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John K. and Danny A.

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John K. and Danny A.

I've heard a few people here talking about John K. as if he were some sort of visionary in the field. What is it about him that everyone likes? I mean I remember Ren and Stimpy as being a great cartoon, and it went way downhill after Nick fired him.

As a side note, I was wondering what everyone thought about Danny Antonucci - the guy behind Ed Edd n Eddy and the Brothers Grunt. I've always liked his style, but I never hear anything about him.

Read every interview with John K that you can, and you'll quickly see what makes him so special. Compare his cartoons to anything else out there - use your eyes. :) Start with that blog of his I mentioned, it's only a google search away.

I've heard a few people here talking about John K. as if he were some sort of visionary in the field. What is it about him that everyone likes?

Everyone does not like him.
He was very influential in his day.
Fifteen years ago, he seemed to raise the bar for twisted content, but he's kind of a has-been/curmudgeon these days.

As a side note, I was wondering what everyone thought about Danny Antonucci

I don't think about him.

Both John and Danny have reps. Some good points and some bad.
Both have been heard to be difficult to work with, and both have people that would work with them time and again.

Of John, I think alot of the press exceeds itself concerning his rep. The truth is somewhat more halfway--to be fair. There have been bumps in productions with him, some of them his own fault, some reportedly not.
I know stories that are not flattering to him because I was part of some productions and know of a few others.
John pushes things and that can upset people. Mind you, those people are typically the ones that sign the cheques, so....................
He's not the the animation folk hero some make him out to be, but he arguably is someone to watch.

Danny is a nice guy, I've met him--almost worked for him once. He has a similar rep for being hard on talent, but like with John, its to a purpose. His show Ed, Edd and Eddy is a top rated program for a reason and Danny's vision is primarily that reason.
The justification here is about half and half--if he wasn't a hard-ass, the production would probably slide some, that he is a hard-ass seems to be a measure of the success the show has had.
Yea, there's people that argue with his methods, but the results show those methods work, at least in his case.

These two guys have a real love-hate following about them, and I have to leave it up to the individual observer as to which camp they sit with.
They've done enough to have earn some respect, but have also lost a bit doing ( or not doing) other things.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Thanks for the info Ken, as always you're very informative and someone whose insight you can really believe. So why didn't you work with Danny A? Would it have been at AKA?

I think Ed Edd n Eddy is one of the most well-done cartoons on cable today. I've heard from a lot of people that hate it, but I've never understood why. The stories are always top-notch slapstick and the animation and art style is higher quality than anything else on Nickelodeon or CN (compared to other comedy series stuff like Billy and Mandy or KND). I'm so glad they renewed it for two more seasons. I also thought Brothers Grunt was hilarious. I read somewhere that he wrote the short Bambi v Godzilla, is that true?

Thanks for the info Ken, as always you're very informative and someone whose insight you can really believe. So why didn't you work with Danny A? Would it have been at AKA?

I think Ed Edd n Eddy is one of the most well-done cartoons on cable today. I've heard from a lot of people that hate it, but I've never understood why. The stories are always top-notch slapstick and the animation and art style is higher quality than anything else on Nickelodeon or CN (compared to other comedy series stuff like Billy and Mandy or KND). I'm so glad they renewed it for two more seasons. I also thought Brothers Grunt was hilarious. I read somewhere that he wrote the short Bambi v Godzilla, is that true?

Well, here's the skinny:
I've nothing against Danny or AKA, its just that......well, I tried.
Two years ago I was coming out of a dry spell and applied AKA for a storyboarding slot on Ed, Edd and Eddy.
I got in touch with them, they liked my credentials enough ( I've been a 'board artist for over 15 years) and they asked me to do a test.
Now, I don't have a problem with doing a test per se, but I had taught more than a few of the folks that were already in-house there doing 'boards.
Quite a few of their senior guys were my students at some point.

