Feeling the egg price blues? Jam with Peepers and her friends! youtu.be/_liuJ75iWXY?si=o8jk… via @YouTube Episode Four is here!

I remember when Stephen Hillenburg passed away, and someone kindly said, "I'm sorry you lost your friend." I was immediately taken off-guard because even though he gave me my first full-time job, help launch my career as both an animator and illustrator, and was my boss for 2 years, we didn't, you know... hang out. We weren't by normal standards, really "friends." Now Eric Bauza has passed away and I long to hear the words, "I'm sorry you lost your friend." No, Eric and I never really crossed paths in the literal sense. (If I had been smarter, we would have hired him on the Replacements. ) The animation community may seem vast, but it is, in fact, surprisingly small. I think that's why we all feel this earthquake right now. Like something rare and beautiful was just ripped from our hands. I want to encourage you to read John "F" Fountain's X post about this (@fountaincartoon), but he basically brings up the fact that voice talent and animation artists rarely co-mingle. Bauza was different. He started his career as an artist and just happened to be so wonderfully talented at voiceover that he couldn't be ignored. But what made him so great was that even though he soared to fame, he remained humble. He was a friend to us. He was kind. He was human. He loved the craft as whole. I wasn't a friend to him, but he was a friend to me... to all of us who, for some reason, want to make zany cartoons for a living. And I am heartbroken. 💔

NO…I’M NOT DOING IT: An Inadequate Tribute and Refusal to say “Goodbye” to ERIC BAUZA a thread by “F” I had a special fondness for Eric Bauza. That doesn’t make me unique. Everybody who had the pleasure of meeting the guy had a special fondness for him, because he was just that type of person. But Eric teetered in that special place between Generation X and Generation Y, which meant he was young enough to have boundless energy and enthusiasm, but old enough to remember what it was like to sit in front of Saturday morning television, eating cereal, drawing Bugs Bunny and doing the voice at the same time in an almost a religious ceremony of spiritual devotion, where the young budding cartoonist becomes one with the cartoon itself. That was the dream. Not only to draw the cartoons, but to become the characters. He wasn’t the first animator to do voices, but most of the time when an artist did voices it was for a character they created (Mike Judge, John K. etc.). When I broke into animation, one of the first and most disappointing wake-up calls I got was just how segregated all the different divisions were. Character designers mostly hung out with character designers, storyboard artists with storyboard artists, background artists with background artists - and none of those artists were allowed to rub elbows with the voiceover talent. That’s just how it was. It seemed completely antithetical to the cartoon-making process, but I was told in no uncertain terms not to fight it, and by all means abandon any hope of ever doing voices for the cartoons you work on. It seemed a little unfair, but let’s be honest: most of us aren’t as good as we think we are at doing voices anyway. Then along came Eric. He was just too good to be ignored. He did what so many of us only dreamed of achieving: He became the cartoon. Not only did he become the cartoon, he earned the mantle of the greatest cartoon character of all time. And he was just so frigging nice you couldn’t help but stand up and cheer him on. He was the living embodiment of what it meant to live, love, eat, sleep, drink, and bask in the world of animation and cartoons. He was the chosen one. I hate that he’s gone, and I don’t expect to see another like him in my lifetime. Saying goodbye feels impossible, and I’m not ready to do it yet.

Original Stephen Hillenburg note that was placed on a storyboard panel for "Grandma's Kisses."

20 years ago today, ‘The Replacements’ premiered on Disney Channel.

How do artists stay inspired when Ai is threatening them? Here are my thoughts on Ai. Thank you Nostalgiac Media for the video. - Don

Many moons ago, I shared a deleted scene from the #spongebobmovie This is where Spongebob sees Sandy off at the bus stop and he continues his little "I'm ready, Promotion!" ditty. Here are some more of Stephen Hillenburg's notes below. I treasure them. @ArtofSpongebob

そしてmlaatr alternaversityという実質的な続編小説シリーズが以外と見てるない人もいるかもなので一応紹介しようと思います〜 リンクはティーンエイジロボットwikiより→ robrenzetti.com/newsletter-a…

I found another box! These are roughs from my first Spongebob coloring book called, "Jellyfishing," based on the episode. I drew these in 2000. #spongebob #artofspongebob

This wonky little SB in a pirate hat might be the first piece of press art I made. It was for a 2000 Wizard publication of "IN" Power magazine with a write-up on the cast and crew of Spongebob.

Concept Sketch for Season 14

I can't remember which episode these are from. Somewhere between Seasons 2 and 3. Someone once upon a time had mentioned Christmas Who?

Squirrel Jokes expression sketches. I was also learning to draw crowds. #squirreljokes #artofspongebob

Original storyboard sketch. Sometimes, when I had to re-size a pose in the copier to fit the board panel, these wound up getting pasted into my sketchbook. #artofspongebob #spongebob

WATCH TIL THE END SURPRISE! Why did the Chickens Cross the Road? #crazyc... youtu.be/Ex58l3fj0r4?si=j99V… via @YouTube The obligatory chicken joke of the ages has arrived. PEEPERS answers the question you've been longing to know the answer to.

FREE, fully printable of all four Peeper's Valentine's Day Cards here: chooktoons.com/valentinesday

Peepers Makes a New Friend #chickenfunny #animation youtu.be/7ah00LJvkkY?si=00kJ… via @YouTube Episode Five premiers on YouTube first! @Traditional2D