Last Wednesday’s ‘The Evolution of Flash’ event at Cartoon Network was a big success, and I’d like to thank Jan Nagel of Women in Animation and Heather Kenyon, Cartoon Network’s Senior Director of Development/Original Animation, for the invite.

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!

Tonight, I’ll be joining a panel discussion at Cartoon Network
Studios in Burbank, California called ‘The Evolution of Flash.’ Joining me on the panel will be Flash animator Alx Meza; author, Producer and Director Clifford J. Parrott; Renegade Animation Executive Producer Ashley Postlewaite and JibJab co-founder Evan Spiridellis.

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

The upcoming TV animation season is making room for more Flash-animated series, while holding spots open for returning favorites.

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!)

It was only 2 years ago, we must remind ourselves, that Flash barely had a toe-hold in any major US animation studios. There was ‘Mucha Lucha’ at Warner Bros. Animation, the Disney Channel shorts ‘The Proud Family Shorties,’ and the ill-fated ‘Kid Notorious’ at Comedy Central.

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!