So I did the test, and it clocked in at around 45 pages for the supplied one page outline. The usual count they get from grads applying is 15-20 pages.
My renderings of the characters were a bit off-model from what they call for, but model is something that can be tweaked as you go. Story-telling, shot selection and pacing were all my usual.
I was told I "obviously knew what I was doing".

Oh yea.

Things kind of stalled at that point. See, AKA has a policy that newcomers start lower down and work their way up. If I was hired, I'd be doing storyboard CLEANUP, working underneath guys that I had trained in school.
Honestly, I had no problem with that, and I have ZERO criticism of the policy.
Danny/AKA have the right to ask talent to work to their specs and I was new to them. I'd have to learn their methods and culture like anyone else.

I guess it was a case of being over-qualified and that was pretty much the end of it. A few weeks later I got on at another studio and AKA fell off my radar.

Now, some might wonder why I'm so specific with this kind of "business" info--when it could possibly impact on me.
Well, I'm not being negative towards AKA--they gave me their due consideration and they have their policies. I respect that and bear no ill will.
Its also a opportunity for newcomers to see how the "system" can work from the inside.

Danny didn't have anything to do with the original Bambi meets Godzilla--that acclaim goes entirely to the Legendary Marv Newland. Danny worked with Marv in the early days at International Rocketship, and did Lupo there, iirc. Marv is a sweet guy and I never got a chance to work FOR him at Rocketship, but got to work WITH him at VFS and on a project or two for other studios.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

Is that typical of the industry? Do a lot of studios have that same policy?

I'm sorry it didn't work out with AKA, do you regret not being able to work on EEnE?

In my experience, its not been typical, but I understand that more and more studios implement the testing/hierarchy policy these days than they used to.

Part of the reason is that recruiters/HR people tend not to be artists themselves and they tend to have have trouble screening real talent. The tests provide a "easier" way of screening talent because a director can look them over and see in a instant who's got it and who doesn't.
The recruiter can THEN go back into the list and see who as the attitude and professional bearing they want.
The hierarchy system is actually a sensible means of keeping talent in place and having new talent earn their place. Its a way to keep egos in check.

As for E, E&E..no, I do not regret working on it. Its just a job, one like many I have done, and like many I will do.

I'll tell you this story that can illustrate something here:

I'm a superhero nut--been that way since I was 5 years old ( some 39 years ago now) and anything to do with superheroes catches my attention.
Back in 1995, I was working on a job and was called into the studio heads office.
The boss sat me down at the end of a table and with great dramatic flair slid a folder across to the table to me, told me to open it.
I did and gasped, leaned back in my chair.

I was staring at Superman. The studio I was working for had it in the bag.

I turned it down.

I HAD TO turn it down.

This was the career-topper right there, the piece-de-resistance. The ULTIMATE job, and I turned it down.

Reason:
As soon as I was finished the job I was on, I was starting up a studio of my own with two partners. In fact, I was technically already under that circumstance, as we were in our real estate at the time, we had our offices up and running.
I told this to the boss, had a heart to heart with him and he told me something that stuck with me to this day.
"Superman is just another job, but building a studio from the ground up is something that comes along even less often".

I had two months to go on the current project and couldn't even tell my partners what I had been offered.

Two months after that, the studio that got the job turned it down flat because of some snags--so I didn't actually lose out.I was with the studio I helped found for another two years until I decided to move on ( and THAT is another story)

In turning down what some ( and myself) consider to be a dream job, I actually made the right decision.

Not getting something like Ed, Edd and Eddy doesn't phase me, because its just another job for the resume'.

"We all grow older, we do not have to grow up"--Archie Goodwin ( 1937-1998)

I read somewhere that he wrote the short Bambi v Godzilla, is that true?

Like Ken said, B v G was done by Marv Newland. Danny A. did do a twisted little opus called Lupo the Butcher. Find that film and enjoy. :D

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I hate them both.

just because a cartoon looks good doesnt mean it is good.