🇺🇸 Mr. Name Was Not Too Pleased With How I Started Off My Most Recent Sketchbook. 🇧🇷 O Sr.

A little late for when I actually made it, but this sketch represents my love for this heart-tinglin’ laughter fest of a show.

🇺🇸 Wow! I am SO behind on these! 
🇧🇷 Uau! Eu estou SUPER atrasado com esses!

INKTOBER 2019 | DAY 08
🇺🇸 FRAIL - “What was that, Bruce?”
🇧🇷 FRÁGIL - “O que disse, Bruce?”

🇺🇸 The very first doodles in my very first proper sketchbook. I just touched the paper with the pencil and this odd Dexter-meets-Crocker-meets-Carl-from-Johnny-Bravo design came out. Still one of my all-time favorites, though. 🇧🇷 Os primeiros rabiscos do meu primeiro sketchbook propriamente dito. Só toquei a lapiseira no papel e saiu esse estranho design de Dexter-com-Crocker-com-Cacá-de-Johnny-Bravo. Mesmo assim, ainda é um dos meus favoritos desde então. https://www.instagram.com/p/B7GgSx2JwH8/?igshid=1ubm9vwm7yk4a

Wander Over Yonder is one of the best cartoons I’ve ever had the bone-tickling joy of coming across. There was no episode that was bad for me—just ones more awesome than others!

You guys are the greatest in the galaxy.

Some thoughts on heavy serialization and continuity in kids cartoons.

Historically, Networks do not like serialization in comedy cartoons because serialized cartoons do not rate as high in the repeats as the stand alone cartoons do. They have found that once a viewer has watched an episode and got the next part of the story, they tend to not watch that same episode when it repeats. But if the show was just a simple funny cartoon they will watch it again, because they want to laugh at the jokes again. 

So for this reason, we as the show creators are oftentimes discouraged from producing serialized shows with heavy continuity. The Networks feel they need the episodes to be stand alone for the sake of repeats, ratings and for programming a 24 hour animation channel. This has been the case since I started making cartoons in the early 90′s.

A few years ago some comedy cartoons started integrating complex and serious plots into their shows, and it was a refreshing change from the status quo. Finally we thought this was our chance to tell deeper stories and when I first started Wander back in 2011, I asked if I could make it a serialized 22-minute show.  I was simply told no. 

The Network really wanted Wander to be produced in the classic, stand alone 11 minute format, because they felt that’s where they would get the most bang for their buck. And from a programming standpoint I could understand that.

So after producing a season of silly one off cartoons we got the pick up for season 2 and we asked if we could finally try and tell a bigger story with complex continuity.  The network was open to exploring that idea, but they didn’t want to lose the looseness of season 1. 

So a COMPROMISE was reached. We would create a continuity that thread through four 22-minute episodes that were to be scattered throughout the season. The 11-minute episodes in between would be loosely related to that arc, but would still stand alone so they could be repeated in any order.

I’m writing this because I’m seeing a lot of desire for the next piece of the puzzle, the next turn of the plot, the next big change and I will honestly tell you that will not really happen until the next 22-minute episode. The following 11-minute episodes will continue to be loosely related to the arc. For instance, Hater is no longer crushing on Dominator, Wander isn’t trying to get them together, and there will be some character insights that inform the 4 part arc, but there will also be some random one-offs that really have nothing to do with the arc at all.

Wander is still the silly and funny KIDS show that we started with season 1. It is not highly serialized, it is not extremely complex and serious as some of you wish it were.  I’m posting this because I really want people to enjoy the show for what it IS and not get mad at it for what it ISN’T.

Craig, thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating this cartoon, which has become my absolute favorite of your productions! It had me at first sight—or, well, watch—just like it happened with Hater and Dominator.

Wander Over Yonder has earned its place among my most beloved cartoons in no time and I can’t see many other shows surpassing it. Even though I really support the new focus that cartoons are taking today—deeper lore, emotionally captivating stories and characters, more realistic logic and character designs—, WOY stands out to me for being able to do emotions, character development and continuity while also bringing back that fun, laid-back, beautiful, all-over-the-place cartoony animation, pacing and all-around feel that I felt, admittedly, lacking in today’s shows (not that I hold that against them, as they weren’t trying to be what Wander is). Also worth mentioning the awesome and hilarious writing that left me smiling and laughing out loud alone for days, creeping out a lot of people around me.

You guys are the best, and I will always have fond memories of our favorite orange furry spoon fella, his trusty steed and best friend zbornak, the greatest electric skeleton man in the galaxy and his loyal and visionary right-hand man!

To you, sirs, a tip of my magical green hat.

Wander over Yonder over?

I’ve been seeing a lot of speculation lately on whether or not Wander will be returning for a 3rd season. Unfortunately, the answer is no.

About a year ago we presented a pitch for a season 3 arc that promised to bring our characters together in new, unexpected, and hilarious ways. And just as S2 evolved from S1, we had a really exciting approach to evolving S3 even further. We had plans for new characters, the return of old characters, and even a bit of backstory! We were all really excited about the new direction and so were our bosses at DisneyXD and TVA. 

Unfortunately, the higher up bosses of bosses of bosses at Disney decided not to continue with the show. It’s not that they didn’t like Wander, they just felt that 2 seasons and 80 cartoons was enough and they didn’t see the need to produce any more.

For the record, this decision had nothing to do with the ratings performance of S2. Truth be told, we were informed that we wouldn’t be continuing before S2 even premiered. 

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the fans who spread the word about Wander and encouraged people to try and watch it on air.

I know this news is kind of a bummer, but the recent surge in fandom from My Fair Hatey along with our win at the Annie’s for Outstanding Children’s Series has really made me and the whole Wander team feel that we are ending on a high note!

So thanks, and as Wander says…

We gave it a go,

put on a heck of a show,

and did a lot of fun stuff we’ll get to laugh about after!

And for those keeping track we have 7 half hours left of S2 that will wrap up sometime in June. Thanks for watchin’ and wanderin’!

Craig

🇺🇸 Young me trying to figure out human proportions. Older me keeps on tryin’. 🇧🇷 O jovem eu tentado entender as proporções humanas. O eu crescido continua tentando. #sketchbook1 #sketchbook #sketch #rascunho #old #youngerme #humanproportion #drawingtraining #experimentation #characterposing #earlywork #trabalhoantigo #antigo #experimentação #treinodedesenho #jovemeu #aquitemdesign #mylittleraceofpotatosackpeople https://www.instagram.com/p/B8MbA2LDwgJ/?igshid=8tzjsld5x3sc

Sign the petition and competition!

https://www.change.org/p/walt-disney-encourage-disney-to-make-wander-over-yonder-season-3

Please sign the petition to #saveWOY and get it renewed for a third season!

So in order to increase awareness for this petition and to get more signatures I’m going to start a competition. One reblog will count as an entry. You can like the post if you want but only the reblogs will count. I will use a random number generator to determine the winner depending on whether you were the 11th to reblog or the 23rd, etc. I will do the draw, announce and contact the winner on the 3rd April 2016.

The prize is a free Wander Over T-shirt in your size of your choice out of these three and I’ll also pay for postage.

Please please please don’t forget to sign the petition! That’s why I’m doing this competition in the first place! Now get out there and reblog and sign! and best of luck to all who enter!

Hey, now.

These are some shots I took at @not-quite-normal’s style. I love the simplest ones.