Merry Christmas

Promo Images

A promo image for my show, "A Day at the Zoo". It's a variety show that features the adventures of Ralph, Benny, Bear & Eli, and all your favorites in a full hour show featuring several seven-minute long short cartoons of different characters..
And the theme song:

Treading on Hot Water or Love Sinks

Fred and Lenny go to the Amazon to catch a basilisk, a type of lizard famous for running on water. Unlike all of the other animals they try to catch, this one WANTS to be with the two animal collectors. Why?

It turns out that the basilisk they catch is a female and winds up having a crush on Fred. She even goes out of her way to hug, kiss, or dance with him even if he can't walk on water. Will her love last? Or will the dwarf crocodile have to break the ice?

The climax of this cartoon involves the basilisk and Fred performing a tango while Fred is half-submerged in water and his partner perfectly strides on the surface of the water. As Fred reluctantly "dances with his partner", Lenny watches from the shore of the river and tries to see what's going on.

If you noticed, the last drawing's in color! I'm gonna post drawings in ink and color from here on out. :D

Here's some music I'd love to use specifically for this cartoon.

Other Drawings.

These are some random drawings I may have forgot to post.

Eli's New Pet

After Bear and Eli's "mother", Suzy, tells them about her getting a new puppy, Eli becomes disheartened because now he wants a pet of his very own. Felling sorry for him, Bear suggests they go to the pet store to look. They argue about whether to get a kitten or a puppy. When no one was looking, all the animals escape and it's up to Bear and Eli to get them back to the store. In the end, Bear surprises Eli with a brand new puppy.

Based on characters and script created by Vicki Wood. Probably the first Bear and Eli cartoon I'll make.

One Flew Over the Monkey's Nest

An acorn falls hits Benny's head hard enough to give him amnesia. This prompts him to actually start acting nice towards his nemesis, Gordon the monkey. Gordo likes the new squirrel at first, but when Benny starts popping up in random places in the monkey's house he finds Benny more annoying than before and pretty much loses his mind. This makes Gordo want to turn Benny back to normal, whatever it takes.

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"Dr. Jerkyll and Mr. Ralph" In this story, Lionel (the Siamese cat) is chasing Ralph in an apartment-like complex. Ralph makes his way inside a door that says "Dr. Jekyll" and tries to hide inside a bottle that says "Hyde Formula". This turns him into a Godzilla-like monster and pretty much scares Lionel out of his fur. Just when things turn out good for Ralph, he changes back to normal and the chase goes on. Just as the cat catches the mouse, Ralphie turns back into the monster. In the end we fin ut that Lionel was just dreaming and freaks out again when he sees Ralph in his normal form. Figured this would be good for a Holloween cartoon. :)

Monster Mouse

In this story, Lionel (the Siamese cat) is chasing Ralph in an apartment-like complex. Ralph makes his way inside a door that says "Dr. Jekyll" and tries to hide inside a bottle that says "Hyde Formula". This turns him into a Godzilla-like monster and pretty much scares Lionel out of his fur. Just when things turn out good for Ralph, he changes back to normal and the chase goes on. Just as the cat catches the mouse, Ralphie turns back into the monster. In the end we fin ut that Lionel was just dreaming and freaks out again when he sees Ralph in his normal form.

Figured this would be good for a Halloween cartoon. :)

Bathtime for Eli

It's bath day for Bear and Eli. After Bear finishes hers, it's time for Eli's. One small problem: Eli hates taking baths and tries to get out of taking it. Bear makes several attempts to get him to take his bath, but misses her chance each time. And every time she does get Eli, he escapes somehow. Will Eli ever get clean?

