Part of my year was spent doing character designs for a show for Disney XD.  Every time I tell people that they freak out about the Disney part of that story, but there’s some pretty great design design stuff happening on that channel, and a lot of it is thanks to the guys at Titmouse Animation.  Titmouse was who I dealt with, actually, and I never really had any direct involvement with anyone from Disney so my hands are clean of any mouse droppings.

Anyhow, my involvement was in designing the main cast and then I followed up with a ton of creature designs that I’m guessing would show up in a second season.  Mostly I did conceptual work that looked somewhat less like the stuff of mine people are used to from ZIM, but the end result ended up being pushed more towards that familiar look. At some point I should post some of what I drew so you could see the differences.

My favorite thing about the finished product, however, is the fantastic title sequence directed by Kevin Dart and produced by Passion pictures.  It’s way more it’s own thing, more of a hybrid of things that are clearly mine but in the hands of someone that’s just working their highly distinctive magic with it.  When working with animators, there are times when I’m happiest seeing someone not just aping what they THINK is my style, when something unique and interesting results from them taking it a direction it’s not been seen in.

I had never met Kevin before, but I was a fan of his artwork, and the first thing I did after watching the show was email him to say thanks for his part in it.  It’s still one of the best feelings designing some elements that then get handled by people who make it do shit you never imagined.