Sparagmos Industries

Redefining Stupid.

[maxwellatoms]

All sorts of new stuff on the YouTube channel now. Thanks to everyone who's stopped by. There's a new livestream tomorrow night at 5pm Central as well. And if you're enjoying this stuff, you can always get it early on Patreon!

Anything you all would like to see from my YouTube!? ANYTHING!?!?!?

[maxwellatoms]

was it tough legally-clearing Boogie wonderland for that Big boogey adventure movie?

No. That was maybe my third choice (though I'm thrilled we got it). I was also excited that we got Ratt for the Xmas special. I have noticed, though, that CN doesn't air those specials very often and I suspect it's because they don't want to pay the music royalties. So really, I sort of feel like I shot myself in the foot.

[maxwellatoms]

Here's the first episode of "Billy & Mandy vs. The Entertainment Industry". I talk to Greg Miller, Mr. Warburton, and a cat about what it was like to make a pilot for Cartoon Network during the Big Pick era. We cover everything from the story of why Robot Jones' voice changed (it wasn't just puberty), the correct pronunciation of "Fido Dido", and whether or not "side butt" was allowed on the Network.

Check it out, or Mandy will clobber you!

[maxwellatoms]

Hey everyone! I'm back! Videos and livestreams coming soon, so don't forget to subscribe!

[maxwellatoms]

Will you be selling more of your Dead Meat puppets and props on eBay?

They're all gone, baby! I sold them all on eBay a year ago.

I do have a segment now on Patreon about the art of Dead Meat, so you can still visit them there. But you can't put your hand inside Patreon, as far as I know.

[maxwellatoms]

Good morning. Are we having the same morning!?

[maxwellatoms]

Hi! I recently saw the news about The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy getting picked up by Tubi! I'm really excited to have a legitimate place to watch it! I'm not sure if it would depend on how well the show does on the platform, but logistically, do you think we could ever see the release of a DVD set for the series? I would love to have a physical copy to have access to it without worrying about the vagaries of streaming contracts

Hey, me too! A couple of weeks ago I decided it might not be a bad idea to buy one of those "complete series" pirate DVDs, because without that I risk never seeing it again. And I'll probably want to at some point in my life.

I wish I had good news (or any news) regarding a DVD set, but I'd probably be the last to know.

I actually haven't watched many of the shows in a long, long time now. It might be interesting to do a rewatch and put it up on YouTube as a commentary or something.

🤔

In semi-unrelated news, I just put the pitch bible for the "sequel series" that never happened up on my Patreon. It had the gang in space... with Dracula!

[maxwellatoms]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but, what about a go fund me or a kickstarter? Surely if production was already paid for WB would approve 'Destroy Us All'? I mean, it would be free money at that point.

Your question isn't stupid. The system is stupid!

If I made a Kickstarter for something "Billy & Mandy", it would go over the same as if I made a Kickstarter to tell a "Star Wars" story. I'd get a cease and desist letter and probably Kickstarter would shut the page down. I don't own the property and Cartoon Network (or whoever now owns WB) does.

I've made it clear to CN in the past that I'd be happy to do a storyboard and animatic of the whole thing gratis just to sell the idea, because I believe in it. They insisted that they wanted to reboot their most popular series first and told me that might open the door for more B&M, but they never made those reboots and now the channel is essentially gone. I don't know where that leaves the property. My allies, executives, and contacts are all gone now.

If whoever ends up owning CN's intellectual properties wants to do something with B&M, I'm there and I'm boiling over with fun ideas. Unless it's Paramount, who can suck it.

TL;DR - Corporations are very protective of their IPs, even if they never plan to do anything with them again.

[maxwellatoms]

Hey max? I really like Grim and Evil and it’s 2 spinoffs, I was wondering if you pitched a show to Disney? If you did could I see the art?

A lot of shows I've pitched are on my Patreon. I'll see if I can find the one I had in development during Fish Hooks!

[maxwellatoms]

Tomorrow morning, the last chunk of my interview/discussion about CN, making our shows, and the animation industry in general goes up on www.patreon/maxwellatoms. I think we talked for about three hours total, and I think we easily could have done three more. If you watched or listened, let me know what you thought! You can also feel free to tell me facts about rare insects. It really is a free for all up in here.

[maxwellatoms]

Here's a lil' sneak preview of tomorrow's Patreon episode of my discussion with Mr. Warburton and Greg Miller about our time making pilots for Cartoon Network. This one is about The Big Pick Weekend!

