M. Wartella, an illustrator, comic artist and animator, has worked on several Flash-animated TV series, including Wonder Showzen and Superjail! His recent gig, however, found him creating storyboards for the CG Adult Swim show Xavier: Renegade Angel. For an upcoming episode, the show creators, Vernon Chatman and John Lee, invited him to bring a sequence to life in 2D.

The episode, titled Damnesia Vu, premieres Thursday, March 19th (tomorrow!) at 12:15 am ET/PT. Below we ask him a few questions about the production, and his response includes a video tutorial detailing his one-man-band process. But first, here’s a :25 second clip from the 2:00 minute sequence he animated.

AARON SIMPSON: When did you produce this segment?

M. WARTELLA: The animation was done entirely by hand over the course of one month late last year. No assistants or in-betweeners or background artists or anything like that. Just cranked it out all myself, which isn’t too bad for a two-minute cartoon. I’d just come off a gig storyboarding the second season of Xavier, and I think the show’s directors, Vernon Chatman and John Lee, were inspired to try something different based on the illustrative style of the animatics I was doing. They asked if I’d be willing to animate a special segment, and of course I said yes.

SIMPSON: What type of creative direction were you given?

WARTELLA: Well, I had worked with John and Vernon on Wonder Showzen, so I already had a bit of insight into their particular brand of humor. The premise of this episode, Damnesia Vu, is that Xavier is kind of “Quantum Leaping” into different lives, sort of a reincarnation theme, and they had the idea that it would be a cool twist for Xavier, a CGI character, to jump into a flat 2D world. They wrote the script, and we just kind of developed it back and forth from there.

SIMPSON: What transpired during that back-and-forth?

WARTELLA: We actually ended up doing two different levels of animatics. The first pass was storyboarding the entire episode. I’d never worked on a CGI show before, so I was curious to see how my animatics would translate into CGI. But the animation house, Cinematico, did a great job and really took the basic boards and added some great 3D flourishes. The next step was going back in and doing a second animatic for just my 2D segment. The second animatic was even more detailed, and here the timing and action were finessed in even greater detail. I’d basically go frame-by-frame through each version with John and Vernon, and sometimes new ideas would come out right there and we’d work them in. Basically just refining and refining, adding more and more levels of detail each time, until it was dense enough and time to draw and animate the final art.

SIMPSON: How much Aztec reference did you pour over before your design style came together?

WARTELLA: A lot. I just spent a day digging online picking up everything I could. I’m into old books like Von Daniken’s Gods From Outer Space and Landsburg’s In Search of Ancient Mysteries, so I had a few other references on my bookshelves. There’s a touch of Egyptian hieroglyphics in there, too. So it was basically comparing all these different images and then applying that look and color palette to my character designs. John and Vernon had this idea that Aztec art kind of looked like Looney Tunes stuff, so I think that was also an inspiration for the segment.

SIMPSON: Vernon Chatman described the show as a “warning… about the dangers of spirituality.” Your episode deals with false idolatry. Do you think the Adult Swim audience will pick up on these messages, amidst the comedy and bloodshed?

WARTELLA: Actually, I think so. I’ve skimmed over some of the discussion boards over on Adult Swim and you’d be surprised how much people pick up on. Personally, I believe that they aren’t nearly as nihilistic as a lot of people think, and that there is what David Lynch calls an “all-pervading happiness” that underlies their writing. But that’s something you’d have to ask them.

SIMPSON: How did the Cintiq change your process?

WARTELLA: Well, I’ve been working with the Wacom digitizer pads since the first PL model came out about ten years ago, and needless to say I can’t imagine working without one. Especially doing animation. The Cintiq is extra special because it gives you the luxury of a large drawing space. I just think it’s a great invention, as important a step forward as going from a typewriter to the first word processor. Now if the entire system were just portable….

SIMPSON: Tell us a little about this tutorial we’re going to watch.

WARTELLA: Well, I’ve spent so many years of trial and error trying to figure out the best way to make professional animation using Flash, and I just thought it’d be fun to share a few secrets with people who might be just starting out or doing animation in their spare time. I hope people will drop me a line and let me know if they found this useful. So in this video, I describe my basic process, as well as highlight a few “tricks of the trade” that were major stumbling blocks on my learning curve. It’s all jam-packed in there fast though, so take notes!

60-second D.I.Y. Animation Tutorial

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