ON THE STREET WHERE I LIVED

The 'BEWITCHED' practical set on the Warner Bros. Ranch '09. This is me looking at the old 'BEWITCHED' set, while I was working on a new animated series at Warner Bros. Animation last summer.
It's an IPHONE photo.

ON THE ROAD with BOB

Bob is on the left, I'm on the right. The car and the dog belonged to our Art teacher Linda Rowell Bradley. You can kinda see one of her paintings, leaning on the Chicken house, way in the back. At this time, Bob and I were in the 7th grade.

Bob Doucette: Maine, New York, California
Here are some photos I shot of him, starting in High school and ending 10 yrs. later .

To back track a little, when I moved to Los Angeles CA, I came by way of an invitation from my Waterville Maine childhood friend ,Bob Doucette (WB producer "Histeria!" "Detention") to submit my portfolio to Warner Bros Animation studio for a new TV series entitled 'Batman the Animated Series'. Bob had moved out to LA to get his Masters at CalArts and was currently working as a background painter on WB's "Tiny Toon Adventures". So I arrived in LA Dec '90, had my portfolio interview at WB in Jan '91 and began work on "Batman" Feb '91. The day I started production was my birthday ( coincidentally, it was all 3 "Batman" producer's
B-Days as well; Bruce Timm, Eric Rodomski and Allan Burnett).
For a birthday gift, Bob gave me this anti-drug program game for children called, Captain Quantum vs. The Ugly Druggies produced by John Kricfalusi and his production studio ("Mighty Mouse","The Ren & Stimpy Show"). Shown above and below, are some photos and scans of the board game. At this time, I didn't have a car nor a driver's license. So I car pooled to the studio with Bob and 2 of his co-workers; Jenny Lerew, storyboard artist on WB's "Tiny Toon Adventures" , "Animaniacs", Dreamwork's "Shrek 2" and Paul Fisher, storyboard artist on WB's "Tiny Toon Adventures" and Dreamworks' Shrek Forever After (release in 2010). After Bob moved to a new apartment, I hooked up with another WB co-worker to car pool with; Vicky Jensen ( "The Ren & Stimpy Show" WB's "Taz-Mania" and Dreamworks' "Shrek" for which she collected an OSCAR) . Shown above is a scan of a magazine cover Vicky painted. She also painted the background of the board game 'Captain Quantum vs. The Ugly Druggies" ( If you look closely you can see her signature). Vicky is now a live action director, her movie "Post Grad" released by Fox studio opened this weekend.

Girlfriend's Back in Town !

My friend Michele Graybeal is back in Los Angeles to work on a new project at Cartoon Network. I shot this photo of her last Saturday when we had lunch together. Michele and I were on Bruce Timm's crew ( Superman the animated series, New adventures of Batman and Robin) back in the early Warner Bros. days.

Here are a few characatures Bruce Timm did of some WB crew members; Kevin Altieri, Dan Riba, and Keith Weesner.

Below on the left, is a characature of me done by Marc Lumer (but honestly, looks more like him), when we were working together on Superman the Animated Series. Marc is pictured in the photo on the right, sitting along side Trish Burgio. She also worked on our crew as a background painter. Marc was a background designer. I shot the photo during Marc's wedding reception. His friend Alex hosted the party, along with the other 2 roommates in the apartment; Andy and Adrien. I didn't realize it at the time, but "Adrien" was actually Adrien Brody (The Pianist/ Cadillac Records). Opps

Work the Room Baby.

A closer look at my work spaces over the years

Here's my desk and crap, when I lived on 46th street ( note the attractive bars on the windows) , next door to Joe Allen's Resturant in Hell's Kitchen NYC ( I also worked at Joe Allen's as a waiter. The actress Ellen Burstyn yelled at me, when I told her that she couldn't leave the restaurant with an open bottle of wine).
The apartment above is also the same location I shot my 'Novella Romantica' photos.

