#the cartoonstitute

[seeksstaronmewni]

Chris Reccardi appreciation post

In memoriam one of the greatest Spümcø veterans of all time, who, over 5 years ago, on May 2nd, 2019, died of a heart attack while surfing...

Seriously though; notice that Spumco guys like Chris Reccardi went from working on The Ren & Stimpy Show — including episodes starring THE George Liquor... American — to drawing gorgeous dolls like Ms. Keane (The Powerpuff Girls), Ms. Butterbean (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy), and even Linda from the Cow and Chicken episode "Dream Date Chicken"???

God be with ye, Chris Reccardi.

Tweet version here.

Still hard to believe he died as young as he died... and I found that the day after his death through Animation Magazine... [tweet version]

https://www.animationmagazine.net/people/passings/ren-stimpy-powerpuff-girls-artist-chris-reccardi-dies-age-54/

Here are additional words from controversial Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi (post contains some language)...

who worked with Reccardi as far back as DiC's 1988 Beany & Cecil reboot, which was likely referenced in PPG episode "Child Fearing"...

Oh, and Chris didn't draw cameos of just Don Shank or Carey Yost (both Spumco and PPG crew) into the episodes on which he storyboarded; he even got narrator Tom Kenny to call Charlie Bean out!

[disneytva]

Wanted to share a little bit of fun fact in why as opposed to Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that Disney Television Animation dosn’t have a anoimated shorts program specially with the rise of Cartoon Cartoons & Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts.

[yuniko]

[miss-camarderie-herself]

If only this was greenlit as a series

Electricity deadass lives rent-free in my mind and I’m okay with that.

[kujiua-kun]

[Cartoonstitute || Space Sapphic]

This isn't too spicy so I guess it can go here???

An obscure CN short that made me gay...

[virtkha]

fanart of my favorite cartoonstitute short ever

[candyheartedchy]

OH I THINK I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED (is half asleep unfortunately)

From what I'm understanding here The Cartoonstitute is like the program of which I believe is hosting the pilots and Danger Planet's was episode 5?? Even with this revelation the fact it was a SINGLE episode? Absolute tragedy.

It was, and it’s such a shame too because the trailer is really unique and cute!

[mi4011minadigajaweera]

Craig McCracken - further research

His Career and Work

In 1993, Craig was recruited by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons (now Cartoon Network Studios) to work as an art director on the series 2 Stupid Dogs, but as his first job in the animation industry, he was never really happy with how that show worked.

While McCracken was working at Hanna-Barbera, studio president Fred Seibert started a brand new project: an animation incubator with 48 brand new cartoons that are each about seven minutes long. What a Cartoon!, as it was known, inspired McCracken to continue working on his Whoopass Girls! idea from his work at CalArts. He recalled that the network could not market a show with the word "ass" in it, so two of his friends came up with name ‘The Powerpuff Girls’ as a substitute for the original title.

As a backstory note how it all started, in June 1991, McCracken was in his first year in the character animation program of CalArts and drew three girls with large eyes, visually inspired by the paintings of Margaret Keane on a small sheet of orange construction paper as a birthday card design for his brother.

His new work with a refined plot, "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumkins", premiered on February 20, 1995, on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons, along with its follow-up, "Crime 101", which aired on January 28, 1996. The first short to be picked up by the network was Tartakovsky's Dexter's Laboratory, which McCracken contributed to in the early seasons.

The fourth cartoon to greenlit a full series was McCracken's Powerpuff Girls. It premiered as a short in 1995 and debuted on November 18, 1998 as full half-hour episodes that was aired until its final episode on March 25, 2005. The Powerpuff Girls aired on Cartoon Network for six seasons, three specials, and a feature film, with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. A total of 78 episodes were aired in addition to two shorts, a Christmas special, the film, a tenth anniversary special, and a special episode using CGI technology. Various spin-off media include an anime, three CD soundtracks, a home video collection, comic books, a series of video games, a 2016 reboot series, and an upcoming second reboot, as well as various licensed merchandise.

The series has been nominated for six Emmy Awards, nine Annie Awards, and a Kids' Choice Award during its run.

In 2002, McCracken also directed The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a prequel to his series. Although the film received generally positive reviews, unfortunately it was a box office failure.

