@crackmccraigen - Tumblr Blog

So I went to California last week, and in-between going to Disneyland, getting hugged by Kristen Wiig, and meeting the creator of Life With Loopy, I stopped at Amoeba Records on Sunset Boulevard. REALLY cool store…and I found not only a few CDs by bis, the band that performed the PPG ending, but I also found the EP for “Let’s Go (Signal In The Sky)” by The Apples In Stereo! A demo version of the song is also on the disc and Craig McCracken did the cover art!

Those are some super sweet finds! Thanks for sharing! :D

#powerpuff girls #apples in stereo

I actually didn’t do the cover of that CD, just the drawing of the band. Though that drawing came from a bigger piece I did for The Apples and YOU ARE HERE which was a CD magazine that was distributed to certain independent music stores. It was called THE POWERPUFF GIRLS and THE APPLES IN STEREO in APPLES JACKED. It was a Alphabet comic written in rhyme that I drew blueprint style to match the cover of their latest release at the time DISCOVERY OF A WORLD INSIDE THE MOONE.

You know there were originally plans for a seventh season of PPG? How would you have felt about it??

I dunno. I think at the time I had kinda tuned out after the 4th season, but it probably would’ve just kept going in the direction they were going in. Which was unfortunately not very good.

Actually there were no plans for a 7th season of PPG. All that happened was CN casually asked Chris and I if we thought we should make more and we all agreed PPG had run it's course & it was time to move on.

johnbyrnedraws

Powerpuff Girls #25, Powerpuff Girls & “Superman” vs Mojo Jojo pinup by John Byrne. 2002.

John was asked if it was true he did a commission of The Powerpuff Girls and this was his reply:

T'wasn’t a commission, t'was a pinup.

And an unfortunate illustration of just how f**ked up DC can be sometimes.

Hearing that I was a fan of the Powerpuff Girls, the editor of their book contacted me about doing a pinup. I said Sure! and suggested a scene of them dreaming about “realistic” versions of themselves teaming with Superman as the Professor read them a Superman comic as a bedtime story. This was approved, and drawn – and then the Higher Ups at DC got a look at it, and killed it, saying that the Powerpuff Girls office did not have the “rights” to use Superman.

Think about that.

The image was altered and saw print as the pinup seen above.

Huh! Interesting backstory!

#powerpuff girls #john byrne

Wow, even I never knew this! PPG and Superman would have been amazing and an honor. Guess this is the same reason we were never allowed to make "The Joker comes to Townsville" episode.

I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt, if it wasn’t for this show and the talents of this man there would have never been a Powerpuff Girls.

Its iconic characters, its bold approach to color and design, its ability to simultaneously work as a serious superhero show for kids and a comedic farce for adults, and its unashamed silliness, made Batman one of biggest inspirations of my creative life.

So thank you Adam West for being a literal hero to me as a kid and a creative hero to me as an adult.

RIP

#adam west #batman 66 #The Powerpuff Girls

beatlenumber9

Does anyone remember this old Cartoon Network bumper, where the Powerpuff Girls help save Wonder Woman and Aquaman?

And it had that blatant adult joke at the end!

I do.

#powerpuff girls #cartoon network #super friends

I sure do. I storyboarded it!

The world knows them as Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Batgirl, but the three stars of Cartoon Network’s upcoming toon series are teenage girls trying to balance superpowers and secret identitie…

So happy this is finally announced! Lauren is bringing that Faust magic to the world of DC Heroes. It’s totally new, totally different, and it looks amazing!

#lauren faust #dc comics #wonder woman #batgirl #supergirl #cartoon network #warner brothers animation

That scene where Mojo Jojo becomes a giant from the PowerPuff Girls Movie to me felt like studio notes, like Warner Bros. forced Craig McCracken to put that in the movie. Why would Mojo then himself into a giant? That's just out of character in my eyes!

You kiddin’? That’s absolutely in character! Mojo wants to rule over the world, but look at what a shorty the guy is. What better way to rule than to become the biggest, baddest dude you can become (and also pay homage to King Kong in the process)?