This is a sloppy panoramic view of my current apartment work space, near beautiful downtown Burbank. I was going through a "Velvet and Fur' phase when I moved in. A friend remarked that my apartment must be nice and cozy when it snows (which it does a lot in LA, so I'm all set).


My last apartment in Manhatten was on 30th street between 8th and 9th Ave. Throughout all my years living in NYC, I moved around quite a bit. It wasn't easy dragging around art supplies and a ton of books, so needless to say, I never owned any regular furniture. However, someone gave me a chair and as you can see here, I'm sitting on it.

Below is my work space in my 1st apartment in Los Angeles CA. When I was in NYC, right before heading West, I was about to move again, this time to a 5th floor walk up on 54th street. Shipping my crap to California was actually a lot easier.

Here's my cube, the last time I was at Cartoon NetworK; 6' x 6', it was quite spacious.

HOLY CLONE !!

In early December of 2001, my production work on The Powerpuff Girls Movie at Cartoon Network was wrapping up. A friend of mine working on the movie asked me if I'd be interested in working on a new MTV animated series called CLONE HIGH USA, which he was involved. So I made my calls, set up an appointment to meet the producers and dragged my portfolio over to their studio which was located in an abandon hospital in North Hollywood where they shoot the television show SCRUBS. At this point in my animation career I had only worked at 2 studios, Warner Bros. Animation for 8 years and Cartoon Network for 2. Both studios were, and still are, well oiled animation production factories. Working for MTV on CLONE HIGH was a little different. Our production offices were located in the abandoned hospital , more specifically the Psychiatric / Rehab Ward. This makeshift work space was provided by our executive producer Bill Lawrence who was also the creator and producer of SCRUBS .
My work space was an actual hospital room, equipped with it's own bathroom and shower. The animation supplies were kept in Canada, where we shared the production responsibilities with Nelvana Studios. If I needed to make a xerox of my art work, I had to scramble past the film crew, craft service, actors dressed as hospital personal and take an elevator to the second floor in the main hospital building. The first time I made this trip I got completely lost. But I recognized a lady I had seen earlier in the Psych Ward, coming out of the shower in my hospital room , so I asked her for directions, to which she replied, " I'm not a real nurse. I'm an actress. I don't know where that stuff is".



The 2 creator/ producers of CLONE HIGH were Phil Lord and Chris Miller, most recently know for directing PARTLY CLOUDY at Sony Pictures. Here's some production design stuff from CLONE HIGH .
This was Phil Lord and Chris Miller's approval stamp caricatures.

At the start of production, Carey Yost finalized the main character designs on the series, I did the inking, as shown above.

Above and below are some samples of the design work I did for the series.
Production on CLONE HIGH remained at the hospital for 3 months. In March we were moved to the MTV Santa Monica offices and shared the work space with The Osbournes and The Brandy Show. In May my father died, 3 months later production wrapped on CLONE HIGH. November 2, 2002 the show premiered on MTV, then all the controversy hit . On January 30, 2003, the 55th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, approximately 150 protesters (including members of parliament) gathered in New Delhi and vowed to fast in response to Gandhi's depiction in the animated series Clone High USA . The series was canceled.

Warner Bros. Crew '91

Back in Feb 1991 when Batman the Animated Series went into production, our crew worked out of the offices in the Sherman Ocks Galleria Garden building. Sometime around the middle of the year we were moved to the main offices in the Imperial Bank building. Here are some '91 Halloween pics I recently found. Some of the Batman crew members including the producer Bruce Timm dressed up as Glen Murakami -( Teen Titans/ Ben 10) . In the bottom right photo the red arrow points to Glen . BTW in the center group of photos, on the right , standing along side Bruce Timm is Ronnie Del Carmen. ( now a story supervisor at Pixar )

That Banker

Harold Smith , b: February 2nd 1923, d May 25: 2002

Kennebunkport; Maine circa 1986
(near the Bush Family Estate)

