In November of 2004, I was working at Warner Bros. Animation and me and a small crew of Flash-converts were still fighting an uphill battle. We were trying to convince the studio chiefs that Flash animated series were a good idea. The seminal Flash-animated series ¡Mucha Lucha! was already well underway, but I think my superiors thought the show’s budgets would magically be cut in half and rainbows would burst out at every schedule meeting. The truth was somewhere in the middle, and animating a TV series with this “web-toy” was still kind of a nutty concept. So I figured I would blog about the prevalence of Flash-animated series around the world, and somehow justify that this was a growing trend. The gorgeous and successful Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends had just premiered on Cartoon Network, which made things a bit easier, but I’d heard of dozens more out there. With a little research, I discovered 9 series that were either in production or planned and that was my first post, titled Flashing the Studios (2 of those series, Omega Dome and Katbot, never surfaced).

Regular posting over the next few weeks brought a trickle of regular viewers, but what I saw as more of a research project had helped my cause at WBA. Spreading this information around internally helped justify further Flash exploration, and soon handfuls of Flash-pilots were in production, including Coconut Fred and Johnny Test, which both made it to TV. To their credit, WBA executives like Marge Dean and Christopher Keenan were way ahead of me, and even if they didn’t use the software, they understood that a revolution was underway.

Now, 5 years later, dozens upon dozens of TV series are animated with the tool, and similar software packages like Toon Boom and Anime Studio help studios make dozens more. It’s undoubtedly a revolution in 2D animation, but the true exciting result is that so many more artists around the world can express themselves through the medium of animation. It’s allowed amatuer artists to make oceans of horrible misfires, but here on this site I’ve tried to highlight the creme of the crop, and it’s become one hell of a harvest. I used to struggle to find things to write about, but now I’m struggling to keep up.

Speaking of that, I’ve gotta go write my Lineboil posts, but I thank you all for joining me here on the site – for submitting your shorts, pointing me to great work, answering endless interview questions, and for making such amazing animation over these last few years. To the next five!

storyboard drawings by Eddie Mort

AARON SIMPSON: What have you and Lili learned through the process of making Los Campeones?
EDDIE MORT: Los Campeones shows that you don’t necessarily have to go the traditional US broadcast way to get your ideas into production. Of course it means we work with an ‘independent movie’ size budget, but it has also allowed us to have total freedom in all aspects of the design, script and story content. The film is being financed by TV Azteca in Mexico, for their new Features division. The plan is to first release and establish the film theatrically in Mexico, with other countries to follow.

AARON: What’s your crew like?
EDDIE: It’s a skeleton! Lili Chin is taking care of designs, turnarounds, character poses, color styling, animatics, etc etc etc. I’m doing designs, storyboards, BG Layouts, animatics, script editing, voice direction, film direction, some music. The rest were freelancers – Rafael Navarro did storyboards for Act 3, Jake Bauming did storyboards for Act 2, Monkey Paw Media have been doing BG keys and Evan Newby did some additional designs. And we have DJ/Composer Phofo as Music Supervisor.

AARON: Who is animating the film?
EDDIE: We will be taking care of some of the actual animation ourselves, but using another studio for the majority of the film.

In my mind, this first list should include any type of Flash animation on TV. This would include TV series, TV commercials, interstitials and even title sequences. Below is what I could come up with, but I’m expecting plenty of revisions and additions to this:

BROADCAST FLASH TIMELINE

2000

• Breakup Girl on Oxygen
• The Rosie O’Donnell Show title sequence, produced by Bullseye Art

2001

• Ollie’s Under The Bed Adventures – March 2001, a half-hour special on Teletoon produced entirely in Flash

by Collideascope

• Quads! – November 2001 on Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service network
• TV Warehouse – BBC program – title sequence done in Flash by Elephant Egg

2002

• The Proud Family Shorties – Hyperion Pictures under the Animobile label. Two episodes animated by Animax (The Beach and The Picnic)
• Home Movies – Season 2 – Season 1 was ‘squigglevision’
• Mucha Lucha – first US network Flash series
• The Mr. Dink Show – Canada’s first broadcast Flash production
• Bobinogs – on BBC Two Wales
• Don’t Call Me Judas – an animated music video by Bucket Truck produced entirely Flash

Next up:

Online Flash series
Feature-length Flash animation
Theatrical-release Flash animation

On his own dime, Eric, or as he’s known by his friends ‘Pringle,’ has created a home-brew Flash class, which outlines many of the standard Flash animation methods used around the world, but also several that have been developed by he and his co-workers. For instance, Pringle created ‘The Pringle,’ which might not make your animation any better, but it will keep you from tossing your monitor out a window.