^Here's a theme for whenever Eli is being forced to take a bath with Bear pushing him to the tub. (Petulant Penguin by Dennis Farnon)

The Cat in the Hat

Normal

My Version

The Pilsbury Dough-Boy

Normal

My version

Ralph Around the World

Here's what Ralph would look like in other countries across the globe.
The countries represented are, in order: America (Ralph's normal outfit), Mexico, Brazil, the United Kingdom (England), France, Germany, Spain, Russia, India, China, Canada, Australia, Antarctica, the Polynesian islands, Norway, and Japan.

The Nutty Pipsqueaks

The Nutty Pipsqueaks

An old zoo elephant has a butt load of peanuts, but isn't too eager to share them. One o the peanuts rolls into Ralph's home (which is surprisingly right next door to the elephant's area in the zoo), eats some of it, and tries to fin out where it came from. He does and tries to get away with a few, but before he can, the old elephant sees him and blasts him out of his exhibit. Benny the squirrel also finds out about the peanuts, but winds up the same way Ralph did, getting kicked out. Then the two meet and decide to hatch up many different plans to get even with the pompous pachyderm!



Ralph and Benny might actually make good partners. With their personalities combined, it'd be like a small, furry version of Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's partnership.

Bellhop Monkey

Bellhop Monkey

Gordo's a bellhop at a hotel. He has a nasty reputation amongst his customers thanks to his temper, so his boss tells him if he can't control hos temper, he'll get fired. So the capuchin is forced to adopt the "the customer's always right" policy so he won't get canned. It just so happens Benny's his next guest at the hotel, so of course, he takes complete advantage of the hapless monkey. Benny heckles Gordon until he finally loses his cool. The monkey gets fired, but revenge is oh, so sweet.

Based on the Donald Duck cartoon, Bellboy Donald. This'll probably be the only one that Benny will "lose" in the end.

The Oddball Duckling

The Oddball Ducking

Based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Ugly Duckling" story, only with a platypus that immediately gets rejected by his foster parents and siblings, but manages to find his own kind and acceptance in the end.

This is supposed to be a real heart-warmer with no dialogue at all. Instead, the short is driven with music and actions to set the mood. Sort of like something out of Fantasia. I'm trying to think of one piece of classical music to go along with this story throughout. Any suggestions?

Smart-Alec-Kazam!

Smart-Alec-Kazam!

Benny the squirrel works at a "Guess-Your-Weight" stand at a local carnival. He's not getting a lot of business. When he sees a want ad for a rabbit assistant to a much more popular magician, he takes full advantage of it! First, the squirrel fools the magician into thinking he's a rabbit thanks to a clever disguise and a convincing act. Then Benny gets sweet revenge by messing up the act or heckling with the magician. This goes on until Benny's "ears" fall off. He thankfully escapes the magician's wrath with a few more tricks up his sleeve.

Pint-Sized Pachyderm

Now that I've covered all the characters, I can now start on stories! :D

Pint-Sized Pachyderm.

Fred the crocodile and Lenny the hippo are bums at the end of their rope. One day, they find an ad in the newspaper about a $50000 prize for catching the world's smallest elephant. After seeing the ad, they apply together for a job with the San Diego Zoo to catch the rare elephant. They are hired and travel to Africa to make their catch. They find the elephant they're looking for, but fail with each attempt to catch it. When they finally capture the little elephant, they find out there's a smaller one they missed!

This'll probably be the "pilot" for the series. Even though they lost this round, they still have lots of other critters to catch!

Spooky Cookie

Meet Spooky Cookie, the cartoon ghost of Harry Caray (Spooky's drawings are on the far right.). After death, Spooky had been condemned to live in haunted houses and occasionally the Wrigley Fields Stadium in Chicago. He has been pixelated and slap-happy ever since. He love hot dogs, the Chicago Cubs, baseball, and rambling for hours on random subjects sometimes toi the point where it's irrelevant or he simply loses his place. Spooky absolutely hates every other baseball team.

Spooky Cookie is, of course, based on Harry Caray. I'm currently thinking about him as a one-shot character, but I'll wait and see if he's popular enough with the audience to be a star player.