When you’re telling a story about a monkey wreaking havoc in a city how can you NOT pay homage to King Kong? Totally my idea. For the record Warner’s was not involved in the content of the movie any notes came from Cartoon Network.

#powerpuff girls movie

Alert fan RjApp sent me a link to these pics from a 2000 toy fair, and I noticed these monster figurines… I don’t think I ever saw them before, much less ever saw them being sold! Were they ever? It’s just so refreshing to see these kinds of action figures in the middle of all of these (admittedly still pretty great) stuffed animals and keychains and more girl-targeted playsets and stuff (and look at the girls, oh my goodness, they’re actually poised to fight!). They’re so cool! I would’ve begged my parents to buy me these in a heartbeat.

(…also, I’m gonna tag @crackmccraigen just in case he has anything to share about these!)

These were designed by Paul Rudish for Trendmasters. We wanted to bring some of the action aspects of the show into the toy line. The body parts of each monster could be removed and combined with the other monsters to make new monsters. Trendmasters made these prototypes and a sales commercial for them but the toy retailers weren't interested in stocking them so they never got produced. Guess they thought girls wouldn't be interested in the idea of fighting giant monsters.

rocketcandycouture

A probably-completely-arbitrary-but-still-very-pretty map of Townsville from Powerzine.

Drag and drop into a new tab to see at full size.

hafanforever

I really liked this map of Townsville, too!

This is one of my favorite map illustrations, like, ever.

The Original drawing by Dan Kralll is currently part of The Art of Hanna-Barbera Exhibit at The Norman Rockwell Museum.

Why does Mojo Jojo have pointy ears in the later seasons of the show?

…aesthetics? I guess? After the movie came out, they freshened up the designs of the characters on the show to reflect the new design from the film, and that’s where his pointy ears first showed up:

I’m just gonna go on a limb and say it was just a stylistic choice to make him look a little more evil and bring in some more angles (and I’m sure a certain individual here on Tumblr could further elucidate if he was so inclined to! :D), but… ick. I’m personally not a big fan of the choice. It’s a little less extreme in the movie than in the show where it makes him look more like a goblin than a chimp. And I think they ended up kind of making his face a little more narrow for the show, too, so he kind of looked…

…icky. Bleh.

I dunno. I was glad that for The PPG Rule!!! they went back to his original design with his rounded ears (and I was happy they did it for the reboot too… even though the rest of the design is lacking) ‘cause he’s not JUST a super serious evil angular villain. He’s gotta be able to look goofy and chimpy too! He’s our little antihero!

Many times designs evolve without it being a conscious decision. We draw these characters over and over again on a daily basis and as that happens you start to develop a shorthand to get them down on the page as fast as possible. Proportions change, angles sharpen, details simplify. Many times on a show the way you started out drawing a character is not how you ultimately end up drawing a character. All cartoon characters evolve (or in some cases devolve) as multiple artists put them through their paces on the page. Just look at how The Simpsons started out. So from time to time you look back at your initial model sheets and realize that the current method for drawing a character does not match up with those early methods. So, good or bad you simply update the models to reflect the current place you head and drawing hand is at at the time.

Yes, thanks for the elucidation! It totally looked like you guys decided to freshen up the designs for the movie and then sort of kind of kept those designs for the last few seasons of the show. Now I know! :D

…actually, suuuuuper dumb follow-up question but something that I’ve wondered about for a while: did you guys go back to the old character models for The PPG Rule!!! for any specific reason at all? ‘Cause I would just imagine that if the character designs had evolved to the point that they did in the later seasons you would’ve just kept those (unless you were just going for the design of the earlier episodes…?). Just asking because it’s something that I’ve always wondered about because I always felt like that was a very deliberate choice (but I could be totally wrong!)!

After a few years away from PPG working on Foster's I realized I liked the original PPG designs better so we used those for the special. I figured if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Why does Mojo Jojo have pointy ears in the later seasons of the show?