‘The Pringle’ rose out of necessity. Often times, animators want to ‘flatten’ an element on their timeline. Whether it’s a head-comp or an entire character, it’s often much easier to compress many layers into a single symbol, so these elements can be manipulated as a group. It also makes for a leaner, cleaner workspace. Artists can use folders to clean up their workspace, but folders don’t offer the ability to manipulate the contents as a single graphic or movie clip. Flash artists have been ‘flattening’ their work for years, but ‘The Pringle’ allows you to do it much quicker and with perfect accuracy.

Pringle was nice enough to lend Cold, Hold Flash his chapter on ‘The Pringle,’ which we now share with you. (Okay, now is the time where everyone should go into the Comments section and start begging Pringle to give us more chapters from his Flash book. Not now! He’s watching. Okay, now).

AARON SIMPSON: What was your introduction to Flash?
TIM YOON: I got my introduction to Flash working for Icebox. Since then I have worked on Flash projects for Klasky Csupo, Warner Bros., and Disney.

AARON: As a producer of a network Flash-animated TV series, what does your daily work routine consist of?
TIM: Since this is our first season, a lot of my time is spent making sure our specific production model works. We already know Flash productions work for broadcast. There’s a bunch of shows out there to prove it. But we’re trying to improve upon that process with our current project. We are not allocated much research and development time, so our team tried a lot of new methods and took the gamble that it would work on such a compressed schedule. When we would discover problems, or ways to make the process better, we would fix it as we go along. The rest of my day is spent doing the same work as a traditional producer. You hire artists, go to voice records, try to stay on budget, you test overseas studios, you ship, call retakes, you post, you play Halo 2, ping pong, PSP, you go to the movies, etc.

AARON: You worked on ‘Mucha Lucha,’ one of the original Flash-animated TV series. How has the Flash production model been modified since then?
TIM: Our production model is built off of the ‘Mucha Lucha’ model. There are slight tweaks because studios have different templates set up for post. The major difference is that we have put a heavier emphasis on drawing count and art direction. We heavily pose out our boards and add still more poses in the animatic stage. We do this so the overseas studios will have more to work with. Instead of just telling them to draw more, we try and meet them half way. In addition, our BG supervisor worked out a new method to add textures to our BGs so that keeps our designers busy.

AARON: Are there currently enough overseas animation studios to meet the increasing demand from US studios?
TIM: Currently, I do not think so. There are a lot of Flash productions out there. Off the top of my head, I count at least 7 in Los Angeles. Aside from setting up your own crew stateside, I still think we’re fighting for the same two overseas studios. There’s a lot of new studios trying to get in, but only a few have the proven track record of a couple of seasons under their belt. It’ll get there in a couple of years, but we’re still a ways off.

AARON: What’s the trick to a fluid relationship with an overseas Flash animation studio?
TIM: I think you have got to work with them as a team. You’re both trying to make a good show, in a relatively new medium and budgets and schedules seem to be getting smaller and smaller for domestic pre-production and overseas animation. You keep the communication open and try to help each other out as much as possible.

AARON: How does the production model of a Flash series differ from than that of a traditionally-animated series?
TIM: Every Flash production is a little different. Some use After Effects, some don’t. Some use vector backgrounds, some don’t. Some use in-house animators, some don’t. The way ours is different from a traditional production is that we design, ink, and color our backgrounds, props and characters in Flash. We have an in-house team of Flash artists to set up, and symbolize all our designs. We put more emphasis on animatics and slugged boards and don’t do X-sheets. In our shipping package, we deliver walk, run, and other animation cycles. We also have an in-house team of Flash animators to do creative and technical retakes.

