More Bravest Warriors designs

So, the first season of Bravest Warriors wrapped up this week. Thanks to everyone who's been following along with the show since its launch in November. And if you're only now getting acquainted with it, that's cool too! Freelance design on the show occupied the better part of my (formerly) free time last year—it was an interesting and great experience for me. While I've been sharing some of the major characters that I designed for each episode, there's a lot more drawing that goes into the show (even more than what I'm about to show here). In addition to the recurring characters like Catbug, Impossibear, and Plum, there are tons of secondary and what I might call prop or gag characters that only show up once, or briefly in a crowd.

The Cereal Master, from Episode 9 of the same name, is a good example of a secondary character who played an important role in her episode. Her turn poses and a couple special poses, below:

I'd often get character assignments once the script was mostly worked out and storyboarding was just about to begin—working closely with the show's director, co-executive producer, and writer, Breehn Burns. I'd read the script to get a sense for a character, and Breehn would get me started with: imagine her as a big head with a face on it. (Ha, something like that.)

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I love drawing characters (this is an understatement), so I'd fill up a sheet with some ideas. Breehn and I would have some back and forth to zero in on the final design. You can see how the final version of Cereal Master formed out of these early ideas.

This episode required a group of patrons to fill the seats at the Cereal Bar, shown above with their backs facing us. This was a case where their back-views were going to be pretty important. You can see a few of them in the screen-grab at the top of the post, as well. 

Again, they function more as props in a crowd than anything else, but someone has to draw what they look like. Below is a good example of a gag character.

Beth as a Walrus—A drawing designed to get a laugh.

Here are the partying mojito aliens, and the desperate aliens from the Suffer Club.

Similar to the Cereal Bar patrons, Episode 8 "Dan Before Time", required a bunch of little alien dudes named the Low Gravity Hacker Pack (who bullied on Danny when he was 6). They played a bigger role, and actually have names—most given after I drew them. In order: Hans Christian Teet-Phanters (leader), Wireframe, Slice, Dialup, and Shelia.

I had a lot of fun drawing these guys, and they turned out great in the episode. I especially like where their colors landed. Again, with an assignment like this I draw a bunch of characters, and then we narrow them down to the final picks.

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Some of these drawings were used in another episode. A few made it into the passenger seats on the bus in Memory Donk, which I did a lot of design on.

Catbug and more!

It's been awhile since I've posted some of my designs over here from Bravest Warriors (I do that more regularly on Tumblr.) A full 10 Episodes have aired, which you can watch in their entirety on YouTube, over here. The Season 1 Finale, 'Catbug', airs this Thursday, so don't miss it. And it once again features this little guy, Catbug, who seems to be one of the more popular characters from the series.

What follows are a smattering of designs from a range of episodes. Starting with Plum:

She is sometimes thought of as the fifth Bravest Warrior.

Though there is some speculation as to whether or not she is evil.

(you decide.)

I helped design an important character known as the Emotion Lord. He's a kooky old crackpot who appears throughout the series. I created this firebelly armor costume for him in the 'Lavarinth' episode.

... and above, the Firebelly creature design.

The Emotion Lord pals around with his little companion known as The Concierge.

The most recent episode, 'Ultra Wankershim' featured an enlarged version of a cute little elf named Wankershim.

Impossibear is one of my favorite characters from the show. He's getting ready to grill up some soft tacos! Here he is in color (minus the apron).

And these are littler-sized designs of the Bravest Warriors as kids.

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I based Beth on Drew Barrymore from E.T.

That's plenty for one post. One final reminder to watch the Season 1 Finale, 'Catbug', this Thursday on Cartoon Hangover. Thanks!

gas powered stick

Meet Impossibear, this Thursday, on Bravest Warriors.

Memory Donk

Okay, as promised, here are the remaining designs I created for the latest episode of Bravest Warriors, "Memory Donk", which you can watch over here. Fair warning, possible spoilers ahead. This is the hulking form of the Memory Donk. Below is the 2-step turn I designed (click on the smaller images to view large).

One of the things I like about drawing for the show is that it's forced me to really consider that back-3/4 view. When's the last time you drew the back of one of your characters when you were doodling it? In practice (say in comics), I bet you draw it all the time without even thinking. It's a pretty common angle for showing a character looking at something. I use back-3/4 way more than profile, which is probably my least favorite angle because you only get one eye and it can flatten a drawing.

