Former Simpsons artist identifies his scenes

[The Thompsons]

@Mark Colangelo how was it working on the Monorail episode? How much was put into animating the Monorail along with it's design? Were there any hurdles or hinderances in desiging something completly outside of the Simpsons universe? Did you have a hand in animating the town hall sequence?

Sorry to sound like a gushing fanboi but this is a favourite among many Simpsons fans and it is very rare that someone who worked on the show makes himself accessible to fans.

[Mark Colangelo]

@Mark Colangelo how was it working on the Monorail episode? How much was put into animating the Monorail along with it's design? Were there any hurdles or hinderances in desiging something completly outside of the Simpsons universe? Did you have a hand in animating the town hall sequence?

Sorry to sound like a gushing fanboi but this is a favourite among many Simpsons fans and it is very rare that someone who worked on the show makes himself accessible to fans.

I think Paul Wee did the character layouts for the entire town hall sequence. (That was the "Music Man" parody, right?) Paul was often given difficult scenes to do. (He's an excellent artist, and even taught life drawing classes.) Designing the monorail really wasn't any more difficult than creating any of the other designs on the show. Just some simple research, such as studying photos of an actual monorail, were all that was really necessary. In the fourth season the show started to venture outside of the typical Simpsons neighborhood, and the designers adapted pretty easily to it.

Sometimes, as a layout artist, one had to take liberties with the approved designs. I once got a design of a very realistic bike Homer was supposed to ride. But if I had used the design of the bike as drawn Homer's feet would have never reached the pedals. Sometimes you just had to make the designs fit the characters.

One of the problems with The Simpsons was the overuse of crowd shots. (The Monorail episode was certainly guilty of this.) It would require more time to do, but the schedule would never change to accommodate this. That meant we had to do more work in the same amount of time. Animators call this kind of stuff "pencil mileage" because of the amount of work and time involved. During that era Film Roman was non union, and they got a lot of unpaid overtime work from artists desperately trying to make their deadlines. The crowds started to get bigger and bigger during the fourth season, too. That's certainly one thing I don't miss since leaving the show. I've never had to do such crowd shots again.

[Mark Colangelo]

I just watched Black Widower, so here are my thoughts: The scenes of the family watching TV doesn't ring a bell, except maybe when Lisa thought Selma was bringing the Elephant Man home. Maybe I did that scene, or revised them once someone else did them. I can't recall too clearly. I do recall laying out the scene of the guard taking Sideshow Bob's Emmy away. (In fact, I think it was the first scene I was assigned.) I did the extreme close ups of Selma about to light her cigarette, striking the match, etc. Director David Silverman really hated the first pass I did on close up of Selma with a cigarette in her mouth, and read me the riot act. He redrew it more on model, explaining all the details that needed to be drawn correctly in order to make it look more like Selma. I think I also did the layouts for the scene where all the men were smoking cigars, and Wiggums accidentally exploded the hotel room. But I worked either from Silverman's rough drawings or storyboards. (Silverman's storyboard drawings were good enough to blow up and copy. They were clean, on model and lively. One just had to refine them a bit.)

Chris Loudon did the scene of the overcrowded prison. He at first included caricatures of himself and Mark Ervin in jail, but Silverman didn't think they looked enough like Simpsons style characters to fit in the Simpson's universe and they were removed.

I should explain that several of the Simpsons artists were classmates of mine from CalArts. Loudon, Irvin, Sondra Roy, Pete Shin, Jorden Reichek, Gavin Dell and myself all started at CalArts at the same time. At Klasky/Csupo I shared a room with Irvin and Loudon, as well as Mike Marcantel and Debbie Silver. Now that I think about it, I recall Irvin explaining the joke about the Dinosaurs parody to me. Perhaps he did the opening layouts?