Rocky

Meet Rocky, a raccoon who plays as another one of Benny's sneaky and deceiving rivals. Unlike Gordon, who loses his temper quite a bit, Rocky is more composed, almost as smooth as a movie gangster. Almost. Unlike Gordon, Rocky is not very stubborn. He also seems to underestimate Benny's intelligence a lot with a very cocky attitude, even if Benny kicks his butt with his energetic antics.

Rocky is actually based on the song, "Rocky Raccoon", by the Beatles. To add to the joke, he talks in a Liverpool accent like John Lennon or Ringo Starr.

Rocky's entrance theme:



Song: Cell 501 by Gerhard Trede.

I may go back and make character themes in a future posts. :)

Pete

Meet Pete, a puffin that can be quite a smart ass. He's supposed to be a heckler like Benny, but his personality and style is based on the late comedian Groucho Marx. Pete also has a huge appetite for fish and will go out of his way to try and get his favorite dish however he can. Unlike the other hecklers I made, Pete's also a bargainer that tries to bargain and gamble his way out of trouble.

His arch-nemesis, an unnamed Arctic fox, tries to catch the bird for dinner however he can. I based the fox's personality on Captain Hook in Disney's "Peter Pan".

Lionel

Meet Lionel, a Siamese cat who simply loves the good life. He loves to act tough and mean, but it's easy for a dog, or Ralph, to call his bluffs. After all, he's really a scaredy-cat deep down. Lionel is very gullible and sort of a hypochondriac and superstitious. He often gets jealous if there is a new pet in his house, even if it's a mouse. And if there's one thing he hates, it's dogs. (Especially terriers!) He's not very bright, but he is somehow musically gifted. In one cartoon, he'll learn that he is surprisingly good at playing the Hammond organ.

Here is Lionel playing his favorite song to play on the Hammond organ.

Chilé

Meet Chilé, a chinchilla with a very fiery personality. Like Ralph, Chilé is very friendly. He is vey fun-loving, always has a ball no matter where he is. He has a high energy level and loves to dance and samba. Chilé also likes to run because of his metabolism, but is clumsy and constantly trips over his tail. Chilé is also a hopeless romantic who loves the senoritas very much. And believe me, they love him. His nationality is Mexican.

I got the idea for him after watching "Saludos Amigos" and "The Three Caballeros", two Disney films that involve Latin American culture.

The Cobra and the Mongoose

Meet the cobra and mongoose, another (and the last) cartoon pair of mine. The series is a play on the predator-prey cartoon formula, but with a twist.

In short, the mongoose is a real jerk. He's extremely pugnacious and hard-headed, but easily wimps out if he winds up fighting something bigger, like a tiger or a python.
The cobra, on the other hand, is extremely timid. He's absolutely terrified of the mongoose and would rather run than fight. This more peaceful personality allows him to make easy friends with some other animals, though some are reluctant...

I got inspiration for these two after watching Animal Planet and saw a mongoose and a cobra fight in real life. Most of the time, the mongoose is the winner of these fights but here, the cobra actually has the winning streak.

The point of this series is to hopefully have people change their thoughts on snakes. In reality, most snakes are like this cobra - they don't want to fight or bite. They just want to be left in peace.

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I like to think of stories for characters, too. Here's my first example, "Pint-Sized Pachyderm". Here, two bums, Fred the crocodile and Lenny the hippo read an ad in the newspaper about a $50000 prize for catching the world's smallest elephant. So the two travel to Africa and try to make a catch, but fail with each attempt. When they finally catch the little elephant, they find out there's a smaller one they missed! For character analysis, Fred's the smarter one of the two. Fred usually has all the ideas, but they're never very good or successful. Lenny's a loyal lummox who acts as Fred's best friend and second banana. Lenny also has the habit of calling Fred "George". (let's see if you can catch the joke on that.) He's super strong but also not the shiniest apple on the tree...

