The Art of Jay Ward Productions: A Visual Essay by Darrell van Citters

By Amid Amidi | 11/15/2013 11:02 am | 8 Comments

This week respected animation director Darrell van Citters will release his new book The Art of Jay Ward Productions. The 352-page book contains nearly one thousand illustrations featuring the studio’s classic cartoon characters including Rocky and Bullwinkle, George of the Jungle and Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

Van Citters has not only created a lush coffeetable book, he aims to rewrite the studio’s history. The artwork of the Jay Ward shows isn’t typically celebrated for its artistic merit, but Van Citters makes a strong case that the studio’s artistry is worthy of critical appraisal. He tells Cartoon Brew that one of the book’s primary goals was “to identify and properly credit as many of the artists as possible for their previously unheralded work.” Certainly, many great talents passed through the studio, including Bill Hurtz, Roy Morita, Pete Burness, Sam Clayberger, and Shirley Silvey, to name but a few.

In the following visual essay, Van Citters traces the lineage of some of the studio’s most famous characters and explains the contributions of different artists.

: [All text in this essay by Darrell van Citters] Rocky and Bullwinkle were originally created and drawn by Jay Ward’s artistic business partner, Alex Anderson, as two of a handful of animal characters for an unsold show they had developed together in 1950 called The Frostbite Falls Review.

: When Ward later decided to revive the characters for the 1958 pilot, Rocky the Flying Squirrel, UPA artist Roy Morita, working freelance, became the first one to draw them for production.

: Ace Jay Ward designer Al Shean drew the first model sheets of the aforementioned characters and also designed Capt. Peachfuzz, Fearless Leader and the Moon Men, Gidney and Cloyd.

: Former MGM and Warner Bros. animator and Mr. Magoo director, Pete Burness, later redrew the model sheets refining the characters into the appealing designs we all know today.

: Sherman and Mr. Peabody were created by Saturday Evening Post cartoonist, Ted Key and in their earliest incarnation were known as Johnny Daydream and Beware. At this point, the boy had a pet dog. They’re wearing a belt and collar for time travel rather than using the WAYBAC machine.

: Based on Ted Key’s observation that pets often control their owners, the concept was revised so that the dog now had a pet boy. Bill Scott added to it by making the dog a genius and voicing him as such. Al Shean re-designed the characters as seen in this early model sheet.

: The models were redrawn for later episodes by Pete Burness. Although both characters inexplicably wore the time travel devices in the first episode despite using the WAYBAC machine, the devices were dropped from all future episodes.

: The iconic Cap’n Crunch, along with his crew of children and Sea Dog, was conceived by artist and future Emmy-winning writer Allan Burns in the early 1960s.

: His original concept was expanded on by Roy Morita, who fleshed out the Cap’n‘s personality through expressive model sheets.

: He was later modified by freelance designer, Charles McElmurry, who gave us the definitive design seen on cereal boxes and commercials for over two decades.

: Last but not least, there is George of the Jungle, which was also created and drawn by Allan Burns shortly before he departed Jay Ward for live-action TV comedy, where he would later develop, write and produce The Mary Tyler Moore Show (with James L. Brooks).

: As seen here, George was not yet the parody of the Tarzan concept that he later became. Shirley Silvey adapted Burns’ drawings for pitch art and storyboards, which changed when Bill Scott took over the project and reworked the concept once Burns left.

: Character layout for the George of the Jungle pilot by Shirley Silvey. In his first animated appearance, George is more directly based on the silent movie Tarzan played by Elmo Lincoln.

: George gets a haircut for the version we all know today. The artist who defined his final look is unknown.

The book, which is published by Van Citters’ personal imprint Oxberry Press retails for $49.95. It will debut this weekend at the CTN Animation Expo and will be available afterward at ArtofJayWard.com or Amazon.com.