Starting a new cartoon

I still have a few incomplete cartoon projects that need to be finished (Bird Skipper for example), but there is one particular cartoon idea that I've had for a while now... and I, for a couple reasons, feel that now is the time to start it.

One reason is that I've had this idea for about 3 years now, but there were always blank segments in my head (segments that I didn't know how to fill). Recently, these blank segments were filled with a stream of ideas which flooded into my head (while listening to a song that I want to time the cartoon to). I'm very happy with these new ideas that now fill the previously empty segments of the cartoon. On top of that, I thought of the perfect ending.

Another reason I want to start this is because I haven't made any cartoons for myself lately (which, in my opinion, is when they turn out the best). Johnny Rocketfingers 2 was a two-year struggle & an extrememly hellish project. A project that was in NO way for me, OR for fun. So I think now is the time to make something for myself.

Let me tell you a tiny bit about the cartoon:

It is going to be very different from my other work. I plan to execute and tell the story in such a way that I hope to really sort of move the audience and make them actually feel something. Furthermore, I hope to really trip people out with it.

The cartoon is entitled "Bad Day" and, well, is pretty much about a guy who has a REALLY Bad Day. It's going to be pretty serious and dramatic. There will be nothing light-hearted about it and, in fact, it will be extremely dark. Also, there will be no dialogue. All emotion will be portrayed through character acting.

Now you might be scared.... Don't be. It won't be anything you can't handle. I'm not going to get really ugly or extreme with it or anything like that. It will just be a sad story.

Designing the main character

When I pictured the main character of this cartoon, I envisioned a very pathetic/depressed version of George Jetson crossed with Barney Rubble. To begin, I started out by drawing a few George Jetson heads:


After I 'sort of' got the hang of how George's head worked, I dove into trying to design my main character. I drew about 25 versions of what I thought he should look like, and they all REALLY sucked. This was kind of unmotivating, but I didn't want to give up. After drawing more and more failures, something clicked in my head.. I realized that I had SEEN this character somewhere before!! But where?! It finally dawned on me that I had seen him in a Games Ren & Stimpy bumper entitled "Cheese Fist." This was pretty much the character I had in mind:


After coming to my magical realization, I proceeded to shamelessy rip this character design off. Here was one of the first failed attempts:


After some more failed drawings, I finally drew a couple that I liked:




Now that I've achieved a character design that I like, I've started working on the actual cartoon. I'm pretty pleased with what I've animated so far because it looks almost exactly how I envisioned it in my head. Here are two screenshots from what little I have done so far:


Well, here's to hoping I don't cop out on this project!