AARON: After several seasons of Flash production, a typical show is endowed with an enormous amount of reusable ‘assets.’ How does a producer ensure these elements are put to good use on the next season?
TIM: It’s time consuming, but pretty basic. We review final footage, and just log in all the scenes which have good animation that is general enough to be used elsewhere. We then pull those FLA’s, isolate the animation, and add it to the library of reuse animation.

AARON: Do you see Flash-animated TV production as a passing fad, or the future?
TIM: I think Flash productions will be around for a while, but they won’t take over. I think Flash is a specific medium just like 3D, stop motion, or traditional. You pick which medium is best for your show and you use that.

AARON: So what type of show lends itself to Flash production?
TIM: I think this is a tricky question because it’s basically talking about limitations, which are usually dictated by budget. By coupling Flash with other softwares, like After Effects, you can do a lot. By ‘lends itself’ I assume you are really asking ‘What kind of shows are easier to produce in Flash with current budget restrictions?’ (AS: yes, that’s about right) For that, limited animation and simple character designs will get you more bang for your buck in a Flash production.

AARON: Why is Flash currently the more popular vector-based production software at the studios, as opposed to CelAction or ToonBoom’s Harmony?
TIM: Before a traditional studio adds a completely different production model into their pipeline, they want to see it proven first. Flash productions have officially been proven, so more studios are supporting them. All of these Flash shows are also creating a pool of talented Flash artists, animators, studios, and production staff that make it easier to start a new production.

AARON: Do you have a sense of how much Flash animation is being taught at the major animation-focused universities?
TIM: I don’t know what’s being taught in art schools. I hope it’s being offered as a class. It just gives students one more option in trying to find work after graduation.

AARON: What benefits have you found in sending a member of your production team to visit the overseas studios?
TIM: I think having the time, up front, to properly set up a production is very important. The way we build our designs directly affects how well the overseas studio can animate with them. The way the overseas studio builds a scene directly affects how quickly our in-house team can fix retakes. If you can work out all these kinks before you ship, your life will be a lot easier and you’ll be eating less dinners at work.

AARON: What does a traditional storyboard artist need to know before starting on a Flash show?
TIM: If you are trying to make an inexpensive show with limited animation and lots of reuse, then you would tell the board artist the same thing, whether it was a traditional show or Flash. You tell them don’t go full blast because the overseas studio has agreed to a certain work load for a certain price. If you are just trying to tell a good story and you don’t want to be limited by reuse or drawing count, you tell them to deliver a good board. You then make sure the shipping package has enough assets for the overseas studio to deliver a well animated episode for the agreed price.

AARON: Any words of advice for someone who’s trying to get their foot in the door on a Flash TV production?
TIM: Get ready to work hard. Be flexible and ready to trouble shoot. The work being done in Flash now is setting the foundation for the next Flash production you work on.

AARON: Thanks, Tim. And congrats on the recent birth of your son!

The discussion was kicked off by the origin story of JibJab Media by Evan Spiridellis. Evan and his brother Gregg started their animation company back in 1998 after finding inspiration in one of John K’s web shorts that featured a dancing doodie. Their rise to animation glory is well documented now, and Evan’s inspirational speech last week defines what Flash animation is all about. The two brothers currently have a team of 6 working out of Santa Monica, but most of their work was created between the two of them. Their work has now been on The Tonight Show and most major networks interviewed them during last year’s presidential election.

Ashley Postlewaite runs Renegade Animation out of Glendale, California, and she spoke to the 60 or 70 attendees about running a domestically-animated Flash series – in particular ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ for Cartoon Network. It’s great to see so much work being kept state-side and I look forward to many more ‘Puffy’ seasons to come.

I chipped in with a brief presentation on getting an animated TV show off the ground. I discussed producing a pilot for testing; building flash turnarounds that include eye and mouth comps; using Adobe Illustrator for digital cleanup; and how animatics are used as underlays for the actual animation.

