at the studio, like Delilah and Julius for example?
And, Can you describe the event of Collideascope's closure, and what was it like finding animation work in NS afterward?
floobynooby — Today at 8:06 PM
Collideascope was in talks for a 4th season, but we couldn't reduce the budget low enough so it went to a studio in China, where they butchered it and then it went to Bardel to get redone for a higher price.
There are many reasons why very few people ever do this. Some excuses are: "Carrying a sketchbook takes effort, it's annoying having to haul one around all the time." "I find drawing people and animals too difficult, they keep moving all the time." "I can't draw very well, so I can't be bothered." "I don't like it when people look over my shoulder or ask to see my sketches."
These are all poor excuses, you need to get past these and any other reasons you may use to convince yourself to NOT carry a sketchbook around. Carrying a sketchbook is extremely important. A sketchbook is your best opportunity to catch real life as it passes by you. Why is this important? Because what makes great storytelling, animation, characters and films of every kind is that they capture a truth about real life. Any film that can show us a reflection of life as we know it will always resound deep within us, and the most popular and successful comic books, TV shows and video games all work in the exact same way.
NSaneStone — Today at 8:35 PM
How commonplace was Toon Boom at the time around Canada, if you can recall? What was it like seeing the industry switch to that from Flash?
floobynooby — Today at 8:35 PM
The truth never gets old or uninteresting. Any film that captures a truth about life will be compelling to an audience, no matter what other flaws it might have. There are so many films made today by people who don't try to say anything about life or attempt to portray real people - they're too busy trying to be slick or clever or stylish or something else.
You MUST start getting in the habit of carrying a sketchbook and using it. Ultimately, you won't do it unless you enjoy it, some people are better at doing a great sketch on the first try. When I'm storyboarding, I never use the first sketch I do. I always go over it at least once to improve it, sometimes I go over it five times and sometimes I go over it fifty times. The sketchbook, is for practice, for experimenting. Whether you're doodling some designs from your imaginiation, or sketching your cat laying on the floor, or dreaming up some cool robot designs, try to find a way to make sketching fun.
There' no excuse. Get a pocket-sized one if you must. Moleskine make the best quality mini-sketchbooks.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:35 PM
final bumpity bump
floobynooby — Today at 8:35 PM
http://www.moleskine.com/eng/default.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Moleskine-Books-Small-Sketch-Notebook/dp/B00092RPGQ/ref=sr_1_22/104-7915515-4515921?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1175352016&sr=8-22
Moleskine Small Sketch Notebook
This long-standing tradition was continued by writer-traveller Bruce Chatwin who used to buy his moleskines at an old Paris stationery shop in Rue de l'Ancienne Comedie where he would always stock up before embarking on one of his journeys. Over the years he had developed a veritable ritual. Befo...
http://www.amazon.com/Moleskine-Books-MBL13-Large-Sketch/dp/B00092PX6U/ref=sr_1_21/104-7915515-4515921?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1175352016&sr=8-21
Moleskine Art Sketchbook, Hard Cover, Large (5" x 8.25") Plain/Blan...
The Moleskine Art Plus Large Sketchbook is made with top quality heavy paper and is perfect for on the go drawings, sketches and tempera colors. Every Moleskine product is thread bound and has a cardboard cover with rounded corners, acid free paper, a bookmark, an elastic closure and an expandabl...
Molly Test — Today at 8:36 PM
bump
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:36 PM
Thank you for this incredible insight to animating! I think the only word to say is thank you so much!
floobynooby — Today at 8:36 PM
There are many other cheaper versions available, so there's no excuse to not to have SOME kind of sketchbook. Equip yourself creatively by exercising daily. No excuses, it's a pencil not a dumb bell, just do random sketches and designs everyday. Spontaneous doodles from your head don't have to make sense, and they don't have to be perfect. When you're drawing from life, the sketches don't have to be complete, they don't have to be clean and accurate. It's all about simply capturing spontaneous thoughts and ideas to doodle, writing down notes and ideas, and drawing from life while developing those observational skills. Don't focus on how good or bad your sketches are, instead focus on doing your best to capture what you see and learn from it. In order to carry a sketchbook around I had to just tell myself that my sketchbook is just for learning, not filling it with beautiful pictures. Focus on just doing a drawing. It doesn't have to be perfect. You'll get a lot out of just moving your pen around and trying to capture what you see. You'll inherently sense what could be better and apply that next time.