Fred and Lenny

Meet Fred and Lenny, another cartoon pair of mine. Both of them are animal hunters whose jobs are to find the rarest animals and collect them for zoos so that kids around the world can see them in all their glory. However, they constantly screw up their chances with each hare-brained scheme Fred cooks up.

Fred is the dwarf crocodile. He's the smaller one of the two, but also the brains. Fred usually has all the ideas, but they're never very good or successful. Since his plans never work, poor Fred can get easily frustrated and sometimes gets angry to the point where he has to use anything he can find as a punching bag to cool down. Usually, it's Lenny. Fred also has a tough and pugnacious persona, refusing to give up.

Lenny's the hippopotamus and a loyal lummox who acts as Fred's best friend. He's has a gentle disposition until someone hurts his best friend. Lenny also has the habit of calling Fred "George". He's super strong but not the shiniest apple on the tree. Despite his intelligence level, whenever Lenny has an idea to catch their animal (and that's once in a blue moon) it always works!

Gordon

Meet Gordon, a curmudgeonous capuchin monkey. He's Benny's main adversary and, in some cartoons, his next door neighbor. He mostly acts as the innocent butt of all of Benny's jokes. He can be aggressive when he wants to be, but calm as long as the squirrel doesn't pester him. Gordon tries to even with the squirrel, but fails almost every time. Gordon also is very self centered, greedy, and loves money. He also has a strong Irish accent.

Here's Gordon's theme song. It's "Comic Walk" by Sidney Torch. You may recognize it as a theme for Squidward on SpongeBob SquarePants.

Bear and Eli

Meet Bear and Eli, a brother and sister team of two toy animals: one is a panda and the other an elephant. The two have marvelous adventures inside the world of imagination whenever their "mother", a little girl names Susie Wood, goes to school everyday.

Bear acts as Eli's big sister. She is a sweet, caring individual but isn't afraid to take on responsibilities. She doesn't mind baths and respects rules. She is authoritative and has a more realistic approach to things than her brother. It's her seriousness that can make her frustrated with Eli sometimes, but she still loves her brother all the same and will do anything to keep him happy and safe.

Eli is like Bear's little brother. He is all heart and extremely playful and child-like in temperament and it's because of this that he can get frustrated easily. He hates veggies and baths. Overall, he's a big bundle of love.

Back in high school, I had a friend, Vicki, who had these two pink stuffed animals named Bear and Eli. Respectively, they were a bear and an elephant. So after she made a short play script for our Children's Theater class based off of the two toys, I thought about what they would look like as cartoons. These drawings were the result.

Benny

Meet Benny, a devious little squirrel that's full of fun and energy. Benny has a usually happy, up-beat persona. He may be a wee bit nuts, but he has brains and uses them to an advantage. Benny has lots of energy and heckles other people if there's a good reason for it or just for fun. Benny's a little devil when he wants to be and has the ability to pull cartoon weaponry out of thin air. Either way, Benny's one of the funnest characters I ever made and he'll be loads of fun to animate in the future.

Welcome/Ralph

Welcome to A Few Brain Doodles, a blog made to show some of my own amateur cartoon drawings to the world. Here, you will get to meet some new characters of mine as well as see some stories to go along with the players. To start things off, here is a drawing of one of the my oldest characters, Ralph.


Ralph is like any mouse: quiet, timid, and curious. However, when in danger, Ralph has brains and wits on his side and uses them in a calm and cool fashion similar to Bugs Bunny. Ralph also is a cultured person, preferring the arts and classical music over today's standards. Since Ralph is very small, he has to use his brain instead of his brawn to get himself out of trouble, and that's just the way he like it. Ralph also has a very friendly persona, helping anyone out so long as they don't hurt him.



Ralph is a mix of Jerry from Tom and Jerry of the Chuck Jones era with the cool personality of Dean Martin, one of the members of the great Rat Pack. The tail design just came to me.