It took twelve episodes, but we finally see the Batcave for the first time in episode 12. This was a two part episode that had more than a few Easter eggs in it (including someone donning the original Batman costume and striking the pose from Detective Comics #33). The Brave and Bold's version of the Batcave has a lot of the familiar tropes that we're used to seeing (the mechanical dinosaur, the giant penny, the Batcomputer, etc.), but also gives nods to many different eras of the Batcave. The reactor for example, is a subtle nod to the 1966 television show and we made the railing in the Batcave red like the piping on the George Barris designed Batmobile from that very same show. On the left, we have Batman's mechanic station which we can see a version of the Batmobile from 1944, the B:TAS version up on the lift, and we see only a hint of what looks like the aforementioned Barris designed Batmobile under a tarp (let's say it's not the Barris Batmobile though for sake of legal reasons). Later on in series (season 2) we see another room that has a fleet of Batmobiles from every era you can imagine. Click on the image to see some annotations on this background.
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.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 12
Episode 12 also is also the first time we see Gotham city in The Brave and the Bold. Bruce Timm and crew cast long shadows for anyone else trying to do an animated Batman show after them. Therefore, to avoid comparison, it was important for whenever possible to make sure not to cover the same ground art-wise. The skies in B:TAS were a vivid red. It looked great, but it also meant that we would have to come up with something else. Since Bats costume is mostly blue, we decided on a rusty orange color on the skies so it would be a direct color compliment. We also added the green colored windows to create as close as possible a triadic color scheme. This assured that Bats would look good no matter where he was in Gotham. As far as how the bat signal looks in the sky, we went in a little different direction than how the bat signal is usually done. Usually, the bat part of the signal is just the part of the sky that is not hit with light (and that's how I originally did it). James looked at it and thought it would be cooler if we did the bat signal more like how it was in the closing credits of the 1966 television show, so I added the black bat. It doesn't make sense if you think about it, but then again, that's the type of show B:TB&tB is. Don't get too weighed down with logic, let's just have some fun.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 11
B:TB&tB episode 11 "Return of the Fearsome Fangs!" directed by Brandon Vietti.
Most times things like water from a water fountain, flags on a flag pole, or in this case, flames on candles, are usually left out of the background paint key because they animate and are considered either a prop or an effect. This was a separate key I sent overseas to show them how I wanted to have the candle flames to look. On the finished product, they ended up being brighter than what I showed here, but I think it still worked.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
B:TB&tB episode 11
Sometimes a background may have to be painted a couple of ways to show that a scene is taking place on a different day. On B:TB&tB, the easiest way to show this was just to change the color palette.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
Monday, March 7, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 10
For the teaser of episode 10, we have Dr Fate and Batman taking on Wotan in an astral landscape. I remember Nolan Obena looking at some Steve Ditko stuff for inspiration on the second background. Needless to say, I think this is as colorful as we ever got in the backgrounds.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
B:TB&tB episode 9
Nine episodes in, Batman: The Brave and the Bold had already taken the viewers to a couple of islands, a jungle, a couple of alien planets, the under water kingdom of Atlantis, outer space, and the post apocalyptic future. I guess the next most logical step is to take the show inside Batman himself. Once again we are treated to another appearance of Aquaman, but this time he is paired up with the Ryan Choi version of the Atom. I liked this team up and I wish we would have gotten to see these two teamed up more times than we did in the show (oh well, so many characters, so few episodes).
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner Bros. Animation.
B:TB&tB episode 9
It seems like almost every show I'm on, at one point or another I end up painting gross close ups of mouths, insides of nostrils, intestines, ears or something inside the human body. Luckily, Brave and Bold was no exception! I like that we decided to not be literal with the anatomy and the backgrounds have more in common with the Topps Wacky Packages cards than with the illustrations in the Gray's Anatomy book. For this episode, I remember taken a look at both "Fantastic Voyage" and "Danger: Diabolik" for color inspiration. Both fun movies and worth checking out if you haven't already done so.
"Batman: The Brave and the Bold" ™Warner