Molly Test — Today at 8:36 PM
and bump
floobynooby — Today at 8:36 PM
Draw & study with a purpose! It is important to have some sort of goal or idea in mind before you start drawing. And it could really be anything. If you can identify areas you are having trouble with, then you can spend time focusing on those areas. It doesn't matter what your goal is as long as you have one in mind you won't drift around aimlessly when you start drawing.
Fear is the mind killer! Learning to draw takes time. People are impatient. Don't be impatient! I've seen a lot of people stop trying because they weren't seeing results fast enough. Or people worry so much about improving that they just freeze up and don't do anything. Don't worry so much about where your drawing level is. Focus on the task at hand.
Buy/borrow some books and research! Another thing I started doing when I started learning about design and animation was buying books - LOTS of books! I tried to surround myself with artists and things that I found inspirational. I would go down to the used book store once a week to see if they had anything new. I also scoured the net for artists and images that I liked. Learning to draw is like learning a new language and the best way to learn a new language is to constantly be surrounded by it and the culture it comes from. Learning about other artists also helps you to identify what you like and what you don't like aesthetically and it ensures that you will always have new ideas to draw from.
If you really want to get better you have to make time to draw. Carry a sketchbook wherever you go and take every opportunity you can to draw. It will become a habit and then the progress never stops. There is no magic secret. To quote Ivor Hele, "Only your own hard work teaches you anything of value in the end."
No matter what specialization you go into in the field of visual arts, filmmaking, special effects, or video games; a sketchbook is more than a way to improve your drawing, it forces you to focus on the world around you and to analyze it. And it's a great way to thumbnail down some ideas for characters and compositions as well. Want some recommendations for directors and movies that are very compositionally aware? Do yourself a favor and closely study some of my personal favorites... Pixar Films: Pixar movies are carefully planned scene by scene. One particularly strong movie from Pixar is 'The Incredibles.' This film features exceedingly well done compositions, great use of color and lighting, and fantastic insight in the commentary from both the directors and the animators who worked on the film. Also included on the DVD sets are wonderful storyboard animatics from cut parts of the film. These are worth watching to see how everything that was displayed on this website comes into play.
Akira Kurosawa Films: Kurosawa makes great use of context rather than objects to tell a story. The concepts of "less is more" apply for his works more than any other. The way a character is standing or acting within frame tells the story without cramming many events into one picture. His films inspire the use of simple body lanuguage to tell what's going on rather than brute action.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:37 PM
Someone react with jennypointup and slime covered heart, this is just...wow
floobynooby — Today at 8:37 PM
Sylvain Chomet Films: One of the world's most acclaimed animation filmmakers of our time. He uses exquisite design sense for characters and layouts with beautiful lighting and colors. He structures detailled and marvelous compositions to develop the locations, characters and the plot in his often wordless stories.
Hayao Miyazaki Films: Miyazaki makes great use of foreground, mid-ground and background. Rather than showing all of each character all the time, very often characters are blocked by objects in the forground and middle ground, helping to place the characters within the situation, making them part of their environment and the story.
Wes Anderson Films: Anderson has a bit of a magial touch in his approach to filmmaking. He makes very careful use of color and size relationships of different characters and objects within many shots. Anderson likes to use shallow compositions where most of the scenes are flattened into a middleground. His movies almost always reserve the color red for things that he wants to have most attention in a shot. His strong visual style is worth studying and appreciating.
Master Cinematographers: John Toll, Roger Deakins, Bruno Delbonnel, Tonino Delli Colli, Vittorio Storaro, and Conrad Hall - these are just a few of many directors of photography that are responsible for the shot composition of the best looking live-action films from the past few decades. Watch and learn from their movies.
Ever get stuck starring at the blank page or screen? Don't panic! There are plenty of places to get ideas from. Movies and comics are the best places to get visual inspirations from - especially animated films since they have some of the most control over camera angle and scene composition. Look at movie special features, especially ones that offer storyboard/animatic clips. Experiment and explore. If you find something you like, don't be afraid at all to borrow it for your own work. Always study good compositions. Once you you have an understanding of cinematography and cutting, the rest is just practice and experimantation.
