Post by /\/\att on May 11, 2004 0:03:29 GMT -5
Thread started on: Nov 26th, 2003
Mr. del Carmen has worked as an animator on the various Batman cartoons!
LoG: You did the artwork on the story 'The Harley and the Ivy' in the The Batman Adventures Holiday Special comic back in 1995. It's been long debated amongst fans that there are sexual undertones between Harley and Ivy. Do you have any opinions on that subject?
Ronnie del Carmen: This is a game that Bruce and Paul play with everyone. They knew that by making those two cavort as they do people will surmise just that. I don't know that they, Bruce and Paul, have come out and said this about them so I surely can't make any pronouncements. My take on it is that Ivy may have inclinations to either preference but has a deep attachment to the simple girl Harley is. Ivy's need is control ( plant serums that can enslave anyone or do them in, hmmm?) and here is Harley, someone who doesn't contradict her but goes along willingly. She's just too endearing and quite a find.
One must wonder if Harley, once a top level psychologist (or was it psychiatrist?), isn't playing everyone in the end when she crafted her Harley persona. She may be using her professional savvy (however sublimated) to work with whomever she partners with.
LoG: Your artwork was very instrumental in Batman: The Animated Series. Can you tell our viewers in exactly what capacity you worked on the cartoon? Did you work on every episode? If not, which ones did you work on?
Ronnie del Carmen: I was a production board artist. That means that I storyboarded acts in shows. There are three acts to a 22 minute show. Each director had three board artists on staff to hand portions of the show to. I only worked on a fraction of the shows. My first one was "Fear of Victory." Dick Sebast, who directed it, helped me get my footing in the crew, which was already chugging along at a good clip. I was the new guy.
I can't remember which ones and titles elude me but here goes: Fear of Victory, Mad as a Hatter, Cape and Cowl Conspiracy, Tyger tyger, Laughing Fish, The man who killed Batman, Birds of a Feather, Worry Men, Paging the Crime Doctor, Mask of the Phantasm, House and Garden, Riddler's Reform, Baby doll, Time out of joint, Batgirl returns, Lock Up, Terrible trio, Bullet for Bullock....I must be forgetting others that I've done pinch hitting for--it's been a long time.
I would also do character designs on the shows I worked on. I did a number of thugs and girls and victims. I did some of the early Alice studies for Mad as a Hatter--a sentimental favorite of mine since it was my second board and I got to do a lot for it. Environment designs and lighting was part of your plate as well if you're up to it. I just loved doing all that. Bruce just encouraged me to take it on and you don't have to nudge me twice about it. I once proposed a second Tygrus storyline to Bruce and though he liked it there wasn't a clamor for more. I saw Tygrus stalking Selena in Gotham. Tygrus survived the fire, a super creation that was designed to withstand any man-made onslaught--but his genetic make up is flawed. He comes out of the shadows, voice now garbled, to face a sympathetic Selena but she shrinks back. He is deformed. A twisted, elephant man like stack of bulbous flesh. He knows his mind is going. He wants to live. A serum developed by his maker's colleague can halt and reverse the mutation. Can he get it in time? Or will he succumb to the madness and kill Selena.
It ends sadly. At least that's how I outlined it. I'll propose it to the DC people someday.
LoG: Your storyboards for the Animated Series are fantastic. What about Batman inspired you to capture the essence of his world so clearly?
Ronnie del Carmen: I am a huge comic book fan. As well as a sci-fi nut. Drawing nearly all my life. I was prepared to be just in that crew my whole life and didn't know it. Who doesn't like Batman? He appeals to our sense of outrage and helplessness in the face of a world gone mad. Vigilante justice that swoops down in the cover of night and corrects a wrong? Come on, who hasn't played that scenario in their heads at one time or another in their frustration with the status quo?
