B:TB&tB episode 8 "Fall of the Blue Beetle!" directed by Brandon Vietti.
Science Island! This was the lab built by the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Whenever possible, I tried to come up with a color theme for a characters tech and environment. With Science Island, I decided to make the glass out of the same material as the character's goggles and also have blue accents here and there to look a little like Blue Beetle's other gear.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
This is the "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" background paint blog. I will be posting at least one background painting I did for each episode of the series in chronological order.
Monday, February 28, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 8
So we had the Jaime Reyes version of the Blue Beetle in first episode and fan reaction was mostly positive...that is, with exception of the people who were Ted Kord Blue Beetle fans. For those of you who don't know, Ted Kord is the Silver Age Blue Beetle. "When are we going to see Ted Kord?", fans asked. Well, O.K....how about we not only going to give you Ted Kord (voiced by Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wil Wheaton), but how about we give you the Golden Age Blue Beetle (Dan Garret) while we're at it? See? You didn't even think to ask for that one!
Just like the Science Island background, I tied the Blue Beetle lair colors to Blue Beetle's character colors. Note the trophy case on the left that houses not only Ted Kord, but also Dan Garret's costume.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
Just like the Science Island background, I tied the Blue Beetle lair colors to Blue Beetle's character colors. Note the trophy case on the left that houses not only Ted Kord, but also Dan Garret's costume.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 7
B:TB&tB episode 7 "Dawn of the Dead Man!" directed by Ben Jones.
Easter eggs! Not the garishly painted or chocolate kind that overgrown rabbits bring, but the kind that the B:TB&tB crew leave within an episode.
When the B:TB&tB was first announced as a show that was going to skew to a younger audience, there were a lot of fans already dismissing it as a "kiddy show" before even a frame was shown. Where as our take on Batman was indeed lighter, it didn't mean we didn't have a great affection for the source material. James Tucker and the writers did a great job of offering a show that a kid could watch and at the same time, have something for longtime comic book readers to enjoy. Cameos of obscure characters or (in the case of this episode) details in the backgrounds, were there for the eagle eyed comic aficionado and probably went right by the average kid. With people like James Tucker and Ben Jones working on B:TB&tB, the amount of Easter eggs in the show became more and more frequent as the series progressed. Thankfully both of them had volumes of the DC Archive Editions to cull information from. I remember more than a few times Ben or James handing me one of those books flagged with post-it notes in it. If it was put in the show, it was important that we got the details right.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation. "Kamandi" ™DC Comics
Easter eggs! Not the garishly painted or chocolate kind that overgrown rabbits bring, but the kind that the B:TB&tB crew leave within an episode.
When the B:TB&tB was first announced as a show that was going to skew to a younger audience, there were a lot of fans already dismissing it as a "kiddy show" before even a frame was shown. Where as our take on Batman was indeed lighter, it didn't mean we didn't have a great affection for the source material. James Tucker and the writers did a great job of offering a show that a kid could watch and at the same time, have something for longtime comic book readers to enjoy. Cameos of obscure characters or (in the case of this episode) details in the backgrounds, were there for the eagle eyed comic aficionado and probably went right by the average kid. With people like James Tucker and Ben Jones working on B:TB&tB, the amount of Easter eggs in the show became more and more frequent as the series progressed. Thankfully both of them had volumes of the DC Archive Editions to cull information from. I remember more than a few times Ben or James handing me one of those books flagged with post-it notes in it. If it was put in the show, it was important that we got the details right.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation. "Kamandi" ™DC Comics
B:TB&tB episode 7
In the teaser of episode 7, we have a recreation of Jack "The King" Kirby's famous double page spread from "Kamandi" #1. In the second background, we have a billboard advertising a "Build-A-Friend". This was from the pages of another Kirby created book called "OMAC". We wouldn't get to see OMAC himself until episode 23 and sadly, Lila is only seen here and is never seen "in the flesh" in the series.
I guess here is as good of place as any to mention that Kirby's work was ever present, not only in the show by the many characters he created, but also by his distinctive art style. You would be hard pressed to find too many cubicles at B:TB&tB without a book, toy or picture hanging up that didn't have something created by Jack Kirby in it. Every time we have a freeze frame of Bats (or any other character) punching someone in Brave and Bold, it is framed with "Kirby Krackle" (we even made a custom Photo Shop brush called "Kirby Dots". Not many artist become an adjective, but Jack Kirby certainly did.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation. "Kamandi" ™DC Comics.
