bugeyedfreaks:

dodrio:

I think one of the reason why Ed, Edd n Eddy was always so consistent and of high quality (art, writing, etc.) was because Cartoon Network didn’t have creative control over it! Danny Antonucci, the show’s creator, did!

It was also the first Cartoon Network original show to not be produced by Cartoon Network’s own production company (Hanna-Barbera), and was in fact produced in Canada at Antonucci’s studio, a.k.a Cartoon. Which also plays a part in my opinion.

Alongside this, Danny Antonucci based all of the characters off of characters he’d known in real life - the children he’d grown up with, his family growing up, his sons. (For example, Rolf is based off of him and his cousin’s lives growing up, and what it was like being part of a first generation Italian immigrants in the modern Canadian world.)

This gives all the characters a strong degree of authenticity and relatability that really adds to the dynamics of the show.

Additionally, Danny Antonucci is a strong advocate for hand-drawn traditional animation (cel animation, each frame is hand drawn and hand painted, all background are hand painted, 12 - 20 frames per second, etc.), and wanted to ensure that the show was produced in the same way that classic cartoons of the 1940′s - 1970′s had been.

His “Four C’s to Great Cartoons” are:

1. CREATE - (New territories through art, not technology)
   
2. CONTRIBUTE - (To the art form, not milk it for cash)
3. CHALLENGE - (Everything currently being done)
4. CHANGE - (Don’t redo, copy, or repeat)

Danny Antonucci just generally put a lot of love and thought into the show, from the smallest details of giving the characters multi-colored tongues because children were always eating candy and had dyed tongues because of it, to larger things, such as having simplistic backgrounds because as a child no one ever focused on the world around them but the one they created. 

Living in Canada they (Antonucci and his studio) never really got to see the impact that Ed, Edd n Eddy had because they were so removed from it’s American audience, except a couple time when children came as part of the “Make A Wish” foundation. 

Which I think is further evidence to the purity of their motivation in creating the show, in that they were truly after creative authenticity and recreating childhood for children worldwide to enjoy vs. money or recognition.

Danny Antonucci is just all around a really swell and honest dude, he’s thoughtful, informative, dedicated, humble, and funny. He managed to have a high standard for his cartoon and strive for perfection, but not at the expense of any of his employees well-beings or health (*cough*John K.*cough*) which is sometimes a rarity in the business, I think.

bugeyedfreaks:

Let me preface this by saying… obviously nothing against PPG because it’s my favorite show forever and is perfect and lovely, but yeah… S5 + S6… were just not… the best. And the quality definitely dipped when Craig started working on Foster’s and, although it makes sense that they kept the series going ‘cause CN wanted more episodes, it just wasn’t as good after that. Which really sucks!

But I’d say Ed, Edd, ‘n’ Eddy. I haven’t watched the show in years but I remember it being absolutely consistent in quality across the board, and it just kept getting better and better. I seriously don’t think that show ever jumped the shark, even when they switched up the plot from summer vacation to them being in school. And I think it’s mostly ‘cause Danny Antonucci worked on it the whole time and was able to give consistent direction.

If you’re interested in learning more about what went on behind Ed, Edd n Eddy you can watch this “Behind the Ed’s” documentary here (click)! 

If you specifically want to learn a bit more about Danny Antonucci, and about his vision for the show, here are a couple of links you can watch.

Here’s a quote of his for anyone aspiring cartoonists like myself:

“If you guy’s wanna do cartoons, don’t let anything stop ya! Don’t listen to anybody! Just follow your heart, believe in your vision and what you see and what you wanna do, and go for broke! Learn from your mistakes. You’re mistakes, not other people’s mistakes. You’ve gotta make the mistakes in order to learn from them. And go for it, and take it as far as it’ll go. If that’s what you wanna do, no one can stop you.”

The way I think of Ed, Edd n Eddy is basically that Cartoon Network commissioned it, and that was about it. They provided the funds necessary for Danny Antonucci and A.K.A. Cartoon to make the show, and in return they got to broadcast it and have profit percentages.

No creative control, no input, no chance for things to go screwy or anybody get screwed over.

So, yeah! There are my not-asked-for thoughts, haha.

These are all actually really great thoughts! I feel weird posting this on my PPG blog but it’s such a good and in-depth post clearly made with love that I have to do it (whatever happened to A.K.A. anyway, ‘cause I remember wanting to work for them as a kid and then hearing that the studio dissolved after the EEnE movie…?)!