Tuca and Bertie, a new show I worked on last year, is out on Netflix now! It's a rare adult cartoon that's actually a cartoon, rather than an animated sitcom-- it's surreal, spontaneous, and full of stretch and squash animation. Lisa Hanawalt is the hilarious cartoonist who created the show, and while she had a strong vision for the show herself, she allowed for a wonderful atmosphere in which everyone involved in the production felt free to pitch ideas in. We were adding gags at every stage, and got to experiment with lots of different storytelling and animation techniques. The result is that the show, which had funny scripts to begin with, got better and better at every stage of production (which is unusual in my experience)! I was struck at the premiere party last night that even episodes I directed were full of pleasant surprises in the animation, comp, music and sound mixes.
I directed episodes 2, 6 and 10. My assistant director Meg Waldow was a vital part of those episodes too, contributing many really funny and original gags and ideas. I also directed the show's intro, and animated it with help from Alex Salyer and the show's art director Alison Dubois. They are two of the countless 'secret ingredients' that made the show so special. I also got to animate a bunch of retakes and interstitials for the show, which was really fun for me.
Anyway yeah check it out!