"How commonplace was Toon Boom at the time around Canada, if you can recall? What was it like seeing the industry switch to that from Flash" Canada was the first to use Flash as a full 2D animation production pipeline tool
it's old school paper and pencil studios slowly adapted, Nelvana did that awful show "Quads" hahaha and we did Oliver's Adventures we tied for first place to make Flash do animated content, John K and Icebox, and Shockwave and Joe cartoon and Newgrounds did it online way before but we did it as a TV thing first.
D4Crimson — Today at 8:40 PM
what was it like being animation director to veterans of the industry on JT e.g. Julian Harris. ect?
floobynooby — Today at 8:41 PM
American broadcasters took notice, we got more cost effective, with added bonuses, compared to the India, Korea, Japan animation model of the 70s, 80s, 90s , Canada offered it in HD, digital, no language barriers, time-zone difference of 1-4 hours instead of 10-14 hours.
so they jumped at the chance, oh and since it was digital pipelines, we could DO revision, Korea did it on paper and they'd film it or send the paper work to get scanned, either way there was no fixing mistakes
and then for the first time Canadian studio could ANIMATE again, not just to boards and layouts
It was weird, through out the first 9 years of my career I would often be the boss to artists with waaayyyyy more experience than me
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:43 PM
weren't studios like Studio B in Vancouver mostly a layouts department for the big leagues before producing and animating their own shows
floobynooby — Today at 8:43 PM
BUT, I was fast to show and teach the technology and how to use the tools and no one adapted to the style of a new show faster than me
Everyone thinks of 'art direction' when you think of a "style" of a show, but there's a whole other aspect that's important too...... timing and style of movement!
"weren't studios like Studio B in Vancouver mostly a layouts department for the big leagues before producing and animating their own shows" yes
cind — Today at 8:45 PM
bump
floobynooby — Today at 8:46 PM
Some knowledge to digest for those aspiring to be board artists in this industry it's the most difficult thing to get into, but it's the most creatively rewarding part of the process, also a rundown of how a typical 2D animated series process is laid out.
Storyboard_Deadlines_and_Timelines.docx
138.21 KB
How_TV_Cartoons_Are_Made.pdf
2.49 MB
Storyboard_Tips.pdf
3.88 MB
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:47 PM
Thank you for these!!!
also @everyone if you have any more questions put 'em down here
floobynooby — Today at 8:47 PM
Thumbs_to_Animatics.pdf
1.20 MB
Molly Test — Today at 8:48 PM
bump bump
Molly Test — Today at 8:48 PM
and bump bump
co m on discrod — Today at 8:50 PM
Really loving these answers
co m on discrod — Today at 8:51 PM
Me too
floobynooby — Today at 8:51 PM
Animation_Writing_Development_Script_Pitch.pdf
5.44 MB
Developing_your_Animated_Series_Idea.pdf
226.28 KB
cind — Today at 8:51 PM
same ^^
NCA'S Archives — Today at 8:52 PM
Bump
D4Crimson — Today at 8:52 PM
Did it even get picked up that dukey superhero name kept changing between episodes?
MemphisLonghornOdyssey — Today at 8:53 PM
Good question ^^^
floobynooby — Today at 8:53 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NK-a1innTcU
YouTube
Animation Hustle
Storyboarding the Disney, Family Guy, Aardman and WB way!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eGVjXxUV6yBfcpWZqReJuE5gee9De7dM/view?usp=sharing
Google Docs
Aardman Animations - Studio Style and Identity.mp4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hE5pKPCACRcPJvTQEvPpHdOlZfz_ycuP/view?usp=sharing
Google Docs
Tomm Moore - A Deeper Perspective.mp4
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Dav2Fxo-mj8LCRA0GLTV-vcdUcM56XTu/view?usp=sharing
Google Docs
Pete Docter - Geometry of Characters.mp4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIVKpaLFc3w
YouTube
Any-Mation
Where to Draw the Line | Lining in Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM8b6IJ7g7o
YouTube
The SPA Studios
KLAUS | Character Design Process
D4Crimson — Today at 8:56 PM
Ermm...favourite fart joke from JT?
floobynooby — Today at 8:56 PM
hahahah darn, I can't remember
Toon4Thought — Today at 8:56 PM
I just want to say @floobynooby, it was really generous of you to share all this insight with us. Thanks so much.
floobynooby — Today at 8:56 PM
it's been so long but I DID have one
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:56 PM
Oh these Craig notes, are great i've seen them before
floobynooby — Today at 8:57 PM
No worries, glad I can help
I'll stay on for 10 more minutes
co m on discrod — Today at 8:58 PM
yay!