I guess here is as good of place as any to mention that Kirby's work was ever present, not only in the show by the many characters he created, but also by his distinctive art style. You would be hard pressed to find too many cubicles at B:TB&tB without a book, toy or picture hanging up that didn't have something created by Jack Kirby in it. Every time we have a freeze frame of Bats (or any other character) punching someone in Brave and Bold, it is framed with "Kirby Krackle" (we even made a custom Photo Shop brush called "Kirby Dots". Not many artist become an adjective, but Jack Kirby certainly did.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation. "Kamandi" ™DC Comics.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 5
B:TB&tB episode 5 "Invasion of the Secret Santas!" directed by Brandon Vietti.
The inevitable Christmas episode. Just a typical Christmas story featuring aliens, killer robotic Santas, and toys bent on taking over a sleepy little town.
The inevitable Christmas episode. Just a typical Christmas story featuring aliens, killer robotic Santas, and toys bent on taking over a sleepy little town.
Monday, February 14, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 4
B:TB&tB episode 4 "Day of the Dark Knight!" directed by Ben Jones.
These backgrounds were for the teaser segment of episode 4. It is the first time the show goes to "OA" which is the home world of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern's HQ planet. This version of OA was designed by Nollan Obena. If you want to see Nollan's original concept drawing for the background on the right, go here:
naproxen500.blogspot.com/2009/07/oa.html
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
These backgrounds were for the teaser segment of episode 4. It is the first time the show goes to "OA" which is the home world of the Guardians of the Universe and the Green Lantern's HQ planet. This version of OA was designed by Nollan Obena. If you want to see Nollan's original concept drawing for the background on the right, go here:
naproxen500.blogspot.com/2009/07/oa.html
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
Friday, February 11, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 3
B:TB&tB episode 3 "Evil Under the Sea!" directed by Michael Chang.
Batman under the sea? As Aquaman would say, "OUTRAGEOUS!". I think it takes most shows at least a half a season to find it's voice, but I think by episode 3, B:TB&tB was already well on it's way. Brave and Bold's Aquaman was a much different take on the character than previous animated shows show had on him. No longer the sullen "King Arthur underwater", but now a big, brash, (and more importantly) fun character. Aquaman quickly became a fan favorite and certainly a favorite among the writing staff (he's in a lot of episodes).
Sadly, I don't think Michael has a current blog, but he's directing on "Young Justice" now so you should go watch that. It's a good show.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
Batman under the sea? As Aquaman would say, "OUTRAGEOUS!". I think it takes most shows at least a half a season to find it's voice, but I think by episode 3, B:TB&tB was already well on it's way. Brave and Bold's Aquaman was a much different take on the character than previous animated shows show had on him. No longer the sullen "King Arthur underwater", but now a big, brash, (and more importantly) fun character. Aquaman quickly became a fan favorite and certainly a favorite among the writing staff (he's in a lot of episodes).
Sadly, I don't think Michael has a current blog, but he's directing on "Young Justice" now so you should go watch that. It's a good show.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
B:TB&tB episode 3
For the underwater section of Atlantis, I took a look at Disney's 1954 film "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". I like how the Technicolor process "pushed" color on Disney's live action movies. I also took a peek at "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" from 1958 again. Along with the original Star Trek series (which I bought the box set of at this time) these were films I grew up watching and revisited while working on Brave and Bold. I think what I like about these films was the fact that they were obviously shot on sets and didn't look "real" at all. They were so stylized that they made up their own reality. I think that mindset lent itself to Brave and Bold perfectly.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
Sunday, February 6, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 2
B:TB&tB episode 2 "Terror on Dinosaur Island!" directed by Brandon Vietti.
