Famous birds characters

I’m going to focus my research around birds mostly on TV and commercial products that are somehow still in our memories. the character I'm going to design is going to be a bird and I'm looking at these examples for not only inspiration but to learn more about personality and design. Below is a list of images which I can remember from my childhood. Some good examples are:

Tweety (Piolin)

I always remember this tiny bird and I always though ‘poor Sylvester’, Tweety is sweet but a pain in the butt!

Woodstock

I never got to interested in this bird but it is a classical in the comics- the best friend of Snoopy.

Darwin the Duck
This animated cartoon by Disney keeps all the appearance of the old Donald the Duck character but its looks like a mature version.

Woody Woodpecker (El pajaro Loco)
He was mad but absolutely adorable. Both children and adults like it, and I remember how at the beginning of every episode Walter Lantz taught you how to draw and make an animation. It was great, and I never missed his instructions. It’s a classic.

Foghorn Leghorn (El gallo Claudio)
Was a sarcastic, funny, playful and hilarious character with an outgoing personality.

Cornelious the Rooster (Kellogg’s Cornflakes)
It is a funny character created to promote cornflakes, which shows some strong ideas and personality, is a mature rooster with a young spirit.

Goodfeathers
They were characters from the Animaniacs series. They were pigeons who thought they were strong as a group but really they were very silly (it was a parody of the Godfellas movie, they were kind of aggressive and always seems to be fighting.

Heckle and Jeckle (Las Urracas Parlanchinas)
They magpies who were very wise, with different personalities, always looking for free food and easy money, always making jokes, doing naughty things and mocking other characters.

Henery Hawk
He innocent like a baby, he believes everything Foghorn says, he wants to capture a chicken but he doesn’t know how one looks like so he is always getting in trouble and gets angry when he doesn’t succeed


Bad Examples

Duckman

I think this character has a lack of style is badly designed and seems evil.

Buzby

This was a famous cartoon in UK but not very familiar to me, anyway I think it was very interesting the way he being used for commercial purposes. Buzby would encourage people to 'Make someone happy with a phone call' so sad he wasn't a success with adults as it was with children. So there is nothing wrong with the style and look, but it did not succeed in his commercial purpose.


Big bird (Sesame Street - Plaza Sesamo)

Oh well I am the only who doesn't remember Big bird in sesame street, it is very vague in my memory. I wonder why but he looks silly. And I remember more Renee the Frog!!


Road Runner
I found it so annoying, every single time he escapes from the Coyote, I don’t know I must be weird but I wanted the Coyote to catch him at least once!

Classic Humour

I’m posting some examples of characters which I remember with nostalgia! They were fine comedy and hilarious.

Scooby Doo: I like his personality, always afraid of ghosts. We know cartoons are not real but that special characteristic made me watch every single afternoon.

Smurfs: I love their design; little blue creatures, I love Gargamel the evil character who always tried to make potions to capture them. It was magical and an original story at that time.

Tom & Jerry: They were hilarious, they didn’t need to talk for you to understand what was going on in the storyline. Sometimes Tom was so cute that many times I thought the bully was Jerry!

Southpark: This is a grown up cartoon, yes lots of children swear in the streets these days but when Southpark appeared in TV, it broke this taboo of TV politeness, and it’s funny and dark and talks about murder and other topics, but somehow manages to entertain without scaring the audience. Maybe this is because of the use of colour and line.

Mafalda: This was about a little girl who is very wise and always surprises her parents with her political ideas. I love the way a cartoon can express many things. Mafalda is a simple drawing which has had a lot of success, but again it is for grown ups.

Candy Candy: Now many would say Candy Candy was really cheesy, but as a cartoon soap opera it wasn’t that bad. There were a lot of tears and suffering, but there were beautiful detailed characters, lovely colours, with, very good narrative. If it made you cry is was because it was able to communicate the emotion which I think is always good.


The Flintstones: Another original story, rudimentary characters, focusing on the machismo of the cavemen yet set a 1960’s style society. It was original at the time, such as the use of prehistorical animals in the latest technology. Again lot of colour is use in the design of this great series.


Garfield: In my opinion it was ‘The cat who lives the Life’ lazy, hungry and always sleepy.

Animaniacs: The tunes in the opening still sound in my head, the characters were very sarcastic and I loved the way they drove the Psychologist crazy.

The Simpsons: The sense of humour in the Simpsons has matured like the wine, it has got better and better, it is like a medicine to relax.


In general all these cartoons have things in common, they are vibrant, alive, and colourful, with a strange sense of humour, I know they were created in different times but I found them full of happiness and for me they bring back a lot of memories.

Charater Design - Desarrollo de personajes

It is always interesting to create art, it could be a character, a pattern, a painting, it could be photographs, digital art, abstracts.....and is only possible if we let our imagination fly. But to create something it is necessary as well to have a sense of perspective of shapes, colours, and what is right for the piece we are creating. I think every artist has a special ability, some are better at drawing, others at choosing colours, others at backgrounds. Each of us has a special gift which makes us different and will make the difference when we apply for a job.

In this Blog I will focus mainly on characters of the past (after all they were my inspiration when I was a child!) I don’t really like many comics these days I could never compare Snoopy with Hellboy. Obviously I know that there is a whole difference in the ideas behind them both, but what I mean is that is was so nice to grow up in times when innocent, lively, flat, sometimes sarcastic or naughty, but always cute characters reinforced my childhood. Now I only see darkness, grotesqueness and evil, the common themes of stories are fighting, blood, sex, to name a few. Ok someone will say that these characters are for grown ups, but be honest do you honestly think the parents are watching cartoons with the kid all the time??? When I was a kid I was forbidden to watch soap operas (my mother said they were not appropriated for my age!) but I always managed to watch them (when they were not at home). My mother used to unplug the TV cord and hide it and I always manage to find it and put it back and return it to its place in my mother room before she even realised it had gone missing. What I am saying is that is not impossible for a kid to enjoy these new styles. Anyway this is just my opinion and I'm sure the artwork is pretty good but for me artwork has to have a message and sometimes this is just become to superficial and commercial.

I’m posting some examples of characters which I remember with nostalgia!

Scooby Doo

Smarfs (Los pitufos)

Tom & Jerry

Southpark

Madagascar
Droopy

Captain Caveman

Mafalda

Snoopy

Maya the Bee (La abeja maya)
Popeye the Sailor (Popeye el marino)
Candy Candy
The Pink Panther (La pantera rosa)
The Flinstones (Los Picapiedras)

Another Friday

During the last 4 weeks i had to create a 16 pages booklet in A size format.
It wasn't an easy task but I achieve my goal and Im fully satisfied.
Here are some images of my booklet!