Silverman did a lot of layouts himself on this show. He did Sideshow Bob and Krusty hugging during the telethon (as well as designing the Al Hirschfeld style caricature of Krusty in the background -- Silverman is a BIG fan of Hirschfeld); Bob and Selma happily skipping through daisies; and Sideshow Bob slapping bellboy "Dennis" with the hotel brochure. In fact, the whole montage of Bob and Selma on different dates while the song Something Stupid plays was Silverman's idea. Originally, in the script, Selma and Bob just sing the song Karaoke style. The scene seemed too long, so Silverman and his Assistant Director added some scenes of Bob and Selma on various dates and presented it to the writers during the animatic meeting. The writers approved the idea, but said they would rewrite some of the jokes.

[The Thompsons]

I think Paul Wee did the character layouts for the entire town hall sequence. (That was the "Music Man" parody, right?) Paul was often given difficult scenes to do. (He's an excellent artist, and even taught life drawing classes.) Designing the monorail really wasn't any more difficult than creating any of the other designs on the show. Just some simple research, such as studying photos of an actual monorail, were all that was really necessary. In the fourth season the show started to venture outside of the typical Simpsons neighborhood, and the designers adapted pretty easily to it.

Sometimes, as a layout artist, one had to take liberties with the approved designs. I once got a design of a very realistic bike Homer was supposed to ride. But if I had used the design of the bike as drawn Homer's feet would have never reached the pedals. Sometimes you just had to make the designs fit the characters.

One of the problems with The Simpsons was the overuse of crowd shots. (The Monorail episode was certainly guilty of this.) It would require more time to do, but the schedule would never change to accommodate this. That meant we had to do more work in the same amount of time. Animators call this kind of stuff "pencil mileage" because of the amount of work and time involved. During that era Film Roman was non union, and they got a lot of unpaid overtime work from artists desperately trying to make their deadlines. The crowds started to get bigger and bigger during the fourth season, too. That's certainly one thing I don't miss since leaving the show. I've never had to do such crowd shots again.

I just watched Black Widower, so here are my thoughts: The scenes of the family watching TV doesn't ring a bell, except maybe when Lisa thought Selma was bringing the Elephant Man home. Maybe I did that scene, or revised them once someone else did them. I can't recall too clearly. I do recall laying out the scene of the guard taking Sideshow Bob's Emmy away. (In fact, I think it was the first scene I was assigned.) I did the extreme close ups of Selma about to light her cigarette, striking the match, etc. Director David Silverman really hated the first pass I did on close up of Selma with a cigarette in her mouth, and read me the riot act. He redrew it more on model, explaining all the details that needed to be drawn correctly in order to make it look more like Selma. I think I also did the layouts for the scene where all the men were smoking cigars, and Wiggums accidentally exploded the hotel room. But I worked either from Silverman's rough drawings or storyboards. (Silverman's storyboard drawings were good enough to blow up and copy. They were clean, on model and lively. One just had to refine them a bit.)

Chris Loudon did the scene of the overcrowded prison. He at first included caricatures of himself and Mark Ervin in jail, but Silverman didn't think they looked enough like Simpsons style characters to fit in the Simpson's universe and they were removed.

I should explain that several of the Simpsons artists were classmates of mine from CalArts. Loudon, Irvin, Sondra Roy, Pete Shin, Jorden Reichek, Gavin Dell and myself all started at CalArts at the same time. At Klasky/Csupo I shared a room with Irvin and Loudon, as well as Mike Marcantel and Debbie Silver. Now that I think about it, I recall Irvin explaining the joke about the Dinosaurs parody to me. Perhaps he did the opening layouts?

Silverman did a lot of layouts himself on this show. He did Sideshow Bob and Krusty hugging during the telethon (as well as designing the Al Hirschfeld style caricature of Krusty in the background -- Silverman is a BIG fan of Hirschfeld); Bob and Selma happily skipping through daisies; and Sideshow Bob slapping bellboy "Dennis" with the hotel brochure. In fact, the whole montage of Bob and Selma on different dates while the song Something Stupid plays was Silverman's idea. Originally, in the script, Selma and Bob just sing the song Karaoke style. The scene seemed too long, so Silverman and his Assistant Director added some scenes of Bob and Selma on various dates and presented it to the writers during the animatic meeting. The writers approved the idea, but said they would rewrite some of the jokes.

Great insight, thanks!

