"O.Ratz in Rat in a Hot Tin Can"

Click here to see VIDEO

I found out that “O.Ratz in Rat in a Hot Tin Can” was no longer available on YouTube, so I decided to put the 7 minute cartoon on our own website for a short time. We made the cartoon with Hanna-Barbera in 1995 for Cartoon Network’s “What A Cartoon Show.” Of course, it didn’t go to series, but it was still a lot of fun to make, and we made some long lasting showbiz friends along the way. ..See the video here and our info page on it here.

Enjoy.

Know a Preschool to 1st Grader? Free online cartoons and games - just for them! Visit “CrawfordTheCat.com”

Catching up with Mary Anne Barothy

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Last night I had the fun experience of catching up with former Perennial Pictures staffer and author Mary Anne Barothy at the signing of her new book “Day at a Time.” Before becoming Director of Publicity for Perennial Pictures (1986-1990), Mary Anne was personal secretary to movie star Doris Day. “Day at a Time” is Mary Anne’s recounting of her time with one of the biggest stars in motion picture history.

It was great seeing Mary Anne and a fun surprise to see our studio mentioned in her book and on the jacket. The book is a fun, informative read! Check it out.

One of the shows Ms Barothy worked with us on was “A Mirthworm Masquerade.” It was the second TV Special we made, and after its initial US broadcasts, it continued to play well for many years overseas.

To see a couple of minutes from it, Click here.

Enjoy

On The Business End

G. Brian Reynolds ......................Russ Harris

This past Tuesday Brian and I were in New York pounding the pavement. We stopped by the Cartoon Network offices, the MTV Networks offices, and Frederator Studios in NY. It’s always nice to “get outta Dodge” for a day, and “talk turkey” with some new and some old friends. Of course, every time we do, we come back to the studio with a bunch of exciting new ideas we want to pursue - along with all the existing ideas we want to accelerate. But there’s only so many hours in a day, and the current work load keeps us hopping too.

We continue to animate scenes for “The Mr. Men Show” (which is going to be a really fun show for the Cartoon Network that is being produced by Renegade Animation) and we’re producing /developing for our own “Crawford the Cat” property as well as a couple of other projects that we have in the works..

Next week we’re in Chicago for a day. It’s a busy time, and a good time!

"Crawford The Cat" and "Mr. Men"

We’ve been pretty busy at Perennial Pictures over the last month working on our own “Crawford the Cat “ property as well as picking up some animation for “The Mr. Men Show” from our friends at Renegade Animation. Mr. Men looks like it’s going to be a really fun show, and we’re happy to be working on it. Look for the show on Cartoon Network in the US and on Channel 5 in the UK beginning in February 2008!

For “Crawford the Cat,” we’ve been putting together model packs for the characters, and this week, Crawford’s walk cycles were being honed.

To see some on the walk cycle animation, Click Here.

To visit Crawford the Cat's website, Click Here.

Enjoy!


HANDYCAT Clips

Makin' It Rain

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Here’s a couple of backgrounds from yet another CRAWFORD THE CAT –related product we’re developing. The product is a proposed series of one-minute interstitials for the Internet and/or TV. These would fall into the EI (Educational and Informative) category of programming and content. Our challenge with these is to make them rich with personality, fun and still be EI.

The pilot is called “Rainy Day.” We’ll post it as soon as it’s finished.

These backgrounds were rendered by G. Brian Reynolds. Nice job!

“Crawford the Cat – Interstitials: Rainy Day” is the pilot for a proposed series of 60 second interstitials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

Color Styling Sets the Mood

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Another screenshot from “Crawford the Cat Classics: Cinderella.”

For this background, G. Brian Reynolds chose dark reds and magentas for the walls and floors to help underscore the feeling of this scene. It’s interesting how color can affect one’s emotional response, and color styling is one of the few tools we have to help indicate the starker plot points in this version of the Cinderella material. Since the show is geared toward younger audiences, the antagonists can’t be too harsh or too mean. I think the color styling works great to accent what is NOT being said or done by some of the characters.

Nice styling G. Brian Reynolds!

To see some MOS frames of the scene, Click Here!
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“Crawford the Cat Classics – Cinderella” is the pilot for a proposed new series of hour-long TV Specials featuring the characters from “Crawford’s Corner”

CRAWFORD THE CAT in Latin America

Crawford the Cat’s been brushing up on his Spanish and Portuguese ever since he found out he's going to be part of The National Geographic Channel's new kid block called “Nat Geo & Me.”

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It’s always fun to see one of our shows on the TV schedule – even if we can’t see the actual telecasts from here in the USA. American audiences, however, can soon see all the shorts online at CrawfordTheCat.com

Thanks NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL for making the “Crawford’s Corner” shorts part of your new Latin American kid block!