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:58 PM
One more thing, what would you say was the extent of production WB Animation had on S2-3 (other than well their animation staff), like what were the various things they contributed to the show outside of Canada?
floobynooby — Today at 8:58 PM
"Did it even get picked up that dukey superhero name kept changing between episodes?" yes, they did that on purpose, haha
For those seasons they were totally Hands-off actually, they let Scott Fellows run the show, we never heard from them once, ever.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 8:59 PM
Ah i see
floobynooby — Today at 8:59 PM
Have you guys watched that Cuphead show?
also, a must-see
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:00 PM
Yes!
Lighthouse and Netflix did a great job on that show
floobynooby — Today at 9:00 PM
for sure.
co m on discrod — Today at 9:00 PM
Have you ever had the thought of wanting to pitch a series to an network? or any streaming service
floobynooby — Today at 9:00 PM
i have a few dozen times
first and foremost you need to be a writer, not a great writer, just a fast writer and an "idea-making-machine"
D4Crimson — Today at 9:01 PM
Since dukey your fave chara, i am gonna guess involving him
Molly Test — Today at 9:01 PM
i heard sonic was gonna be on netflix, any thoughts on it (if you're into sonic)?
ServoRoBOTVA — Today at 9:02 PM
Do you accept friend requests?
floobynooby — Today at 9:02 PM
they never green light a show concept based on how string the idea is, they base it on the person pitching it, and how knowledgable and confident they are in their property and how much they know every single detail of the world they've made and the long detailed back story of every single character in your world.
that's the secret they don't tell you about.
some insight on the process....
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/how-to/how-to-pitch-and-sell-an-animated-series-part-1-setting-up-163522.html
Cartoon Brew
Tunde Vollenbroek
How To Pitch And Sell An Animated Series: Part 1 (Setting Up)
Practical advice for creating and delivering a killer animation pitch.
yes I made a test for a 2D series for Sonic
but I think Netflix dropped it
someone else picked it up and made it into a mini series of shorts
co m on discrod — Today at 9:03 PM
yo what??????
thats so cool!
floobynooby — Today at 9:04 PM
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KQzhpCYTkEHt4k5_2b9RvejRHN4HBsN7/view?usp=sharing
Google Docs
Sonic_Test_Progression_Reel.gif
co m on discrod — Today at 9:04 PM
Can I share what you said?
floobynooby — Today at 9:04 PM
yup
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:05 PM
You drew these???
floobynooby — Today at 9:05 PM
I did the boards, a friend of mine animated it, I added the dust at the end
I'm pretty rusty at animating THIS good now
guess what... the producer didn't think it was good enough
well, that's the best we could do, hahaha
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:06 PM
Also before you leave off for the night, are there any other tidbits of animation or johnny test-ness production info you'd like us to know about?
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:06 PM
Man that sucks, I thought these looked pretty good
floobynooby — Today at 9:07 PM
I'm trying to think of something that no one else would know about that production hahaha
hmmmm
NSaneStone — Today at 9:07 PM
or even stuff from Delilah and Oliver on the whole dealing with teletoon end
DECODE as well
floobynooby — Today at 9:08 PM
well, often the animators would draw very inappropriate stuff off screen of the flash file, like awful, dirty, gross stuff, hahahah, and they'd hide it outside the margins of the screen so it wouldn't export.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:08 PM
Ohhh wait I have a question, how were things mastered before the intro for s2 was finished, widescreen and fullscreen masters were produced for S2, also what lol
Was the S1 intro cropped for the 16:9 S2 copies?
floobynooby — Today at 9:09 PM
however one time I had to add a camera move, so the camera pulls out, so in Flash you shrink everything down smaller, I adjusted the BG and a naked Johnny Test revealed himself, so I played a trick on the animator that did it, I pretend to not notice, I told my editor to make a roughcut render of the episode and we'd screen it on friday night lie we aslways do but it would be just for us
So I leave the artwork in, and when we watched it as a whole crew, we all see the camera zoom out to reveal a giant nude johnny, and I acted in shock and said...
