Jim Flora.

I'd to point out the fantastic classic art of one James Flora.

As is often the case with things visual, I knew Flora's work because it was in my molecules, in the air, rather than in my head. Then, my colleague Tim Biskup* came to work on my show Oh Yeah! Cartoons as a creator, background designer and (fantastic) painter, and started bringing in truckloads of his LP collection for reference and inspiration. He politely exported his passion and excitement for Jim's work, and, me being me, I became a huge fan. Being a huge jazz fan too didn't hurt. And somehow, it's fitting to me that on my Amazon.com page, Tim's books come up when I search Flora.)

*Check out the fantastic postcard Tim painted for us at Oh Yeah! And, his own cartoon, too.

The Teenage Roblog.

There is some unbelievably cool stuff going on out there on the internet, and luckily, some of it's happening to Frederator productions. Over at the blog for My Life as a Teenage Robot (aka The Teenage Roblog), webmaster XJWriter has been posting some of the neatest fan art in creation. Today's crossover for The Powerpuff Girls (developed by yours truly back in the day) and MLaaTR particularly caught my eye. MLaaTR creator Rob Renzetti was a prime mover on Craig McCraken's show, so it's particularly satisfying to see the fans loving them both.

Oh Yeah! Aliki Theofilopoulos.

Aliki Theofilopoulos has been a friend of Frederator's since before there's been a Frederator (she was an artist/intern with us at Hanna-Barbera, and she's worked on a number of our productions). Yaki & Yumi is the charming and funny cartoon she asked to have included in Oh Yeah!'s latest season. Aliki also does voice acting on the side, and her vocal characterizations gave a unique character to her pitches.

Thanks Aliki for permission to post your artwork.

ChalkZone's done it again!

Those wacky guys in ChalkZone...

Right on the heels of their prestigious Annecy nomination, for the best TV series of 2005, comes the news that CZ's been honored by the distinquished Imagen Foundation, for their postive portrayal of hispanics. Created by The Imagen Foundation, the Imagen Awards competition has brought out the best and most talented portrayal of Latinos in television and film since 1985.

ChalkZone was nominated along with two other of our sister Nickelodeon series -- Dora the Explorer and Nick News with Linda Ellerbee -- along with PBS' Maya & Miguel, and the WB's ¡Mucha Lucha!

Everyone at Frederator has always been proud to be associated with the great work that goes into ChalkZone. And we want to congratulate the whole team on this episode: EP/creators: Bill Burnett & Larry Huber, Producer: Debby Hindman, Director: John Kimball, and Writer: Ford Riley.

Oh Yeah! Jeff DeGrandis.

Jeff DeGrandis is a director-producer-writer highly respected in today's cartoon industry. That's why we're so proud he chose to pitch his really funny cartoon, Finster & Finster, to Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Given that he's so busy running the show at Nick Jr.'s Diego, after running Dora the Explorer, one of the world's biggest success stories, we're doubly proud that he found a way to fit us in.

Thanks to Jeff for permission to show one of his storyboard panels.

Oh Yeah! George Escobar & Bob Lizaraga.

George Escobar is an editor of television series, and Bob Lizaraga is an animation artist. Spaghetti & Meatball is their very clever, very well drawn cartoon storyboard pitch.

As you can see, the Frederator development team's been seeing dozens of cartoons that would like to be a part of the 4th season of Oh Yeah! Cartoons. Sometime in the next month or two you'll be seeing our choices for the first shorts in this round of the series. I can tell you right now, the quality of the work has been high enough that we're going to have a hard time of it.

Thank you George and Bob, for kind permission to show some of your storyboard pages.

The hits just keep on coming. Postcards, Series 5.

Frederator launched the shorts from Oh Yeah! Cartoons in 1998. In the first season alone we had Larry Huber's and Bill Burnett's ChalkZone, and Butch Hartman's The Fairly Oddparents. (And, not incidentially, the first film from Bob Boyle, who went on to be the FOP art director, and creator of Wubby, Widget, & Walden). Second season, Rob Renzetti's My Neighbor was a Teenage Robot, which, of course led to the series My Life as as Teenage Robot.

So our latest round of limited edition postcards remind me of how much everyone has accomplished. I see in last week's New York Times that FOP is in the top 15 of cable programming four times (more than any other show of any kind); Teenage Robot is producing its third season (a total of 40 episodes); and, ChalkZone is stripping daily on Nickelodeon. (Not to mention the beginning of production of Wubby, Widget & Walden). I'm incredibly proud we're associated with such amazing talent.

Click here to see all our Frederator card series from the past seven years.