Danny Antonucci

Early Life and InfluencesDanny was born in Toronto,Canada to Italian immigrant parents on February 27th 1957. Childhood experiences

of immigrant parents have deeply influenced his later work.

As a child, always fascinated by cartoons, he spent long hours drawing and trying to figure out how the pictures "moved". He performed puppet shows for money, and made his first cartoon at the young age of 14.

Antonucci attended the Sheridan College of Visual Arts but quit to take a job as an animator at Canimage Production, a division of Hanna-Barbera, in 1980

He worked on numerous shows, including "The Smurfs," "The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show," and "The Flintstones Comedy Hour." It was on the latter show that he worked with animation legend Tex

Avery.

Sheridan College The late Tex AveryThe Flintstone Comedy Show, 1980

International Rocketship

Intending to move to Los Angeles in 1982 to find more work, Antonucci landed in Vancouver, British Columbia. He landed a job at International Rocketship Ltd, animating short films and television commercials. His first effort was on the short film, Sandboxland.

a.k.a CartoonOn April 1, 1994, Antonucci started the animation company A.K.A. Cartoon, which produced "The Brothers Grunt" series, centered on Frank, Tony, Bing, Dean and Sammy, an ensemble cast of pale, rubbery humanoids

distantly related to human beings, all of them ostensibly male, wandering around in their underpants, in search of their lost brother Perry. Altogether, 45 seven-minute episodes aired before the series went off the air in 1995.

Antonucci returned to doing commercials. Antonucci also worked for MTV on its short-lived Cartoon Sushi show in 1997, directing, writing and providing voices. He was also responsible for the title sequence of the same

show.

Ed,Edd & EddyAntonucci decided to produce an animated children's television show again. He resolved, however, to ensure that the series was produced in a way similar to the classic cartoons of the 1940s. Antonucci spent months designing

the show's look in a style reminiscent of the old United Productions of America (UPA) cartoons.Seeking as wide an audience as possible, Antonucci shopped the show to Nickelodeon, which demanded creative

control. Antonucci refused to give it, so he took the show to Cartoon Network, which quickly picked it up.

The show, Ed, Edd n Eddy, premiered on Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999. The premise is that three pre-adolescent boys — named Ed, Edd, and Eddy (collectively known as "the Eds") — hang around in their suburban

neighborhood of Peach Creek Estates. Led by the avaricious Eddy, the other Eds get caught up in various schemes to make money off their peers, so they can get jawbreakers. But Eddy's plans usually fail, leaving the boys in various predicaments. The characters almost never leave the neighborhood, and adults are nowhere to be seen.

Iconic Character traitsEd - The dimmest yet most loveable Ed,Ed’s trademark unibrow and dangling sleeves add to his simple character’s persona. Danny also animates him as particularly stretchy, reflecting his intelligence in his movements.

Edd - The brightest of the group and nicknamed “double D”, Edd wears a trademark black hat that never comes off, much to the mystery of his friends. The anticipation of seeing what’s under his hat is a clever twist on his character.

Eddy - Sly and arrogant, yet a loser none the less, Eddy is short and fairly comic looking, with three long hairs growing off his big head. A unique animation occurs when Danny animates him eating a “Jawbreaker” candy, which fills, to size, his entire cheek.

Lupo the ButcherAntonucci's first solo work was Lupo the Butcher, produced by International Rocketship, about a knife-wielding maniac. Antonucci says the short arose out of his own frustration at having to work in children's film for so long,

and to try his hand at creating a fully-fledged character on film.

Animation StyleAntonucci’s style reoccurs as a balanced mix of graphic and yet comic hyperbolic illustration. His characters

highly defy the laws of physics with some of their hilariously drawn movements and antics. Very few of his characters (exlcuding Nazz from Ed, Edd and Eddy) are drawn to look at all attractive and he takes pride in this

and uses their below average looks to mutate their actions and facial expressions more effectively.

Animation Software/TechniquesAntonucci has been animating since the early 80’s, long before the time of computerised animation software. Therefore, all of his material is drawn up by hand, presumably using a lightbox. Therefore, his art and drawing style play a massive part in anything he creates and give him that signature touch

to his work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcN8xlCY0Ls

Here is an animation test video for one of the last Ed, Edd an Eddy episodes that he has posted on Youtube.