"that went out to the producers!!! today!!!!!
I looked right at Emily, who drew it and she blushed and nearly dies.
she thought she was fired or worse.
then I told her I was kidding
NSaneStone — Today at 9:11 PM
Dang I suppose it really is true that every show has some of that going on
Or more than people would like to think at least
floobynooby — Today at 9:11 PM
yes both standard definition and HD were made at those times, really only after 2009 did all things stay HD 1920x1080
"or even stuff from Delilah and Oliver on the whole dealing with teletoon end DECODE as well" that's a whole other hour of talking for sure, hahaha ooooh the many many stories I have for those.
Decode was the WORST to deal with
co m on discrod — Today at 9:13 PM
This might be my last question, but was Mania Adventures really meant to be a full series?
NSaneStone — Today at 9:13 PM
what's a "fun" one you can tell us before you go
NSaneStone — Today at 9:13 PM
And to think that you guys were contracted with em twice
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:13 PM
https://archive.org/details/johnny-vs-booger-man how does it feel that the assets and models you helped create were still used in 2020
Internet Archive
Johnny Vs Booger Man : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Inter…
floobynooby — Today at 9:13 PM
Sonic Mania Adventures? Yes like looong ago, it was intended to be a netflix 26x11min series
co m on discrod — Today at 9:14 PM I did NOT know this wow
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:14 PM
that series would've been goated
floobynooby — Today at 9:15 PM
I still see shows that use the FX animation of water splashes and puffs of dust I did in 2005 STILL used today.
NSaneStone — Today at 9:15 PM
oh and my last last for johnny at least: Even though "rigs" started to be used more often in s3, how did the decision to keep Johnny's pants "drawn" come about
floobynooby — Today at 9:17 PM
well, something Scott Fellows had mentioned, really his only note ever to me in regards to animation specifically was that the head needed to stay "on-model" as much as possible, sure big takes can go momentarily crazy and wild, but neck-down he didn't care how off-model it looked, and since it's a fast, action, snappy show, I made two departments…
a rough animation crew, they were doing about 20-22 seconds per week, and a clean-up crew doing about 30-32 seconds per week, they trace over the roughs the animators would do.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:18 PM
My LAST LAST question, were you ever vaguely aware about WB's financial struggles and the factors in the downsizing of their animation and broadcasting departments during the time JT was produced?
and do you know what Coconut Fred is? also Amphibia and The Owl House
floobynooby — Today at 9:19 PM
getting everyone to draw in the same style is tough enough, so as long as everyone's timing style and style of movement was consistent (much easier thing to teach) then the clean-up crew, using the rigs/models as reference could keep the line work and proportions consisitent, making things look good
the rough animators focus on making fast zany movements
I don't know who Coconut Fred is
yeah we were aware, it was sort of public knowledge, they were just trimming the fat off of their production slates.
NSaneStone — Today at 9:20 PM
This is really insightful, this sounds like such a unique pipeline
floobynooby — Today at 9:20 PM
Really Cookie Jar were the culprits more so that took the show away from us.
yeah it was a neat setup it worked quite smoothly.
NSaneStone — Today at 9:21 PM
bump in case it got lost in the fray
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:21 PM
if you guys got JT S4, do you think Collideascope would've lasted a bit longer?
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:21 PM
yeah I completely agree
NSaneStone — Today at 9:21 PM
there's like no history available on those shows so hearing that there's some is very interesting
floobynooby — Today at 9:22 PM
yeah just a bit longer, the economy of the whole industry took a nose-dive - animation in eastern Canada pretty much was GONE for 2 years.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:22 PM
Yeah FatKat shutdown too around the same time
floobynooby — Today at 9:22 PM
then slowly came back as the big Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver studios started to get an overflow of work again did things pickup.
yeah, well that was more their own fault, hahaha, they took on a show called Three Delivery that was from New York's Animation Collective studio and they bled then dry, they kept working on the show months over schedule, so they paid the crew out-of-pocket and it caused their bankruptsy.