Thomaston; Maine circa 1985
(Thomaston State Prison Gift Shop)

Mesa; Arizona circa 1988
(Superstition Mountain, east of Apache Junction)
Practically everyone called my father 'Smitty'. His sister Methyl called him "Had" (short for Harold) . To me he was 'Dad', but in public I referred to him as... "That Banker".
I rarely visited my father at the Bank. But when I was in high school, working as a dish washer at the Silent Woman Resturant, I would go into my father's bank and cash my pay check. After sufficiently exhausting the teller's patients, insisting that they cash my check without any proper ID, I would casually point to the bank manager and say," See that Banker, he's my father".

It's A SMALL World '65

Disney's "It's a Small World" originated with the 1964/1965 New York World's Fair. After the fair closed, the entire ride was transferred to Disneyland and officially opened in 1966. These snap shots are from '64-'65 New York World's Fair.

Color my world

Some painting I did way back in the 20th Century .

You ANIMAL

Here are some rough designs I did for the Cartoon Network series
'My Gym Partner's A Monkey'

The REAL Camden Cove

I recently went back to Maine to visit family. I got a chance to drive down to Camden to do some research for the main location in my Graphic Novel. Here are some photos I shot.

My parents had a summer residents in the Camden area. I grew up hearing all about the "Hollywood Folk" who dropped by asking for cups of sugar or Whiskey, depending on the celebrity. My favorite yarn was about Bette Davis, who had a home in Camden for awhile. The way the story goes, Ms. Davis gave a fancy dinner party for her neighbors
(quote: Davis,"...F**K Betty Crocker"). After dinner, Bette politely told her guests never to speak or make eye contact with her ever again, (quote: Davis,"...even if my ass is on fire").


Here are a few Flicks that were shot in Camden, Maine.
Peyton Place (1957), 'In the Bedroom' (2001), 'The Cider House Rules' (1991), 'Pet Cemetery' (1989), 'Thinner' (1996), 'Carousel' (1956), “Forrest Gump” (1994), 'Iron Giant' (1999) (location research during development).

Lana Turner was the only cast member who did not do any location work in Camden, for the filming of 'Peyton Place' ( 1957)


Then in 1961 they made 'Return to Peyton Place' but the filming location was in Fitchburg, Massachusetts .
ABC's Peyton Place (1964-1969) was the very 1st evening Soap Opera on television. This version of the book was shot entirely on Stage 9 at 20th Century Fox in Studio City, California. I'm sure they didn't write too many cold snow days into the script.

Grace Metalious -- the "Pandora in bluejeans" (cheesy slogan by some hep PR guy) and the author of 'Peyton Place' -- was said by some to be a SMUT monger. But 'Peyton Place' was the 1st novel to sell 100,000 copies, which it did in the 1st month of it's release and then went on to sell over 12 million. Sadly Grace ended up broke, in debt and dead at age 40.

Name that TOON

A lot of folks who don't work in the industry might think that Warner Bros. Animation is located on the actual studio lot. Currently the WB animation division resides at the WB Ranch. However during the 90's, WB Television Animation was located at the Sherman Ocks Galleria; more specifically in the Imperial Bank building.

In 1999 the Sherman Ocks Galleria was in the process of being completely gutted out in preparation for a major remodeling. At this time, I had transfered from WB's offices on the 8th floor of the Imperial Bank to Cartoon Network's ground floor offices in the Mall's Garden building. Needless to say there was a ton of falling debris in our office; ceiling tiles, electrical wire and huge scary rodents.

The Johnny Bravo series was created by Van Partible when Cartoon Network was know as Hanna-Barbera. However at the time I transfered over to work on Bravo, Time Warner., Turner Broadcasting /Hanna-Barbera and AOL.com had all merged together and Cartoon Network studios was born. I think I was on Bravo for 3 seasons, I'm not sure now.