Brandon is currently producing the new "Young Justice" cartoon for Cartoon Network. Check it out and check out his blog that is documenting some of the production of "Young Justice":
http://brandonvietti.blogspot.com/
Brandon is currently producing the new "Young Justice" cartoon for Cartoon Network. Check it out and check out his blog that is documenting some of the production of "Young Justice":
http://brandonvietti.blogspot.com/
B:TB&tB episode 2
Episode 2 features both the debut of Dinosaur Island and Plastic Man on Brave and Bold. Tom Kenny (probably best know for as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants) supplies the voice of Plas on B:TB&tB, but this is not the first time Tom has voiced the stretchy crime fighter. The first time, was for a Plastic Man pilot that Andy Suriano and Tom Kenny did a few years before The Brave and the Bold. This version had more of a Mad Magazine meets Spumco style to it and was crammed packed with gags. If you like to Plastic Man and if you like to laugh, you should check out Andy and Tom's terrific Plastic Man pilot here:
While you're at it, check out Andy's blog:
andyupdates.blogspot.com/
While you're at it, check out Andy's blog:
andyupdates.blogspot.com/
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" Background Paint Blog
The "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" Background Paint Blog
Originally uploaded by William Joseph Dunn
This February marks my end of production for the "Batman: The Brave and the Bold" animated series. I started working on B:TB&tB as one of the background painters in 2008 and about eight episodes in, I became the background paint supervisor. I plan to use this blog to do a postmortem of sorts and show a small portion of the background paintings I did for the show. I will to try to post at least one painting from every one of the 65 episodes of the series and to have a little commentary to go along with the work. Also, I am going to show some work that was never used for the show for whatever reason. Updates will be once a week (probably on Monday) until we reach the end of the series:
One last note before I move on to the work itself: even though I painted these backgrounds, all of the paintings here are property of Warner Bros Animation, so please do not post any of the work here on your website. You really don't want to upset WB's lawyers...like at all.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
B:TB&tB development
B:TB&tB development
O.K. let's start with some development pieces I did before I was hired on to the show. My friend Brandon Vietti brought my work to producer James Tucker's attention and arranged for me to meet with James. When I met with James, he told me they planned take Batman away from the grim and gritty version and back to the Silver Age version of the character that artist Dick Sprang made popular. The Brave and the Bold was to be as if the opening title sequence of the Adam West T.V. show, was the whole show. This sounded really cool to me. James and I talked about what influences for the color that might be incorporated in to the show: the aforementioned Adam West show, Jack Kirby comics, the original Star Trek television series, 1950's sci-fi book covers, the art of Kiraz, etc. At this point, there wasn't any background layout artists on staff yet, so I was given two background drawings from the previous series James produced, "The Legion of Superheroes". Off to work I went.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
O.K. let's start with some development pieces I did before I was hired on to the show. My friend Brandon Vietti brought my work to producer James Tucker's attention and arranged for me to meet with James. When I met with James, he told me they planned take Batman away from the grim and gritty version and back to the Silver Age version of the character that artist Dick Sprang made popular. The Brave and the Bold was to be as if the opening title sequence of the Adam West T.V. show, was the whole show. This sounded really cool to me. James and I talked about what influences for the color that might be incorporated in to the show: the aforementioned Adam West show, Jack Kirby comics, the original Star Trek television series, 1950's sci-fi book covers, the art of Kiraz, etc. At this point, there wasn't any background layout artists on staff yet, so I was given two background drawings from the previous series James produced, "The Legion of Superheroes". Off to work I went.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
B:TB&tB development 2
B:TB&tB development 2
I think I might have taken a day or two to do the samples and at the time, I was really keen on pushing the comic bookness of the backgrounds. So I thought, what is more comic bookish than zip-a-tone dot patterns? When I showed the samples to James, whereas he thought it was kind of cool, he pointed out that if we trucked into a background, what would look like a small dot from far away, would look like a bunch of large dinner plates close up. Plus there might be a problem if the camera pans along the dot pattern. It could vibrate on the screen. He was right of course and so I dropped the zip-a-tone idea from the BGs. This is what development is for anyway. Throw a bunch of ideas and see what works and what doesn't. Still...I thought if I ever got on to the show, it would be cool if I could sneak it in to a BG at least once...A few weeks after I turned in my test, line producer Amy McKenna called me and told me I had the job.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
I think I might have taken a day or two to do the samples and at the time, I was really keen on pushing the comic bookness of the backgrounds. So I thought, what is more comic bookish than zip-a-tone dot patterns? When I showed the samples to James, whereas he thought it was kind of cool, he pointed out that if we trucked into a background, what would look like a small dot from far away, would look like a bunch of large dinner plates close up. Plus there might be a problem if the camera pans along the dot pattern. It could vibrate on the screen. He was right of course and so I dropped the zip-a-tone idea from the BGs. This is what development is for anyway. Throw a bunch of ideas and see what works and what doesn't. Still...I thought if I ever got on to the show, it would be cool if I could sneak it in to a BG at least once...A few weeks after I turned in my test, line producer Amy McKenna called me and told me I had the job.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
B:TB&tB episode 1
B:TB&tB episode 1
B:TB&tB episode 1: "Rise of the Blue Beetle!"
So with the brief development stage in the rear view mirror, on to episode one, scene one. As you can see not a dot pattern anywhere in sight.
By the way, this episode was directed by Ben Jones who has a blog of his own in which he talks about his work on B:TB&tB:
hamfist.blogspot.com/
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
B:TB&tB episode 1: "Rise of the Blue Beetle!"
So with the brief development stage in the rear view mirror, on to episode one, scene one. As you can see not a dot pattern anywhere in sight.
By the way, this episode was directed by Ben Jones who has a blog of his own in which he talks about his work on B:TB&tB:
hamfist.blogspot.com/
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™ Warner Bros. Animation
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