The whole thing is almost a half-hour long. Think of it as a podcast, only sloppier. Hope to see you there!

[maxwellatoms]

Hi Maxwell Atoms, I been a big fan of your work on Billy and Mandy, Twisted Felix the cat and Cow and Chicken as well.

I was wondering if I could ask How can you do a good jobs on Props Designs? I been wanting to Props Designs for a long while now for a career.

I have ADHD as well and wanted to know if you have any small tips and/or Theories on drawing Props for animation work. I would love to hear your advice from it. Thanks

Hey!

I think you might have written me a couple of other messages about prop design over the last couple of months. Or maybe it was just someone with the same name. Anonymous is a pretty popular name these days.

Anyway, the best way to learn to draw anything is just to draw it! Trace stuff if you want. It helps, and you're just learning so there's nothing wrong with that. Once you've got a feel for the style of the show you're trying out for, challenge yourself to draw different objects, ranging from simple to complex.

Try an axe. A stick of gum. A box of cereal with a cartoon mascot on it. A car. A catapult. A ray gun. A pile of clothing. An uprooted tree. A candlestick with a melting candle. Just pick stuff from around your house (or alternate dwelling).

When you're doing prop design, you're usually drawing "anything that's not a character", but if you can draw the characters, then that can lead to more opportunities later on. Sometimes a character will appear on, say, the front of a magazine. Drawing the shape of a magazine might be easy, but you'll need to either draw the character or at least a mock-up for placement. You might even have to hand-letter the magazine's font.

Also (as in the case of the uprooted tree), you may have to refer to the backgrounds and be able to draw in that style. And sometimes backgrounds are a completely different style than the rest of the show.

Doing prop design well isn't as easy as it looks. It's definitely an underappreciated skill. When I was doing "Happy Halloween Scooby Doo!", we had an artist completely dedicated to vehicle design. I hate drawing cars, but this guy had dedicated himself to the craft and carved out a niche of his own. Pretty cool.

Now git drawrin'!

[maxwellatoms]

Mr. Atoms sir, as someone who worked in the industry. How was it being confined to a 11-22 minute time block. Did it negatively hamper you and your team in anyway?

The time limit certainly placed some hard constraints on the episodes. Thankfully we had a bit of "play", where we could have one segment be, say, thirteen minutes and the other be nine. We would often do that when one segment was exquisitely good or exquisitely bad.

Every now and then I'd get frustrated that some certain story was just too big for the timeframe allowed, but I generally think that limitations are helpful.

[maxwellatoms]

Hola señor maxwell atoms buenas tardes, de niño siempre me pense que el diablo era por así decirlo el jefe de Grim, mi pregunta es, ¿Había planes de incluirlo como personaje recurrente en el show?

(también escuché que usted tenía otra idea para una serie de Mandy y el diablo) eso es cierto? Me hubiera encantado verla si ese fuera el caso

Cartoon Network no permitía el uso del diablo. Recibieron críticas negativas de sus padres después de Vaca y Gallina y Las Superniñas, así que rápidamente nos alejamos de esa idea.

Boy I hope that made sense!

[maxwellatoms]

Part one of my chat with Greg Miller (Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?) and Mr. Warburton (Codename: Kids Next Door) is finally up on my Patreon. First one's free, as the dealers say!

It's an informal discussion about what it was like to pitch, develop, and make a show for Cartoon Network at the turn of the century. Watch as three ageing men struggle to remember basic details about their own lives! "They don't make 'em like they used to" when it comes to animated TV, but there are probably nuggets of widsom strewn throughout.

Enjoy!

Get more from Maxwell Atoms on Patreon

Creating cartoons, ideas, entertainment, and assorted farts..

[maxwellatoms]

Hello Maxwell, first of all I want to tell you that I like your work and that Billy and Mandy has been one of the series that marked my childhood. I would like to ask you (although I don't know if you have already been asked this question) what was your reaction when you saw that the people in charge of Teen Titans Go! have put the pilot episode of Underfist as "THE BILLY AND MANDY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL" instead of the real Halloween episode of Billy and Mandy (that is, Jack o' lantern) LOL, (pt: greetings from Spain).

Hey Spain! Yo aprendiendo espanol, pero mi cerebro es muy pequeno.

Pretty cool. I had no idea that this existed until right... nnnn... now!

They honestly probably chose Underfist because Jacked-Up Halloween is SD, so the resolution... scrapes and licks.

[maxwellatoms]

Is Billy's dad actually an Ex navy seal?

I mean, it said so on TV...