Alx Meza, a very talented Flash animator, discussed the intricacies of animating with the software. He’s worked on some of the best and most successful Flash shows, including ‘Mucha Lucha,’ ‘Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,’ ‘Kid Notorious,’ and now ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi’ with Ashley over at Renegade. Alx is also one of the animators I mentioned last week in my ‘Cold Hard Flashback’ piece.

Clifford Parrott, the author, Producer and Director who penned ‘Hollywood 2D Digital Animation,’ a highly-regarded instruction manual that’s a must for all of you interested in bolstering your Flash skill set. Cliff gave an insightful speech regarding setting up a home studio, and what that entails. He discussed software, computers and how to teach yourself the skills you need to run your home animation shop.

Thanks again to the hosts, and to those in attendance. I hope you enjoyed the presentation, and best of luck with your own Flash projects!

In thinking about tonight’s discussion, I figured it might be a good time to look at where Flash stands in the TV animation world. I’ve broken the list down into three categories – 1) Flash shows that are currently on the air and also in production, 2) Flash shows that are in pre-production or production and will be airing within the next year and 3) Flash shows that have completed their production runs and are currently on the air. This list is certainly incomplete, as I’m sure your emails will prove, so please send along anything I’ve missed or reported incorrectly. And let’s remind ourselves that this list is TV-centric, telling only half the story. Web-only projects like ‘College University,’ ‘Making Fiends’ or ‘Ninjai;’ or DVD/Internet shows like ‘Mr. Wong‘ or ‘Broken Saints‘ – these shows are almost more important, because they represent the new models of delivery.

And as we celebrate the rapid emergence of Flash animation production, let’s also remember that this amazing software is but a tool – and the real story here is the creativity, inspiration and vision that brings us armfuls of fun shows to work on and watch.

IN PRODUCTION AND CURRENTLY AIRING
01) Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Show – Cartoon Network
02) Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends – Cartoon Network
03) Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law – Adult Swim
04) Atomic Betty – Cartoon Network
05) Bruno and the Banana Bunch – Nickelodeon
06) Being Ian – YTV
07) BB3B – BBC
08) Happy Tree Friends – MTV Int’l

IN PRODUCTION AND AIRING SOON
09) Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island – Kids’WB!
10) Wubby Widget & Walden – Nick Jr.
11) Squidbillies – Adult Swim
12) Shuriken School – Nicktoons
13) Kappa Mikey – Nicktoons
14) Princess Natasha – Cartoon Network
15) The Wumblers – 4Kids TV
16) Captain Flamingo – YTV
17) George of the Jungle – Teletoon
18) Katbot – Disney
19) Omega Dome – Fox Sports Net
20) The Buzz On Maggie – Disney TV Animation

CURRENTLY AIRING
21) Mucha Lucha – Kids’WB! & Cartoon Network
22) Incredible Crash Dummies – 4Kids TV
23) Yakkity Yak – YTV

Here’s the latest on the Flash shows coming up in the 2005-06 season:

KIDS’ WB!
Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island (NEW!)
Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, this new Flash-animated show tries it’s best to keep up with the indomitable spirit of Coconut Fred. He’s a positive force of madness who inadvertently causes mayhem on the tropical homestead known as Fruit Salad Island. Coconut Fred is due out in the Fall, and it’s also a show I happen to be producing.

CARTOON NETWORK
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends (returning)
This is quickly becoming one of my favorite shows on the ol’ TV. I spent much of the first season watching the incredibly smooth Flash animation, trying to figure out how they do it, and now I’m simply immersed in the show. This show is animated in two locations – at the Burbank-based Cartoon Network Studios LA, and at Boulder Media in Ireland.

Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (returning)
This show currently holds the record for Cartoon Network’s best premiere, and now it’s coming back for a second season. It’s loosely based on the bandmates from Puffy AmiYumi, the poppy, cheery j-pop group who sing the title song for ‘Teen Titans.’ It’s being produced and animated at Renegade Studios in Glendale, California.

Atomic Betty (returning)
Atomic Cartoons out of Vancouver, Canada, created, sold and now produces this show along with Breakthrough Entertainment. It’s the only Flash-animated show on Cartoon Network that you can truly call an action show. In my opinion, Flash isn’t the best option for shows like this, but you’d never know by watching ‘Atomic Betty.’