[zartok-35]

At Klasky/Csupo I shared a room with Irvin and Loudon, as well as Mike Marcantel and Debbie Silver.

Is that why you were all regularly grouped together on Jeff Lynch's episodes? With the exceptions of Steve Mealue and Steve Fellner, that makes up about Jeff's entire unit.

Now that I think about it, I recall Irvin explaining the joke about the Dinosaurs parody to me. Perhaps he did the opening layouts?

I was starting to think that was by Mike Marcantel, but Mark Ervin is just as likely. The scene where Homer talks to Maggie looks like another scene in "Homer's Barbershop quartet", which Mark and Mike both worked on. Mark is usually associated with car scenes; I wonder if he did the scene of Bob and Selma driving the Mustang.

Excellent stuff, all of it! Thanks allot for sharing, Mr. Colangelo!

[Matlock]

Did the animators enjoy working on it?

[Matty]

Exactly! Couldn't have said it better myself.

My own rough drawings were too messy to use as is, so I would go over them and clean them up. I like to draw fast and loose first, in order to get some energy into the pose (depending if it was a certain type of action). If I didn't do it that way I would always get notes from the director that my drawings were "too cartoony" and needed to be toned down -- always a depressing thing to do for a cartooninst.

I hear ya, that's the way I like to work to. I love energetic animation. Depressing indeed.

Did the animators enjoy working on it?

From what I've heard/read, some do, especially when they get a little more freedom than usual. But mostly because it's a (for this industry) steady job with a pretty good pay. Most of the time they are frustrated though, because they have to underperform. They can do MUCH better, but they are not allowed. There's lots of crazy rules made up by Groening: he seems to want the most dull acting possible. Plus since like season 3-4, the chances an animator's work would be thrown away got bigger and bigger.

These things are supposed to be even worse at the Seth MacFarlane shows, though. What a nightmare that must be to draw for.

[Matlock]

From what I've heard/read, some do, especially when they get a little more freedom than usual.

Really? I heard that a lot of the animators find it too strict.

[Matty]

Really? I heard that a lot of the animators find it too strict.

Yes, that's what I said after that sentence. But still, some people enjoy(ed) working there, even if a lot didn't.

[zartok-35]

Paul Wee and Istvan Majoros are still on the show, after 21 some years, but I can't immagine they enjoy working on it as much anymore.

[Mark Colangelo]

Is that why you were all regularly grouped together on Jeff Lynch's episodes? With the exceptions of Steve Mealue and Steve Fellner, that makes up about Jeff's entire unit.

Mark is usually associated with car scenes; I wonder if he did the scene of Bob and Selma driving the Mustang.

We were grouped as teams (usually 5 or 6 character layout artists, and 2 background artists to a team) and those teams would then be available for whichever director needed them. Usually the team I was on worked with Jeff Lynch (one of the nicest guys in this industry), but we would also be used by other directors when we were available. That's why the same group of people appear on the credits of shows also directed by David Silverman, Rich Moore, etc. At Klasky/Csupo each team would be together in one room, because of the type of building it was. At Film Roman all the layout artists were in a large bullpen type area, divided by cubicles. Klasky/Csupo definitely had the nicer digs.

I don't know if Ervin drew the Mustang scene. However, the first time I ever met Mark was during an orientation meeting for the freshman class in the character animation program at CalArts. He was drawing cars throughout that entire meeting. He had a unique way of drawing them too. He would draw one side of the car, fold the paper, and trace what he had already drawn for the other side -- therefore making it perfectly symmetrical. I didn't have a car when I went to CalArts, and Mark was nice enough to give me a ride at times. I remember that he would point out all the interesting cars on the freeway. He'd mention the Chevy Corvair, for instance. I was not knowledgeable about cars at that time, so I was clueless as to what cars he was talking about, but I tried to play along, mumbling something like, "Uh, yeah...a corvair. Of course." All the while looking around wondering which car that actually was.

Did the animators enjoy working on it?

From what I've heard/read, some do, especially when they get a little more freedom than usual. But mostly because it's a (for this industry) steady job with a pretty good pay. Most of the time they are frustrated though, because they have to underperform. They can do MUCH better, but they are not allowed.

