Jackie Chan Adventures

The TV Animation industry is a pretty small community. And anyone who works in this industry will tell you that it's filled with a lot of characters funnier than the ones that we make cartoons about. At some point you'll inevitably end up working with the same people on another production. I worked on Jackie Chan Adventures in 2003 and currently find myself working on Transformers Prime with a few of the same people you might see below.

Some of the crew members on Jackie Chan Adventures included, Dave Hartman, Therese Trujillo, Jose Lopez, Jeff Kline and Duane Capizzi.

Halloween store from episode 406. Design guidelines for the background style include:

• A controlled freehand line

• No texture

• Maintain proper rules of perspective

• Minimize detail and emphasize shape

• No variation in line width

• Combine shapes as elements recede into the background

• Controlled compositions manages the color that is applied in unregistered blocks of color, creating graphic backgrounds that read casual without being chaotic.

The Boondocks...

I worked on this series for two seasons before preproduction went overseas. Still outrageous and still in production.

In early development for the first season, it was planned that Huey would spend a lot of time reflecting under an old oak tree overlooking the city. As it turned out, this background really wasn't written into the scripts that often.

Exterior of Uncle Ruckus' humble abode.

Site planning diagrams are part of the background design process. It provides clarity for everyone involved in the design process. It allows directors, storyboard artists and the animation studios to better visualize the set and ultimately create a story that flows naturally within this make believe world. The above is a typical diagram that I often try to provide directors and board artists after design meetings and before storyboard handout.

Personally I think designing residential backgrounds is one of the most challenging things to do in animation background design. It may seem pretty straight forward, however everything easily becomes a target for scrutiny because everybody is inherently familiar with correct residential proportions and even details. The above is a close up detail of the Freeman family home driveway.

A typical street view of the fictitious city of Woodcrest. Anybody familiar with this show knows that this idealized suburb is intended to provide a stark contrast to the street wise Huey, Riley and friends. The Freeman house can be seen in the background beyond the tree.