That being the case, it comes in handy when making storyboards. You have to convince and create a "reality" with your boards. It is a directing and acting gig. Only with a pencil. And I do like acting the characters out. I don't believe in pat poses or staging. There are ways of doing the same thing over and over again and no one will complain but the results will be less than inspired. I try to look for some other true way to represent the moment asked for on the script. It was a dream gig and I knew it. I made the time count and learn what I can.
All the board artists we had in that crew were the best in the game for that kind of show. Pals from the crew, Curt Geda, Doug Murphy, Butch Lukic have become very successful directors just to name a few. Lorenzo Martinez returned to feature animation and became Layout head honcho at Dreamworks. That show created and launched many careers in animation and Bruce and the gang over there at WB are still at it. Can't argue with success, I say.
LoG: Do you have a favorite episode of the Animated Series? How about favorite villian?
Ronnie del Carmen: Birds of a Feather, Fear of Victory, Baby Doll, On leather Wings, Two face part two, Clayface... too many. I love the Joker. Hands down I'd do a series of just him and Harley. Mark Hamill does an incredible job of being the definitive Joker for all time I think. If I had my druthers I'd propose a limited series of the Joker in his cell in Arkham recounting his exploits as well as of all the other inmates in the ward. Like a House of Mystery only it's our Clown Prince of Crime. Copyright that idea, men! I think we have a winner!
LoG: Were you at all involved in the 'New Batman Adventures' cartoons? If so, in what capacity?
Ronnie del Carmen: Are those what followed after '95? If so, then no. I left for Dreamworks by then.
LoG: There are rumors flying around about a new WB Batman cartoon. Have you been contacted in any capacity to work on this cartoon? Have you heard anything about it as of yet?
Ronnie del Carmen: Even if I did, I couldn't tell you. Sorry. I don't talk to Bruce and the gang a lot. We bump into each other for about an hour twice a year. Once at the Wondercon here in the SF and a second one at San Diego each summer. That's it. Secret, eh? Hmmm, maybe I'll get nosey and find out for meself.
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*Ronnie also wanted to extend his regards to the members of the Legions of Gotham!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. del Carmen has worked as an animator on the various Batman cartoons!
LoG: You did the artwork on the story 'The Harley and the Ivy' in the The Batman Adventures Holiday Special comic back in 1995. It's been long debated amongst fans that there are sexual undertones between Harley and Ivy. Do you have any opinions on that subject?
Ronnie del Carmen: This is a game that Bruce and Paul play with everyone. They knew that by making those two cavort as they do people will surmise just that. I don't know that they, Bruce and Paul, have come out and said this about them so I surely can't make any pronouncements. My take on it is that Ivy may have inclinations to either preference but has a deep attachment to the simple girl Harley is. Ivy's need is control ( plant serums that can enslave anyone or do them in, hmmm?) and here is Harley, someone who doesn't contradict her but goes along willingly. She's just too endearing and quite a find.
One must wonder if Harley, once a top level psychologist (or was it psychiatrist?), isn't playing everyone in the end when she crafted her Harley persona. She may be using her professional savvy (however sublimated) to work with whomever she partners with.
LoG: Your artwork was very instrumental in Batman: The Animated Series. Can you tell our viewers in exactly what capacity you worked on the cartoon? Did you work on every episode? If not, which ones did you work on?
Ronnie del Carmen: I was a production board artist. That means that I storyboarded acts in shows. There are three acts to a 22 minute show. Each director had three board artists on staff to hand portions of the show to. I only worked on a fraction of the shows. My first one was "Fear of Victory." Dick Sebast, who directed it, helped me get my footing in the crew, which was already chugging along at a good clip. I was the new guy.
I can't remember which ones and titles elude me but here goes: Fear of Victory, Mad as a Hatter, Cape and Cowl Conspiracy, Tyger tyger, Laughing Fish, The man who killed Batman, Birds of a Feather, Worry Men, Paging the Crime Doctor, Mask of the Phantasm, House and Garden, Riddler's Reform, Baby doll, Time out of joint, Batgirl returns, Lock Up, Terrible trio, Bullet for Bullock....I must be forgetting others that I've done pinch hitting for--it's been a long time.