But, I ramble. Below are various other memory donks that appeared at the Memory Donk Convention.

Next up, the old lady on the bus. Appearing with her purse.

We eventually gave her a floral pattern. Below is a 3-step turn. You can obtain most of what you need to know about a character from these three views. I mentioned profile, before. A proper front-view can also be hard to nail, in terms of flattening features (foreshortening) and avoiding the human tendency to get all symmetrical.

Finally, the ship's Pilot. Three eyes, three collars. Seen below, frozen. 

More drawings.

I'm realizing my blog is beginning to look like a coloring book. The colorist on the episode is normally the one responsible for adding color to the designs before they get sent off to be animated. I promise more color (and images with backgrounds!) again, soon. —Thanks!

Jelly Kid and Ballerina Man

I have a bunch of designs to share with you from Episode 4 of Bravest Warriors, "Memory Donk", which you can watch on YouTube as of this afternoon (right here!). I've been the lead character designer on a number of episodes...this was a big one, requiring a bunch of little dudes, and a bunch of big dudes. It's one of my favorites, too.

We'll start little. Above is probably the cutest of the bunch, Jelly Kid.

And this little guy is Ballerina Man.

To help the animators, I roughed out a set of poses that I referenced from actions in the storyboards—to demonstrate how he'd move around and dance from various angles.

He's a lot of fun to draw.

Here's a Hobo alien that plays the accordian (which props made high tech).

And then there were a bunch of passengers on the ship. I created some, and I believe Phil Rynda designed the rest. You can click this one to view larger.

Okay, I'll post more designs from this episode another time. Again, if you haven't already, watch and subscribe to Bravest Warriors on Cartoon Hangover. There are already 4 episodes free for you to watch. GO!

The Professor and Gayle

The first episode of Bravest Warriors premiered today (as I'm posting, yesterday) on Frederator's Cartoon Hangover channel. That's right! These are the first two characters I helped design on the show: Professor Fartsparkles and Gayle the Glendalien. I happened to help color them, too. I've been working on the show since April, so it's pretty exciting to finally see the animation go live. Massive congratulations and thank you's are due to show creators and friends Pendleton Ward and Breehn Burns. And to everyone on the crew! These shows don't happen without a TON of effort.

But wait, you haven't seen the first episode "Time Slime" yet? Then hop on over to YouTube and subscribe here. New episodes on Thursdays! For free! On the internet! Crazy, right?

I've posted before about Bravest Warriors here and here.

Bravest Warriors at NYCC 2012

It's already well underway, but for those of you heading to New York Comic Con this weekend, I’ll be part of the official Bravest Warriors launch, signing the NYCC exclusive issue of BOOM! Studios Bravest Warriors #1 with Breehn Burns (series writer/producer) at Jim Hanley’s Universe in Manhattan from 6pm - 9pm, Friday night. Open to the public! No pass or badge required.

I drew the limited edition cover (above) specifically for this event, so it'll be your only chance to get your hands on a copy. There will be a sneak peek screening of an animated episode of Bravest Warriors as well. So, come say hello!

More information here and here.

In other news.... 

.... THIS happened.  (braaaiiiiiiinnnnnnn ... )

Bravest Warriors

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I took some time on the 4th to draw off-model versions of the team of warriors that I've been drawing on-model for the past couple months now: Chris, Danny, Beth, and Wallow. If you haven't heard already, Frederator Studios has a new cartoon series in production called Bravest Warriors. You can read all about it, here. It's based on the original short by Pen Ward (creator of Adventure Time).

art by Natasha Allegri

I was brought on in April to help with character design, pre-storyboarding development, and key poses to aid in animation. Which means I've been doing a lot of drawing. Once in awhile the production blog posts images to the public—below are a few.

As the weeks go on, I'm sure they'll be sharing more of the work I've been doing. It's been a great experience; I get early scripts and I've been working directly with Breehn Burns (executive producer along with Fred Seibert) to develop new characters for each episode and work out any requirements for the main characters.

The series of shorts is due to air this fall on the YouTube Channel, Cartoon Hangover. You may have also read that like Adventure Time, a comic book series is arriving in October by Boom! Studios' KaBOOM! imprint (cover art previews and more info on that via Comics Alliance --> here.)

Finally, here's one of my favorite characters so far that came out of a collaborative effort with Breehn. A little dude named Impossibear (an early concept color sketch).