Leaving The Powerpuff Girls after four seasons, McCracken focused on his next project; Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. He created this series with his wife Lauren Faust and Mike Moon and it premiered on Cartoon Network with the 90-minute television special "House of Bloo's" on August 13, 2004. The show also won Emmy and Annie awards and ran for six seasons, all directed by McCracken, ending on May 3, 2009.

He became the executive producer of The Cartoonstitute; a brand-new Cartoon Network showcase project, in April 2008. He left Cartoon Network in 2009 after 17 years of employment when the network began to emphasize on live-action and reality shows. In August 2013, he created Wander Over Yonder for Disney Television Animation and Disney Channel. Following the cancellation of Wander Over Yonder, McCracken pitched Disney a new show based on his 2009 comic strip The Kid from Planet Earth. The concept was later dismissed by Disney, and in 2017 he finally departed the company. After presenting his idea to Netflix, Kid Cosmic was selected as the working title. On February 2, 2021, the show made its debut, and it aired till February 3, 2022.

It marks McCracken's return to the superhero genre after The Powerpuff Girls and the first of his original works to include a serialized style. He pitched Netflix with 10 proposals in August 2021, however due to Netflix Animation's huge layoffs, he eventually left in April 2022.

On July 18, 2022, it was revealed that McCracken will make two reboots at Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe of the Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.

McCracken was also awarded the Winsor McCay Award in 2023 for his "unparalleled achievement and exceptional contributions to animation" at the Annie Awards ceremony.

[your-sweetest-nightmares-blog]

This is basically them, right?

[toraleistripe]

Sly appreciation post

[yuniko]

[seeksstaronmewni]

In celebration of Genndy Tartakovsky’s upcoming [as] show Primal and in memorial of the late and great Chris Reccardi, let’s shine a light on one of Reccardi’s best and funniest cartoon / CN pilots ever, Meddlen Meddows.

Originally a part of @cartoonnetwork’s The Cartoonstitute handled by @crackmccraigen and Rob Renzetti; Craig McCracken served as an art director with Reccardi & Renzetti, and Mike Collins cleaned-up the models designed by Reccardi & Craig Kellman.

[coolchevistianofficialsite]

Any theories in why Shorty McShort Shorts failed and made Disney to have no interest to make a new pilot program like Cartoon Network is doing with Cartoon Cartoons and Nickelodeon's Nick Intergalactic Shorts Program?

There was no passion or actual decent funding or talent behind it. Almost everything was flash animated and it was barely promoted. It didn't have a huge pool of talent like What A Cartoon! or Oh Yeah! Cartoons had.

Besides Van Partible, and The showrunners of Animaniacs 2020, there were no bigger animators attached to it Even Random! Cartoons had guys like Plymton, TenNapel, Dilworth and Burnett while the Cartoonstitute had guys like Genndy, Craig, Renzetti and Rudish working on shorts. The closest thing for something like a shorts program is Short Circuit and Sparkshorts but those are for finding directors for future films for Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios

And there's no interest from both DTVA and Disney themselves to fund another pilots program for future Disney Channel, Disney Junior & Disney+ shows...

It's actually sad because a "Disney's version of What A Cartoon/Oh Yeah! Cartoons" for Disney Channel should've had much more to offer......

[christsirgiotis]

These were from a CN Cartoonstitute Short called The Awesome Chronicles of Manny and Khan. I think I had just finished working on Camp Lazlo at that time, so the influence from that show’s style is pretty evident. You can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlvIB4jGpLo

[lopertinger]

i never posted these pics anywhere before (mostly because i didn’t know how to format them all together) but tumblr’s photosets are perfect for this!

these guys are from the Cartoonstitute short, 3 Dog Band, which i love. go watch it if you haven’t seen it yet!

(from 2018)

[starberry-cupcake]

I’ve been watching Star vs The Forces of Evil since it premiered, but it took me a while to get 100% into it. The last two seasons were really good and the book is great, I genuinely feel sad that it ended. I feel like the show was finally allowed to involve more of the dark political turmoil it always had in the background, and the characters had become more evolved versions of themselves, so I could see it going for at least another season, but I’d rather it ends on a good note and maybe too soon than it lingering for ages and losing its way. 

Mad props to Daron Nefcy and her team for taking the archetypes of Queens, Princesses and Magical Girls and delivering a story with a background of politics, colonialism and the corruption of power, I wish they had more space and time to develop it all further but still, what a good show. 

(Also, thanks to Disney for picking it up, because if it had been for CN, their thoughts on “girl shows” and their Cartoonstitute, I would have never seen this show.)