This year has just been flying by. For the past two months, I have been working on storyboards for an independent animated film called Animal Crackers. No, it has no connection to the old Shirley Temple song, it is not a remake of a Marx Bros. movie, nor is it related in any way to the comic strip of the same name. It is, however, a pretty fun circus story being directed by Tony Bancroft (co-director of Disney’s Mulan) and Scott Christian Sava.
With terrific character designs by famed illustrator Carter Goodrich, the voice cast for Animal Crackers is equally fantastic! John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Sylvester Stallone, Ian McKellen, Danny DeVito, Gilbert Gottfried, Patrick Warburton, Harvey Fierstein, and Raven-Symonè lead the way thus far.
Well, there isn’t much I can say about the story, or much about any other details since this is still early on in the production process. However, there is an official Animal Crackers Facebook page that you can follow where other art updates are posted, along with photos of our cast from their recording sessions.
What I CAN tell you, though, is that just this past Friday was my last day on the film. My work here is done. I had a swell time working with the very small full-time in-house crew here in Los Angeles. So small that we were a grand total of five people! The gang genuinely surprised me with a little farewell cake that was big enough to feed a crew twice our size! That just meant we had to have seconds.
So what is next? I don’t know. Looking forward to the next animation adventure. Until then, I shall keep busy with more illustration projects brewing here in my studio!