one of those times where a studio is stuck with a show and they stick it through
but it causes their own demise in the process
NSaneStone — Today at 9:25 PM
I remember that show being another Canadian network involvement thing - YTV's holding the show back for 2 years sent a very loud message
floobynooby — Today at 9:25 PM
totally
NSaneStone — Today at 9:26 PM
Its surprising, or I guess relieving for all of you guys to hear that
Teletoon on the other hand was supportive and hands off
Must've allowed for a lot to flourish creatively
floobynooby — Today at 9:26 PM
Teletoon was a very different and much smaller company in early 2000s
we were sooo lucky, they go around the country looking for small boutique studios with new fresh ideas
NSaneStone — Today at 9:27 PM
awww that's so neat Sounds like a very far cry from Corus-owned TT today
and that explains a lot of the more out there, less than polished projects that turned out to be really fun shows
Molly Test — Today at 9:30 PM
I feel like talking about this, remember that time CN did that Johnny/Johnny marathon which was a marathon between Johnny Test and Johnny Bravo https://youtu.be/AQTao7L2xss
YouTube
CartoonNetworkRulzz
Johnny/Johnny - Next: Johnny Bravo (2009)
floobynooby — Today at 9:31 PM
One last story.
Madeline Leveque, head of Teletoon development in 2000-2005, came and visited our studio in 2001, I had jut started in the industry, she asked us to pitch a raunchy adult, animated series idea for their late night slots that were garnering string ratings
so after a month we provided script and visual development ideas for a new series idea about a family of beavers who practice incest in Meat Cove Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Suffice it to say she was appauled
then asked for a kid-friendly Calvin & Hobes style series, and that's how we came up with Oliver's Adventures
hahah
One last thing....
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IgswlDEFUe2owv2XZbeFUJt8_pYLsAxfM2HX3T0-g8Q/edit?usp=sharing
Google Docs
Character Design Course
This course is to be shared by one and all, and is purely for educational purposes. Use the shortcuts below for snapping directly to the chapter. Requests, comments, and questions can be made out to: ron.doucet@gmal.com
Here's my character design course for all to enjoy.
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:35 PM
Wow....also thanks!
NSaneStone — Today at 9:35 PM
Thank you so much for all your time!
floobynooby — Today at 9:35 PM
No prob
it was fun
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:35 PM
also thank you @everyone for participating, and thank you so much Ron for accepting this offer and it was amazing getting to hear your insight on Johnny and your experiences in animation as a whole.
This should wrap it up for the night!
Toon4Thought — Today at 9:36 PM
Thank you @thenamebeing (she/they) for putting this together, looks like this was a BIG success
ServoRoBOTVA — Today at 9:36 PM
@thenamebeing (she/they)thx
Systic — Today at 9:36 PM
agreed
Smeary — Today at 9:36 PM
Thanks much, thenamebeing! This was a treat.
co m on discrod — Today at 9:37 PM
this was an amazing talk! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to answer these questions Ron
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:37 PM
No problem! And thank Ron too!
Torin tinders — Today at 9:37 PM
It was nice meeting you @floobynooby!
cind — Today at 9:37 PM
It was great having you Ron! Appreciate the whole thing, thenamebeing!
co m on discrod — Today at 9:37 PM
and thank you Namebeing for hosting the Q&A!
glurtzen — Today at 9:37 PM
yeah this was really nice, thanks for hosting
cind — Today at 9:37 PM
This makes my view on JT different now lol
floobynooby — Today at 9:37 PM
thanks for all the great questions
Torin tinders — Today at 9:37 PM
I really appreciate the work you did set this up Namebeing!
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:37 PM
also any ideas on what to do with the server now?
Torin tinders — Today at 9:38 PM
You seem like a great guy!
cind — Today at 9:38 PM
maybe turn it into a small jt server? would hate for all of the messages here to go away
or archive it
Torin tinders — Today at 9:38 PM
^
Smeary — Today at 9:38 PM
Maybe a general Q&A server, in the event you end up doing any more?
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:39 PM
I had another person in mind for another QnA, Matt Danner but I haven't been able to get in contact with him that much
either way i'm gonna lock this channel and we can continue this in general-chat
also @floobynooby if you have any other JT Production Material to share such as images, feel free to compile them all in production-art
floobynooby — Today at 9:40 PM
I'll have to go digging in my old old drives, but I'll see what I can muster up
thenamebeing (she/they) — Today at 9:40 PM
Alrighty then thanks, and no rush, have a great night!
floobynooby — Today at 9:40 PM
you too
see ya