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (returning)
Harvey Birdman wasn’t originally animated in Flash, but they’ve made the switch. It makes perfect sense, as the animation, while funny, is the definition of ‘limited.’

DISNEY CHANNEL
The Buzz on Maggie (NEW!)
A handful of ‘Mucha Lucha’ artists and production crew headed over to ‘Maggie’ last year, which bodes well for this show. The Mucha Crew was the first to get the overseas Flash animation pipeline oiled and pumping. It also won’t hurt to have Dave Wasson, the creator of ‘Time Squad,’ on board as Executive Producer and Director. The show reportedly follows Maggie, a teenage fly with a positive attitude, who faces the diligent, routine-oriented world around her. The word on the street is that this show is built like a sitcom, but it looks great and animates extremely well. It kicks off in June on The Disney Channel in the 9:30am slot. This show is being animated at Bombay-based Future Thought Productions and at Bardell Entertainment in Vancouver.

Katbot (NEW!)
Created by Funny Garbage out of New York City, Katbot originated as a web series. It stars a good-natured robot cat from planet Katatonia. She poses as a foreign student to mask her alien background, and tries to fit in with the Earth natives. You already know Funny Garbage’s work – they help produce ‘Crank Yankers’ and designed all of the puppets and the imaginative title credits. They’re also the creative team behind the ‘Teen Titans’ opening title sequence. This show is being animated at Funny Garbage in New York City and Collideascope in Nova Scotia.

FOX SPORTS
Omega Dome (NEW! – *updated*)
Coming to Fox Sports Net this Fall, ‘Omega Dome’ is the sporting man’s delight – complete with full-contact indoor sports, as you can see from the accompanying photo. It’s coming to you from the gang that delivered ‘Venture Bros.’ to Cartoon Network – New York City’s Noodlesoup, and it centers on two sports lovers who never want to leave home. The show idea was hatched by Noodlesoup creative-guru Jeff Nodelman, and it’s being written by David I. Stern, who is also busy with the script for Sony Pictures Animation’s ‘Betting the Farm.’ Intercutting live-action sports clips with Flash animation, ‘Omega Dome’ has been described as ‘an animated show for sports fanatics; if you quote Homer Simpson and remember where you were when LT mistook Joe Theisman for a party piñata, then this is the show for you.’ If it’s even half as funny as ‘Venture Bros,’ I’ll be at the fiesta on day 1.

**update**
NICK JR.
Wubby Widget & Walden (NEW!)
I somehow forgot to include Bob Boyle’s new show, which will premiere in 2006. I’m not 100% sure this show will be produced in Flash, but I’ve heard rumblings suggesting so. The show eminated from Frederator’s book-centric property effort, that landed ‘Wubby’ a Random House book deal. Press releases have hinted about the three characters, Wubby, Widget and Walden, who each look at the world a different way, and go about problem solving accordingly. Check out Bob’s groundbreaking plog (production blog).

(A big thanks to Amid at Cartoon Brew for the support!)
(And another big thanks to botbotin and SteveLambe for fact checking!)

But check this out – as of today, there’s at least 9 Flash animated shows on (or soon to come on) US television.

1 Mucha Lucha – Warner Bros. Animation

2 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Show – Cartoon Network

3 Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends – Cartoon Network

4 Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law – Adult Swim, Cartoon Network

5 Atomic Betty – Cartoon Network

6 The Venture Bros. – Adult Swim

7 Katbot – Disney (coming soon, I hear)

8 Omega Dome – Noodlesoup (coming soon)

9 Maggie – Disney TV Animation (coming soon)

I’m not positive on Katbot or Omega Dome, but the rumors are leaning that way. Regardless, it’s been quite an impressive run for ol’ Flash TV animation, once pronounced dead on the floor of the big internet bubble. That being said, most of these are being animated overseas or up north in Canada. But, as studios are quickly learning, the ability to do on-the-fly retakes, and maintain extremely strick on-model accuracy throughout a production is a huge plus.

Long live Flash animation!