I'm launching my blog with model sheets from Disney's Darkwing Duck series of which I was lead character designer at the time. The shows creator, Tad Stones gave me an inspirational sketch of a duck dressed in an outfit reminiscent of the pulp character The Shadow, and I ran with it. I am amazed at how many of my colleagues here at Dreamworks were fans of the show back then. It makes me feel old. Other character designers on the show were, Kenny Thompkins, Dana Landsberg and Ritsuko Notani. I also cut my teeth as a director on the third and final season of the series.What you see here are my original pencil drawings cut out, pasted onto poster-sized foam-core board, and photographed. If you look closely at the hi-res images you'll notice faint under-drawing and some erasures.
It's about time! Darkwing, Darkwing Duck!!
ReplyDeleteVery nice! I've always loved Darkwing Duck.
ReplyDeleteAmazing character design!
ReplyDeleteIncredible. Perfect.
ReplyDeleteNice post, Toby.
ReplyDeleteOh and-these are really beautiful drawings.
Great drawings, Toby. I wish there were more animated TV shows today with this quality of design and drawings .
ReplyDeleteKeep posting!
Sandro
You made an extremely appealing character that I loved growing up. Thanks for posting these!
ReplyDeleteThis is soooo awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteDude these are slick! Frighteningly nice drawings. I really loved watching this show back in the day.
ReplyDeleteAlso, being a super-dork, I'll point out that you almost perfectly replicated a Chuck Jones key from Robin Hood Daffy. It's the middle drawing on the right side of the second sheet. We shall call it... an "homage."
Forgot to mention I saw these DW sheets online a few months back: http://aquantis.tripod.com/settei/DW-preview.html
ReplyDeleteMaybe some of yours too?
I loved this show. Thanks for posting - fantastic stuff!
ReplyDeleteLove love loved Darkwing Duck. These poses are AWESOME! Such great flow and strong lines of action! Can't wait to see more...
ReplyDeleteOh man, I LOVED Darkwing Duck. I'm so glad to find your blog.
ReplyDeleteOMG!!! So you were the chief superhero of my childhood! I was sure that mere mortals are not under the power to do a Darkwig Duck!! thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteToby,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting these. I realize now that I have you to thank for the endless hours spent in my room trying to replicate these amazing designs and wonderfully expressive poses. It's this kind of inspiration that served as my first lessons in animation and character design. The pose in the upper right corner, where D.D. is holding his cape out with his right hand and his gun in his left is one that must've stared at, studied and tried to replicate a thousand times. To this day it is still so strong and his expression clearly shows that cocky confidence that we all loved him for.
Thanks again for posting these.
-Kyle
These drawing are gorgeous! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Darkwing Duck was wildly popular here in Russia; still one of my favorite Disney's shows.
ReplyDeleteI got to work on this show as a layout artist and animator back in the days of Disney TV Australia. Was a lot of fun!
ReplyDelete