Tooncast Drawn Together

This is the job that occupied most of my summer- a spot at Artifact Design called "Drawn Together" for Cartoon Network Latin America's version of Boomerang called Tooncast. It was a daunting project because of the the scope and the process. Its a very long spot, there are hordes or characters, and animating directly in Photoshop was something I had never done before. And of course, the turn-around was tight. There are lots of things I wish I could change. For instance, I way overanimated Porky and Shaggy in the beginning. They ended up so small in the scene, and the camera pans by them so fast, they could have literally been a still. My worst idea was an attempt to animate Batman and Robin to the camera movement because I thought that would be easier and look better than tracking. But after several days of fruitless struggle with the camera drift, I gave up and had them walking in place. I got cheeky with a walk cycle of He-Man and had him waggle his hips like Wonder Woman because I thought he'd be so far back in the crowd no one would notice...but then he ended up being front and center. And there are so many walk cycles a with a frame or two shaved off- I should have checked them before the final renders were comped. And when time was bearing down on us, I relied so heavily on the cut-and-paste cheats for some characters that I won't even name which ones they are because I'm embarrassed. You may notice that my usually meticulous tagging of characters is lacking in this video, but I just couldn't muster the energy to follow such intricate camerawork and tag animation I didn't care to take credit for. But I am proud of a few things. As stupid as I was about my Batman and Robin camera drift attempt, I am very relieved that shot turned out so decent. I might even use it for my demo reel. And at my insistence, I got to place Velma and Johnny Bravo in a scene together (in the building outside dog alley, where Johnny draws the shades.) I'm reasonably proud of my Daffy Duck because I think its good animation done very quickly. Overall, I have to say this was a fabulous learning experience and for all my errors, I am pleased with the product. The artists at Artifact really pulled this one together- it was a great team to be a part of. And animating classic character is a real, if rare, treat.