Here's some stuff I did while in production on Johnny Bravo. After I left this series, the show went on and so did my designs. I think there was a Bravo TV special and another season or 2 of the series. I learned a lot about design on Johnny Bravo, mainly because our crew shared the same office space as The Powerpuff Girls production. You can find some amazing drawing in the recycle bin! Before Johnny Bravo, I had been on the Batman/crew/ series for 7 years, but after all that time, practically everything had been designed. I think the last bit of work I did on Batman was draw buttons on a previously designed stock character wearing a lab coat.

Part-01 The idea that won't die

Back in the late 1980's, while I was living in NYC, I discovered Spanish "pocket" comic books, better known as " Novella Romantica".
I was inspired to create my own romance comic book, however at that time I was mostly working in photography. I wrote a short story and created a 'photo novella' entitled "Atomic Romance'. Here's a small sample of the photos I shot.

A few years later in 1994 I was working at Warner Bros. Animation, 'Batman the Animated Series' had gone on hiatus and we were invited to bring in ideas to develop. I brought in Atomic Romance. They liked the idea and the project took on a new name...
'True Romance. We used the original story I had written which was about a young nurse who left her small New England town to work in a Big City Hospital. The concept of the series was presented as an animated Hospital Soap Opera. Here's some of my original art work. The final product we development was a 3min. limited animation animatic, edited together on an AVID. True Romance was a bit ahead of it's time. There were questions by the studio as to whom this series would be marketed to; was it for adults, was it satire, was it "camp". What the hell was it. It was shelved.

8 years pass, it's now 2002. I've rapped production on 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie' I'm now working at MTV on a show called 'Clone High' (Our production office was in an abandoned Hospital where they shoot SCRUBS. My office was in the PHYSICATRIC REHAB wing ). At that time Cartoon Network was taking pitches for their new evening time block " Adult Swim'. I pitched the 'Atomic Romance' concept with a new name... Bedside Manor.
Cartoon Network liked the idea and in a collaborative way suggested that we make a few alterations to the project. The 1st thing we did was to change the focus of the series to a male character. Next, we changed story local from "The Big City" to a small coastal town. This location switch lead to changing the name of the series to Beaver Bay Harbor. Here are some character designs developed for our new direction in the project.
Timing is everything in animation and unfortunately our timing was off. At this juncture, there were a lot of studios going through interdepartmental restructuring, including Cartoon Network. It was 2003 and I was back at Warner Bros. Animation studios when I was told that Beaver Bay Harbor got lost in the shuffle and was dropped.

I was a little disappointed , sure. But then again, I had just finished a 13 episode series that was canceled because an entire country protested against the misrepresentation of a holy man. So in the case of my project, as they say," it could have been worse".

Part-02 the Graphic Novel that won't end.

So (to back track) it's now 2004. I'm at Warner Brothers. Atomic Romance is still living in the back of my mind. Fox studio advertised a contest 'Pitch-o-Rama' and invite folks to submit ideas for a new animated television series. So I began the 4th wave of development on my "little idea" and I rename it.. DR. MOODY MD.. The interesting thing about this FOX studio sponsored "contest" was that, right before I submitted my material, I secretly heard "through the grapevine" that allegedly Fox had already chosen their contest winner; 'American Dad' created by Seth McFarland. Well... there ya go.
The 5th wave of development using my "little idea" came when a good friend of mine at WB suggested I do a Graphic Novel. As you can see I toyed around with another name for the project 'Pulpatations' , changed the style of the characters a bit and roughed-out the first chapter of the comic book.
However as these things go, I quickly discovered that doing a comic book was a lot more work then I anticipated; It was practically a second job. Anyone in animation production will tell you ( especially TV animation) when you're working long hours to met tight deadlines, that's all the time you have . Pulpatations the graphic novel was put on hold.