Really? I heard that a lot of the animators find it too strict.

Yes, that's what I said after that sentence. But still, some people enjoy(ed) working there, even if a lot didn't.

Paul Wee and Istvan Majoros are still on the show, after 21 some years, but I can't immagine they enjoy working on it as much anymore.

Some of the artists loved working on the show. Nancy Kruse once mentioned to me that she loved working on the show, and that it was the best animated show around (this being around 1993). Sarge Morton definitely loved working on the show. Sondra Roy told me she loved her job there, even though she had to put in a lot of hours and effort to finish scenes on time. David Silverman was born and bred to work on The Simpsons. He incorporated some of his own personal drawing style into the show, though. He also got away with using more exaggeration than the others in his episodes (in a few key scenes that he would lay out himself). Bob Anderson also once mentioned how happy he was that the show lasted for so many seasons, and he hoped it would continue for many more. I think Chris Loudon and Mark Ervin enjoyed working on the show, too. I never heard Paul Wee complain about the show, but I really don't know how he felt about it. I'm honestly surprised that someone with such great drawing skills is still with the show. I would have thought he would want to work on a project that would take better advantage of his abilities. The people who tended to stay on the show for a long time usually already drew in a style compatible with The Simpsons, for the most part.

The artists who didn't enjoy working on the show, or felt constrained by it, were usually the ones who wanted to work on something akin to classic cartoons, like those of the '40s and '50s. They preferred exaggeration, going "off model" for certain expressions, slicker designs, caricatured movements, etc. All the things that were verbotten on The Simpsons. These artists usually didn't stay too long on the show -- maybe a season or two. I recall Mike Fontanelli (a Ren & Stimpy artist, he went to work at The Simpsons after Spumco was fired by Nickelodeon) found it frustrating working with such restrictive rules. Wes Archer had stills from old Tracy Ullman shorts hanging on the wall of his office while at Film Roman. The stills were images of things only a cartoon character could do, like Maggie flipping a cookie into her mouth by using her tongue like a spatula. It was obvious that Wes missed the days when he could draw such fun and funny stuff.

There's lots of crazy rules made up by Groening: he seems to want the most dull acting possible.

During the fourth season a lot of new rules were passed down from on high by Groening. Silverman would write out the new instructions (with illustrations) and we'd all find a xeroxed copy on our animation desks in the morning. One particular rule caused the place to boil over with anger and resentment: it was that Homer was no longer allowed to open his mouth wider than the food he was eating. (I kid you not.) It was obvious from the way Silverman worded the notes that he didn't really agree with it. The first page contained a drawing of Homer with a big mouth about to eat a large sandwich. The caption read "Funny, isn't it? Well, we can't do it anymore." There were many drawings by various artists pinned to walls ridiculing Groening, or of Homer with really large mouths. One I clearly remember was of Homer with a tiny puckered mouth, unable to eat his food, and wasting away.

There was a tradition of the studio sending Groening a birthday card, which would be on a large poster size illustration board. The artists would then draw funny pictures on it wishing Groening a happy birthday. At least that was how it was supposed to work. After the memo about large mouthed Homers, some people took out their frustrations on that years card. Wes Archer drew Homer with a huge open mouth (ala a Tex Avery cartoon) and signing it, "We love you, Matt, because you're so understanding." There was a lot of veiled anger and hatred in that card. I don't know if the studio ever sent it.

So in short, yes, Groening would come up with a lot of stupid rules -- all based on ignorance of the animation medium. However, it wasn't just Groening. The writers and James L. Brooks all thought the same way. They wanted The Simpsons to be like a live action sitcom, not "cartoony" in any way.

Also, an anonymous artist at the studio used to do parodies of Silverman's notes, drawn in Silverman's style, instructing us on a new faux rule. They would be over-the-top and ridiculous, but at first glance it would seem like it was real.

[The Governor]

Too bad you couldn't reproduce that birthday card, pull some strings and have it added to the S20 DVD set (the real one) in a few years as an easter egg, while reciting the back story as the camera slowly panned over it.

