Project Two: a little research

Animation studios would have model sheets so that animators could stay faithful to the look of the character and as much as possible draw "on model."

The most common model sheet - the one you see most often on the internet - for Snagglepuss is this one:

Pretty poor image quality (a xerox copy of several generations of xerox copies) but it conveys enough information, I think, to draw him.  Somebody posted the color reference version (an acetate cell, hand-painted cell laid over the basic model sheet; very important to the paint department so Snagglepuss doesn't appear one shade of pink in one scene and a different shade in another):

Actually, since there aren't any written paint references to this sheet I think it was probably done for fun.  And it does look like a helluva lotta fun!

Anyway... the study for the Tracy Lee maquette is a more dynamic Snagglepuss than the model sheets would indicate:

That's to be expected because the Tracy Lee studies are always more dynamic than the model sheets.  I love the way they bring out dimensions of the character you hadn't observed before... it's as if we're seeing Snagglepuss for the first time.  And let's face it, we like what we see!

As a matter of fact I might have shot myself in the foot... I don't think any poster I come up with will be as good.  Ah well, that's the risk I take...

Finally, somebody posted this video capture:

So all in all we have a lot of material to ensure we can do a decent job of drawing the character.

So let's draw him!

...By the way, what do you suppose happened to poor old Snaggle-buddy in this picture?

(c) Drake Brohdahl from the currently running The HB Show in Studio City (haven't seen it and I doubt if I'll get up there anytime soon)

On his blog Drake Brohdahl says he is a huge Hanna Barbera fan and was very proud to be invited to exhibit a piece for this show.