I would also do character designs on the shows I worked on. I did a number of thugs and girls and victims. I did some of the early Alice studies for Mad as a Hatter--a sentimental favorite of mine since it was my second board and I got to do a lot for it. Environment designs and lighting was part of your plate as well if you're up to it. I just loved doing all that. Bruce just encouraged me to take it on and you don't have to nudge me twice about it. I once proposed a second Tygrus storyline to Bruce and though he liked it there wasn't a clamor for more. I saw Tygrus stalking Selena in Gotham. Tygrus survived the fire, a super creation that was designed to withstand any man-made onslaught--but his genetic make up is flawed. He comes out of the shadows, voice now garbled, to face a sympathetic Selena but she shrinks back. He is deformed. A twisted, elephant man like stack of bulbous flesh. He knows his mind is going. He wants to live. A serum developed by his maker's colleague can halt and reverse the mutation. Can he get it in time? Or will he succumb to the madness and kill Selena.
It ends sadly. At least that's how I outlined it. I'll propose it to the DC people someday.
LoG: Your storyboards for the Animated Series are fantastic. What about Batman inspired you to capture the essence of his world so clearly?
Ronnie del Carmen: I am a huge comic book fan. As well as a sci-fi nut. Drawing nearly all my life. I was prepared to be just in that crew my whole life and didn't know it. Who doesn't like Batman? He appeals to our sense of outrage and helplessness in the face of a world gone mad. Vigilante justice that swoops down in the cover of night and corrects a wrong? Come on, who hasn't played that scenario in their heads at one time or another in their frustration with the status quo?
That being the case, it comes in handy when making storyboards. You have to convince and create a "reality" with your boards. It is a directing and acting gig. Only with a pencil. And I do like acting the characters out. I don't believe in pat poses or staging. There are ways of doing the same thing over and over again and no one will complain but the results will be less than inspired. I try to look for some other true way to represent the moment asked for on the script. It was a dream gig and I knew it. I made the time count and learn what I can.
All the board artists we had in that crew were the best in the game for that kind of show. Pals from the crew, Curt Geda, Doug Murphy, Butch Lukic have become very successful directors just to name a few. Lorenzo Martinez returned to feature animation and became Layout head honcho at Dreamworks. That show created and launched many careers in animation and Bruce and the gang over there at WB are still at it. Can't argue with success, I say.
LoG: Do you have a favorite episode of the Animated Series? How about favorite villian?
Ronnie del Carmen: Birds of a Feather, Fear of Victory, Baby Doll, On leather Wings, Two face part two, Clayface... too many. I love the Joker. Hands down I'd do a series of just him and Harley. Mark Hamill does an incredible job of being the definitive Joker for all time I think. If I had my druthers I'd propose a limited series of the Joker in his cell in Arkham recounting his exploits as well as of all the other inmates in the ward. Like a House of Mystery only it's our Clown Prince of Crime. Copyright that idea, men! I think we have a winner!
LoG: Were you at all involved in the 'New Batman Adventures' cartoons? If so, in what capacity?
Ronnie del Carmen: Are those what followed after '95? If so, then no. I left for Dreamworks by then.
LoG: There are rumors flying around about a new WB Batman cartoon. Have you been contacted in any capacity to work on this cartoon? Have you heard anything about it as of yet?
Ronnie del Carmen: Even if I did, I couldn't tell you. Sorry. I don't talk to Bruce and the gang a lot. We bump into each other for about an hour twice a year. Once at the Wondercon here in the SF and a second one at San Diego each summer. That's it. Secret, eh? Hmmm, maybe I'll get nosey and find out for meself.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
*Ronnie also wanted to extend his regards to the members of the Legions of Gotham!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------