…aesthetics? I guess? After the movie came out, they freshened up the designs of the characters on the show to reflect the new design from the film, and that’s where his pointy ears first showed up:

I’m just gonna go on a limb and say it was just a stylistic choice to make him look a little more evil and bring in some more angles (and I’m sure a certain individual here on Tumblr could further elucidate if he was so inclined to! :D), but… ick. I’m personally not a big fan of the choice. It’s a little less extreme in the movie than in the show where it makes him look more like a goblin than a chimp. And I think they ended up kind of making his face a little more narrow for the show, too, so he kind of looked…

…icky. Bleh.

I dunno. I was glad that for The PPG Rule!!! they went back to his original design with his rounded ears (and I was happy they did it for the reboot too… even though the rest of the design is lacking) ‘cause he’s not JUST a super serious evil angular villain. He’s gotta be able to look goofy and chimpy too! He’s our little antihero!

#powerpuff girls #mojo jojo

Many times designs evolve without it being a conscious decision. We draw these characters over and over again on a daily basis and as that happens you start to develop a shorthand to get them down on the page as fast as possible. Proportions change, angles sharpen, details simplify. Many times on a show the way you started out drawing a character is not how you ultimately end up drawing a character. All cartoon characters evolve (or in some cases devolve) as multiple artists put them through their paces on the page. Just look at how The Simpsons started out. So from time to time you look back at your initial model sheets and realize that the current method for drawing a character does not match up with those early methods. So, good or bad you simply update the models to reflect the current place you head and drawing hand is at at the time.

ppgmac

WAIT A MINUTE? 1994?!

Even if “Whoopass Stew” started in 1992 and the pilot episodes aired in early 1995 and 1996… this is from the actual series run, which started in 1998… I’m confused. Does that mean the movie takes place in the early 90s? That can’t be though… I don’t think it does.

I know, I’m looking way to deep into this, but it’s really interesting.

It’s funny when you speculate a little further into details. In Child Fearing, we saw the Mayor play Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a game released in 1998. There’s also that one scene in Ploys ‘R’ Us where Bubbles throws out a toy of Jar Jar Binks, which the infamous movie Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was released in 1999. Since the Girls don’t look different in that framed picture, even back in 1994, and still look the same and attend kindergarted…

…Does that mean @bugeyedfreaks‘ headcanon about them unable to grow up is actually canon?

DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN

It simply means that we never tracked chronology in the show and the storyboard artist randomly wrote 1994 on the BG.

ifbrd

Deciding to post this now because I figured it could help keep Wander Over Yonder trending a little longer.

Okay, I know there’s actually a canon answer as to why Wander didn’t appear to age a day since Major Threat was a villain, but aged significantly in the time he was working at the Wright Place with Sylvia (For anyone who doesn’t know, some of the crew members said that Wander is actually very old, and aging very slowly (if at all) but pretended to age so that Sylvia wouldn’t feel bad)

BUT, I love seeing alternate theories as to why Wander aged more while working at the Wright Place (Not that I don’t love the canon answer, alternate theories regarding this topic just fascinate me for some reason). I don’t know if the people who make these alternate theories just don’t know the canon answer or, like me, just enjoy alternate theories, but whatever the reason I love them. So I have one of my own, based on this post If you don’t want to click the link it suggests a world where everyone ages until they are 18, and then stop aging until they meet their soulmate, that way you could grow old with your soulmate

I’ve seen this post so many times with so many different reblogs. Some suggesting platonic soulmates (which I enjoyed) and it got me thinking about Wander. What if the reason he doesn’t age is because he’s a creature who’s from this type of universe. He didn’t age when reforming Major Threat because he hadn’t met his soulmate yet. But he did age at the Wright Place because his soulmate (whether romantic or platonic, it doesn’t matter how you look at it) is Sylvia.

Just think about that for a moment

gabs-sam

I never hear about this theory, I Love it!!!!!! That concept is really sweet…

Are you sure Wander was aging at The Wright Place? He did wear a fake beard to show time passage in The Epic Quest after all.

#wanderoveryonder

gabs-sam

EDIT: Did @crackmccraigen already pitch his new show?

I though it was on FEB…I’m confused now

Not officially pitched yet, no.

thefiercekid

I’m so intrigued by jim

either he needs love or to be buried alive

I really want to know if there’s anything more to Jim.