Part 03 - Before "Atomic Romance'

Ok , at the time I started my 'Atomic Romance' photo novella, I was working at a restaurant in NYC called 'LOLA'. I had written a short story about a nurse and her deranged family, but writing wasn't my milieu. So, I asked a couple of my "waiter friends" who where writers to read over my story. One of those waiters was Stan Wlodkowski who would later go on to produce a little Academy Award winning movie called....
'American Beauty'.







Speaking of "slinging hash". When I was going to school in NYC, the first restaurant job I had there was at a place called 'Company'; a flamboyant "Mafia" owned establishment on the East side of town. Every night they had these crazy "Happy Hour" lounge singers; most notably Phoebe Leger. The drunks loved her.

Anyway, she got famous after being in Warhol's 'Interview' magazine, then later doing a couple 'Toxic Avenger' movies. Phoebe was an authentic East Village celebrity, back in the 1980's, kinda kookie but really just "high" (allegedly). I strongly suspect Phoebe Leger was the inspiration for the character "Phoebe Buffay' on the sitcom "Friends".




Anyway, one particular Halloween at 'Company Restaurant' a new Busboy was hired; his name was Lee Tergesen. The photo on the left has a white arrow pointing to Lee on his very first night at the restaurant. BTW he dressed as a sailor boy that evening. Lee went on to work at LOLA Restaurant and later Empire Diner, but he's best known for his work as an actor in the HBO’s prison drama 'Oz'.

How FREAKY

After Batman the Animated Series and the full length Batman the Animated Movie rapped, there was a short hiatus . A few projects were developed. Freakazoid 1995 was one of those projects that went into production . Here's some of the stuff I developed for that series. A few caricatures I did of my co-workers during production.

That's SUPER

In 1996 during production on 'Superman the Animated Series' I was given a Villain to design and for the life of me I couldn't remember his name. I referred to the character as James Coburn ( 'In like Flint' 1967). It was my director's idea for me to taylor my design to look similar to Coburn.
I was given the assignment of designing Clark Kent's parents. Here's a sample design of the age progression for Mr. Kent.


















The photo on the right was taken of me during Halloween (along with a Philip Stark water bottle) , while I was in production on 'Superman the Animated Series'. If you look closely on the right side of my animation desk, you can see a sketch for "young Mrs. Kent". Below, is the final version of that design.

Development Haven

During the development period for Cartoon Network's 'Samurai Jack' 2001 a few designers on the crew had a shot at finalizing the design of "Jack". Here are a few of my " takes" for the "Jack" design.




Here's a lovely portrait of me by Carlos Ramos, during my time on 'Samurai Jack'.

Interesting Monsters

After working on Batman, Superman and a number of other animated TV shows from 1991-1998, I worked on a variety of different shows that involved designing hundreds of Monsters; most notably The Powerpuff Girls 2000-01 Samurai Jack 2001-02 and Duck Dodgers 2003-04. Here are a few designs from that period.
What's NEW Scooby-Doo 2003: The monsters I designed for this series were basically " Man in suit" Monsters.

The designs below are from Samurai Jack '01.



































The Monster designs below are from Duck Dodgers 2003

The Powerpuff Girls Movie 2002
After I finished up the allotted time designated for the design portion of production on the PPG feature film , I went on to work in Character layout. The layout below is from 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie'. Actually most of the Primates in my layout were originally designed by Craig Kellman during development.
Duck Dodgers 2003-2004

And this is a caricature of me during my 2003-2004 Duck Dodgers stint at WB

In the Beginning

The 1991 Batman promotional Pop-up book was by Bruce Timm .


Below are some of my (discarded) production stuff from the 1991 Warner Bros Animation television series, 'Batman the Animated Series'. Mind you,this was my first professional Gig and all this stuff was done many years ago, so don't judge me too harshly. BTW the "Clayface" production background was a discarded BG by my layout partner Pat Agnasin, better known as 'Elvis' of the Philippines. The caricatures of me were done around the same time,so I thought I'd stick them in the group.