[Matty]

Haha yeah I've heard about that infamous crazy mouth/food rule before. It's funny how they want to stay away from the 40s WB style of animation and be more 'real', while there is so much more real life-like acting to be found in those cartoons (McKimson). What makes it weirder is that Groening seems to have so much love for those cartoons (and Popeye).

Sarge absolutely enjoyed working on the show. I would talk to him about it when he was still working there & he would always advise me to only get into animation if I really loved doing it. Unfortunatly he has left the animation industry 10 years ago after being fired from the Simpsons twice & Futurama was cancelled for the first time; you've probably heard the story.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

So you want a realistic down-to-earth show...that's completely off the wall, and...swarming with magic robots?

[zartok-35]

Do you remember working with Mike Fontanelli on "Treehouse of horror IV" or "$pringfield"? These episodes look really off-model, but I'm guessing that was because of issues in Korea.

[Mark Colangelo]

Haha yeah I've heard about that infamous crazy mouth/food rule before. It's funny how they want to stay away from the 40s WB style of animation and be more 'real', while there is so much more real life-like acting to be found in those cartoons (McKimson). What makes it weirder is that Groening seems to have so much love for those cartoons (and Popeye).

Sarge absolutely enjoyed working on the show. I would talk to him about it when he was still working there & he would always advise me to only get into animation if I really loved doing it. Unfortunatly he has left the animation industry 10 years ago after being fired from the Simpsons twice & Futurama was cancelled for the first time; you've probably heard the story.

Groening doesn't like exaggerated animation, so I don't know how sincere his love for old cartoons really is. On one of the DVD commentaries he claims the animation in old Disney and Warner cartoons was too "springy". He also claimed that "stretch and squash" (one of the important principles of animation) doesn't exist in real life. He's completely wrong there, as anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of physics can tell you.

I heard about Sarge's firing from a friend I once shared a cubicle with during the 5th season of The Simpsons, and who remained close friends with Sarge after she had also left the show. She said Sarge at first went to work at Futurama, but didn't care for that program the same way that he did for The Simpsons. When she told me that he decided to go back to Connecticut, where he was originally from, I was quite surprised. There were plenty of jobs on other animation shows at the time, so to just quit the business over lack of employment at The Simpsons seemed a little extreme to me. I also felt the other animated programs looked better. Then again, I never felt as strongly about The Simpsons as he did.

[The Thompsons]

Groening doesn't like exaggerated animation, so I don't know how sincere his love for old cartoons really is. On one of the DVD commentaries he claims the animation in old Disney and Warner cartoons was too "springy". He also claimed that "stretch and squash" (one of the important principles of animation) doesn't exist in real life. He's completely wrong there, as anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of physics can tell you.

I specifically remember Groening saying the way doors were slammed on the Simpsons had to be realistic and not "springy" among other things. I think in the end he wanted to distance himself from all of the cliched cartoon animation from Warner Bros. and the like and stick to a more rigid style so the viewer will think story first and animation second.

I'm sure he does love the classic cartoons but that style did not fit his vision for the Simpsons.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

[Mark Colangelo]

Do you remember working with Mike Fontanelli on "Treehouse of horror IV" or "$pringfield"? These episodes look really off-model, but I'm guessing that was because of issues in Korea.

I would sometimes procrastinate by talking with Fontanelli at his cubicle, rather than doing my own work. We had a lot of cultural tastes in common. Plus he would tell me about what it was like working on Ren & Stimpy -- which had been a pretty big deal at the time, being one of the few shows that was actually well animated. I don't recall what scenes he worked on, though. (I think he might have done an Itchy and Scratchy episode, because I recall he complained about certain aspects of the model sheet.) I remember seeing some layouts on his desk, but can't recall the scenes. He drew the characters well (he was an excellent draftsman), so there were no "off model" issues, but had difficulties because the style of the show was antithetical to the cartoonier style he preferred. I think he said something to the effect of he learned that in order to get his scenes approved he had to draw the characters like zombies.

