One of the things I really enjoyed about the
Yowp blog was learning how so many different animators typically worked on a single HB episode, typically to meet deadline productions, of course. Such often resulted in the same characters being drawn noticeably differently across the very same episode. Now, when I was just a YooHoo-slurping kid, I'm sad to say that I barely noticed that stuff, but as an adult?!
In any case, HB fans and repeat-viewers tend to notice that stuff, pretty-much forming the question "WTF," as in-- 'why these major differences?' which is a pretty normal question I think as an HB fan.
The relevant answer lies in how HB proportioned the work across its workforce. For example, for many of them, an animator's job lay in slavishly copying the 'templates.' It was A-priority #1, so to speak. At the same time, more well-paid, recognised animators (for example, those from the
Tom & Jerry cartoons, which was
William Hanna &
Joseph Barbera's first major success) evidently had a larger leash.
Meaning, they had much more individual play in terms of how they chose to animate the characters. The whole
Flintstones series is quite chock full of examples, when you look close-enough.
For example, ever hear of
Don Martin, of 'MAD Magazine' fame?
Any younger fans of MAD here, at all?
Now look at the first thumbnail popout-pic above, and tell me that's
NOT Don-inspired! :D
