BangZoom Posted March 25, 2009 Author Share Posted March 25, 2009 Ever wonder how the Fleischer Studios created the incredible backgrounds used in their animated cartoons? Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Interesting info, BZ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 Interesting Popeye stuff BZ. Did you also have the Disney issue of Mechanics Illustrated? I have seen the Disney version before but not the Popeye cartoon illos. I will have to keep an eye out. What does the cover look like? I had some early pictures of Segar but have lost them in the files. Fortunately I found some more Flash Gordon Sunday pages while searching. bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 By the way, the Chuck Jones special was really nice. He also had a cute story about his cat. The early Bugs Bunny cartoon reminded me of the Presto cartoon that comes with Wally. CGI helps a lot with the perspectives and gives the animator another tool to tell the story. No dialogue necessary. bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I watched some of the Jones stuff on TCM and really like the line and the dot piece. However, while I appreciate the artistry involved, I didn't care much for his Bugs Bunny shorts. The animation just wasn't fluid enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlasFan Posted March 26, 2009 Share Posted March 26, 2009 I watched some of the Jones stuff on TCM and really like the line and the dot piece. However, while I appreciate the artistry involved, I didn't care much for his Bugs Bunny shorts. The animation just wasn't fluid enough for me. Curious..by fluid, do you mean more action based humor -- ala Tex Avery, for example? A lot of the Jones Bugs cartoons are very talky and much of the humor is verbal. Jones took Bugs to levels of humor that none of the other Warner directors ever did. The man was a true comic genius. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Interesting Popeye stuff BZ. Did you also have the Disney issue of Mechanics Illustrated? I have seen the Disney version before but not the Popeye cartoon illos. I will have to keep an eye out. What does the cover look like? I had some early pictures of Segar but have lost them in the files. Fortunately I found some more Flash Gordon Sunday pages while searching. bb This is the cover to the Popular Science that has the Fleischer story. I don't have the Disney Mechanix Illustrated. I think I remember someone posted a scan of the cover last year. Was that you? I'd love to see more Flash Gordon scans if you're taking requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I watched some of the Jones stuff on TCM and really like the line and the dot piece. However, while I appreciate the artistry involved, I didn't care much for his Bugs Bunny shorts. The animation just wasn't fluid enough for me. Curious..by fluid, do you mean more action based humor -- ala Tex Avery, for example? A lot of the Jones Bugs cartoons are very talky and much of the humor is verbal. Jones took Bugs to levels of humor that none of the other Warner directors ever did. The man was a true comic genius. Bill The animation was more static than the earlier Buggs Bunny. Look, I don't disagree with what you say about Jones. I know what I like and don't care for his work on Bugs. Just my take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flee-Marquette Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Disney also had their contraption, the Multi-plane camera that helped them add depth to their animations. I love this stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I am curious why the business model for cartoons before movies doesn't work. I can get the downside - extending movie times and creating fewer showings per day. And the cost of making really good cartoons can't be small. Consider the Scrat cartoons prior to (and after) the Ice Age movies. This were outrageously hilarious. And easily were worth the time and expense required to make it part of the movie. Related to Bugs, Tom & Jerry, Popeye among others. These characters are worth serious money and have all sorts of external value. All due to being cartoons shown before movies in the 1930's to 1950's. There are probably quite a few legal issues etc that prevent doing this again but there is a serious drought of quasi adult cartoons out there and a clear hidden demand. Ren and Stimpy come to mind. But even quality kid/family friendly cartoons are lacking. Not to go on a rant against computer animation but SpongeBob just doesn't cut it and that is an immensely popular cartoon. Just imagine if Warner copied what they did before and put out another different version of Tom & Jerry or some sort of superhero cartoon, where the shorts were 3-8 minutes before each Warner movie. If the quality was any good at all they'd have an instant $1 billion franchise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I'd love to see more Flash Gordon scans if you're taking requests. I think you can see Raymond's work a little better on the black and white copies. This one almost fit the scanner but had to be trimmed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 (edited) And a few more panels. I think his work from 1936 was better than his work from 1940. Edited March 27, 2009 by BB-Gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 And don't forget Jungle Jim by Raymond. He just got the top of the page but it looked pretty good. How many movies did Weissmuller make as this character? Were there more JJ than FG movies? Weissmuller also had polio. His rehab was exceptional Weissmuller starred in 12 Tarzan films and one more than that as JJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 In case you wondered about the black and white scan, the tusk-men should be painted blue. bb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttock Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 I am curious why the business model for cartoons before movies doesn't work. I can get the downside - extending movie times and creating fewer showings per day. And the cost of making really good cartoons can't be small. Consider the Scrat cartoons prior to (and after) the Ice Age movies. This were outrageously hilarious. And easily were worth the time and expense required to make it part of the movie. Related to Bugs, Tom & Jerry, Popeye among others. These characters are worth serious money and have all sorts of external value. All due to being cartoons shown before movies in the 1930's to 1950's. There are probably quite a few legal issues etc that prevent doing this again but there is a serious drought of quasi adult cartoons out there and a clear hidden demand. Ren and Stimpy come to mind. But even quality kid/family friendly cartoons are lacking. Not to go on a rant against computer animation but SpongeBob just doesn't cut it and that is an immensely popular cartoon. Just imagine if Warner copied what they did before and put out another different version of Tom & Jerry or some sort of superhero cartoon, where the shorts were 3-8 minutes before each Warner movie. If the quality was any good at all they'd have an instant $1 billion franchise. They don't have to put them before movies any more because TV exists. You can do infinitely more marketing, and actually turn a profit, if you put your show on TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transplant Posted March 27, 2009 Share Posted March 27, 2009 They don't have to put them before movies any more because TV exists. You can do infinitely more marketing, and actually turn a profit, if you put your show on TV. Plus most movie theaters use that time before the movie for ads, thank goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted March 27, 2009 Author Share Posted March 27, 2009 Thanks for the scans, BB. Alex Raymond is one of my favorite artists. It was a terrible loss that his life was cut short at only age 46. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Hey, BZ, when you were looking around for images of newsstands in comics, did anyone point out this page from Captain America # 9. I was putting books away and noticed I've had this page bookmarked for scanning for months Here's a Timely newsstands Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted March 29, 2009 Share Posted March 29, 2009 Disney also had their contraption, the Multi-plane camera that helped them add depth to their animations. I love this stuff. The digital equivalent of this idea has been widely used in CG animation. Not to add visual interest but to cut cost by breaking a complex 3d scene into multiple layers that can be edited independently and rendered in parallel. In the end, all the layers are collapsed into the final 2d frame, just like Disney did back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
