Castle Sketches

Most of this year has been spent helping develop different animated projects for The Cartoon Saloon in Ireland.  

Above: A few early quick development sketches for a project that look nothing at all like the final version. But you have to start somewhere!

All images © 2015 Cartoon Saloon

Paddle Pop Begins

A few years ago I was invited to direct a few episodes of a low budget kids show called "Paddle Pop" at The Monk Studios in Thailand. Paddle Pop Lion (called Max in Europe) is the mascot of Paddle Pop ice cream and of course the hero of the show.



Though we had serious restrictions in terms of budget, content, and schedule... we had a good time putting these little episodes together. English speaking actors are more difficult to come by in Asia, and many of the voices in the series are friends and crew members. For instance, I am the voice of the giant chicken statue in episode 7. The little robots in this episode were inspired by the Balinese Monkey Dance. You can hear hints of Indonesian music in the soundtrack.



Episode 9 was interesting because of the fact that most of the crew had never seen a real snow beast before... or real snow for that matter.  They took it all in stride... and within the limitations we were faced with... did a fine job. Most of the character designs were established before I came onto the project. However, the client asked me to come up with "non threatening weapons." If you notice the soldiers "spears" they are inspired by dental floss picks.