There was only one layout artist on the show who drew really weird off model characters (who shall remain nameless). Homer really looked odd. He drew using a black prismacolor pencil, too. So when his scenes had to be revised (and they usually almost always had to) the revisionist couldn't simply erase the parts of the drawing that needed fixing. (Prismacolor pencils are not lead and graphite based. They are more like a grease pencil, so the lines can't be erased.) They'd have to use a fresh sheet of paper and redo all of it, or cut and paste the new bits together.

The only thing I remember on Treehouse of Horror was that I did the layouts of the pan of the infamous jury that would judge homer, sitting uncomfortably on spare living room chairs; and the scene of the gremlin trying to undo the nuts to the school bus wheel. (Silverman either did the storyboards, or else I cleaned up his rough. Either way, I tried to keep the scene looking like his drawings.) EDIT: I think Silverman did the Gremlin scenes, and I did Bart's reaction, or the scenes that hooked up with the Gremlin. Jeez, my memory is getting bad. Either way, Silverman's drawing of a Gremlin just about to reach and grab the wheel nut is rolling around in my hazy recollections somewhere.

I don't remember anything about $pringfield, except that at the time I thought it was the worst Simpsons episode written yet. The entire Simpsons crew at Film Roman would often get together to view the animatics once they were shot. It was always a nice break, and the show in question was sometimes funnier than when it was finished, since certain jokes would be removed before completion of the episode. There was always lots of laughter in that meeting room. $pringfield was the one exception. There wasn't one laugh during the animatic screening. Just complete silence. I remember the director, Wes Archer, walking out of that meeting early, and I didn't blame him. (That would be tough for any director to bear.) That show was in a lot of trouble, and required a lot of rewrites. The writers managed to raise a rotten show to the level of acceptable mediocrity, through a lot of long hours of work. So you can imagine how much worse that episode could have been.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

Did Fontanelli have anything to do with that Ren and Stimpy scene in "Brother From the Same Planet"?

[The Thompsons]

I think he said something to the effect of he learned that in order to get his scenes approved he had to draw the characters like zombies.

So the animators thought the Simpsons were getting to be like zombies as far back as 1993. What do you think of the current animation done on the Simpsons?

[Mark Colangelo]

Did Fontanelli have anything to do with that Ren and Stimpy scene in "Brother From the Same Planet"?

No. He wasn't at the Simpsons when that show was produced. (He arrived during the 5th season. Brother was made in the 4th season.) I recall the scene clearly, because when the crew heard about that parody we were all salivating over the thought of getting to draw that. It first went to Paul Wee to lay out (a logical choice I had to agree with, much to my own disappointment). However, Nickelodeon (or John K?) had struck a deal with Fox or someone that one of the actual Ren & Stimpy artists had to do the layouts. Chris Reccardi eventually did the final layouts -- the ones that were sent to Korea. Ironically, just before doing those layouts, Reccardi had been fired from Spumco by Ren & Stimpy creator John K. Reccardi also told me that Wee had done a pretty good job, especially for one who hadn't worked on Ren & Stimpy before. (As good as Paul Wee is, though, Reccardi is even better. His layouts from the original Ren & Stimpy are simply amazing.)

[zartok-35]

Interestingly enough, Chris Reccardi was on staff with The Simpsons during the second half of season 2.

[Mark Colangelo]

So the animators thought the Simpsons were getting to be like zombies as far back as 1993. What do you think of the current animation done on the Simpsons?

It's even worse now. At least back then the show had people like David Silverman, Brad Bird, Wes Archer, and Greg Vanzo who occasionally pushed the animation a bit further, and animated actual scenes themselves. (Jeff Lynch and Carlos Baeza were also more animation oriented and tended to push for a fuller range of movement.)

I have to clarify that not all the artists disproved on the animation on the show. Only those that preferred animation and expressions that were stronger and more exaggerated, like classic cartoons used to be.

[Dark Homer]

Wes Archer had stills from old Tracy Ullman shorts hanging on the wall of his office while at Film Roman. The stills were images of things only a cartoon character could do, like Maggie flipping a cookie into her mouth by using her tongue like a spatula. It was obvious that Wes missed the days when he could draw such fun and funny stuff.

