Friday, October 17, 2008

How to Make an El Tigre cartoon - part 1

I will now go through our usual process to make each El Tigre cartoon. I have broken it down to 10 steps and I'll be really condensing some parts so please bare with me.

Television budgets and schedules are very VERY demanding so we had to be very disciplined to make the best cartoons we could in the time allowed. I am extremely proud of the fact that we were always on time and on budget. It's to the credit of our amazing crew that we pulled this off!

As much as I loved how the show turned out, I can only dream of what it would have been like if we had more time.

These were rough guidelines and never a "formula". We weren't going to force anything in if it didn't feel organic.

Almost every single story was based on something that happened to someone on the crew. And it wasn't just Sandra and I, all the writers, directors (like Dave Thomas with Zebra Donkey) and board artists pitched in their childhood experiences. We had WAY more stories than we got to make!

All the "reality rules" of the Tigre universe were pretty clear. People, and especially El Tigre, could get hurt and even die. Throughout the series a lot of characters actually died, which I loved. Without this, there was no real threat and nothing was at stake. But we made sure the show had funny action instead of violence. Which was a lot harder than you think.

And this doesn't mean Tigre "won" in every episode. Doing the right thing wasn't always "legal" and vice versa. We loved exploring the moral grey areas in each of his conflicts. As you can imagine, my favorite episodes were the ones with the bittersweet endings.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice :)

BTW, When you said characters died. Did you mean just random people who met their deaths such as the Bank owner who was crushed in the episode "Tigre + Cuervo Forever"? Or did any of the villians in that Hill of No Boots, No Belt, No Brero actually die?

Jorge R. Gutierrez said...

More like Zebra Donkey, the heroes in "Yellow Pantera" that MalVerde ate, Justice Jaguar, etc...

Chris Battle said...

Nothing beats a lovingly rendered sock to tha kisser! Who's purty drawrins is they??

Jorge R. Gutierrez said...

I believe it's a Gabe Swarr beatboard panel from a Ricky Garduno storyboard, inked by Su Moon or Stella Lee and the characters were lovingly painted by Miah Alcorn with a BG by Gerlad De Jesus. I think.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I don't think I had scene that pic of Manny smacking Oso before! Way cool! Just another example of how the Tigre crew were (and are) the most talented and hardest-working artists in show business.

Mukpuddy said...

Yes dude, great stuff! Can't wait for more!!

Jeff Harter said...

Jorge, this is such a great show. Great character designs. Love how you based on your life experiences, friends, etc. An inspiration!

WJC said...

I love it, when's Step 2?

WJC said...

I love it, when's Step 2?

Brenda Y. said...

Cool!! =D
Bueno me gustaron mucho las instrucciones y ahorita mismo me dieron ganas de dibujar una mini-historieta y basandome en los tazos que colecciono xD

Espero la segunda parte ;)

mojomann67 said...

Great to see your process. I have followed the show since Nick ran the first teaser ads long before the show aired. I ran across Dave Thomas's blog and have enjoyed seeing the storyboards. I know that Nick has not renewed the show and that the 26 episodes are completed BUT I read on another blog that you and Sandra had stated there would be a 3rd season (I presume that 'season 1' and '2' are the first 13 and second 13) Is there any truth to the rumor blog? Will there be a actual 3rd season? And how could Nick be so foolish to cancel such a well rated show that won awards and praise??? In any case THANK YOU and Sandra for creating such a wonderful show. Both my children love is as do my wife and I. I hope that Nick puts it out on DVD at some point (I do have the episodes from iTunes.)

123SamGirl said...

I LOVE YOUR SHOW!!
-SamGirl