Didn't he later become one of principal artists on King of the Hill? Seems like an odd choice for someone who likes cartoony stuff

[Mark Colangelo]

I specifically remember Groening saying the way doors were slammed on the Simpsons had to be realistic and not "springy" among other things. I think in the end he wanted to distance himself from all of the cliched cartoon animation from Warner Bros. and the like and stick to a more rigid style so the viewer will think story first and animation second.

I'm sure he does love the classic cartoons but that style did not fit his vision for the Simpsons.

It wasn't just with doors. That philosophy encompassed all the characters and actions, too. One doesn't have to copy the cliches of the past in order to make a cartoon more lively and interesting. The Ullman shorts had animation that wasn't anything near the old Looney Tunes, but it was still funny and interesting. Ren & Stimpy managed to do a good job of bringing back all the principles of old cartoons without copying them.

It was definitely the philosophy of the writers and producers that a bland, rigid style of animation would draw more attention to the writing. However, I don't think this is always true. Sometimes we would get scenes where the voice track was broad, or a crazy action was supposed to happen. If we followed Groening's rules, the drawings would not fit the voice acting, or the scene would be too watered down for the action to be funny. Rigid rules should not always be enforced, especially when they were crafted in ignorance.

[Mark Colangelo]

Didn't he later become one of principal artists on King of the Hill? Seems like an odd choice for someone who likes cartoony stuff

Yes, I agree it seems like an odd choice, given that King of the Hill was even stiffer than The Simpsons. I guess Archer just wanted to get away from The Simpsons. Plus, he was overseeing King of the Hill, so I'm sure it was more money. However, I never spoke with him about it so I don't know why he took that job.

[The Thompsons]

It's even worse now. At least back then the show had people like David Silverman, Brad Bird, Wes Archer, and Greg Vanzo who occasionally pushed the animation a bit further, and animated actual scenes themselves. (Jeff Lynch and Carlos Baeza were also more animation oriented and tended to push for a fuller range of movement.)

I have to clarify that not all the artists disproved on the animation on the show. Only those that preferred animation and expressions that were stronger and more exaggerated, like classic cartoons used to be.

I brought it up because the term "Zombie Simpsons" is quite popular around these parts. The biggest offender brought up is Marge's facial expression (or lack thereof) during the opening sequence in the grocery store. I find most of the animation now does lack the emotion of past seasons and the boundaries are pushed less.

Did you ever work with Mark Kirkland? After all of these years he's still on the show and I would assume he had to adjust his approach to animating with regards to what is being presented currently. If you did work with him, was he a proponent of the rigid style championed by Groening? Or did he like to add more flair to the animation?

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

The biggest offender brought up is Marge's facial expression (or lack thereof) during the opening sequence in the grocery store.

I thought everyone hated those slight head nods from all the characters the most...

[The Thompsons]

It wasn't just with doors. That philosophy encompassed all the characters and actions, too. One doesn't have to copy the cliches of the past in order to make a cartoon more lively and interesting. The Ullman shorts had animation that wasn't anything near the old Looney Tunes, but it was still funny and interesting. Ren & Stimpy managed to do a good job of bringing back all the principles of old cartoons without copying them.

It was definitely the philosophy of the writers and producers that a bland, rigid style of animation would draw more attention to the writing. However, I don't think this is always true. Sometimes we would get scenes where the voice track was broad, or a crazy action was supposed to happen. If we followed Groening's rules, the drawings would not fit the voice acting, or the scene would be too watered down for the action to be funny. Rigid rules should not always be enforced, especially when they were crafted in ignorance.

It seems Groening was more fast and loose with the rules in Ullman days, but once he had a half-hour of animation to undertake he wanted to change it up. It had to be difficult to work on show that wanted to make the viewer think that they're not watching a cartoon.

Was Groening that difficult to deal with if the scene did require more lively animation? He seems more focused on the dramatic aspect of animation rather than the comedic value of more varied poses and more outlandish expressions.