When I stumbled on your site, I was sort of stunned to all of the content on Maurice Noble. You see, I am a distant relative of Maurice’s (Mother’s Cousin’s…?). When I was little my siblings and I would always wait until the end of the cartoon and if he was in the credits, we’d all yell, “Maurice!! “ Over the years I met him a handful of times at family gatherings. I remember him as very natty dresser (stylish, int the old days) & wore a beret. cocked to one side. He was very cool. I had no idea the breadth & level of his work! I was amazed! Fantasia? Snow White? The Opera? Are you kidding me?! He had always be Cousin Maurice who worked on cartoons to me. Wow!! Did you open my eyes! It was kind of gift to know more about him. Thank you for your site and spotlighting his talent. I’m happy he is still touching lives all these years later. BTW, I still watch cartoons and i still yell “Maurice”. If i see his name.
I'm a retired animator and ended up working as one because of Looney Tunes. Was my favorite show growing up the 60s, and yes, loved the backgrounds even back then. Plus, with my mum being an artist and my dad a cinematographer, it was probably inevitable. Anyway, was always in awe of my coworkers in the background department, much respect. Great vid thanks for doing this 👍
Current animator here and I also got in it from watching Looney tunes in hte 80's/90's. Did you work on anything during that period? I probably have watched that too.
As visual artist myself i often pay attention to the looks of the cartoon. I often pause and examine not only static part but also animation. And i can agree with one thing: it is pandemonium. How else can we call dynamic sequence in which character gains more limbs or is even simply multiplied? Also worth notifying is how huge role music has to play. I am impressed with Loney tunes approach where custom music was actually created for individual cartoon. It's not like in Scooby Doo ,where they could use the same set of soundtrack in every episode, coz it didn't harm story in any way. It was very universal bgm after all.
Maurice Noble lived a few houses down from my grandparents in California. Every summer when I would visit them, I would visit him as well. He was a very kind man who always took time to tell me stories about his work with Looney Tunes and Disney, and teach me about drawing. It created a lifelong love. Thank you for putting out this video. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories.
As a kid in the 70s I always loved the backgrounds, especially the Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny ones. They were always so weird and cool especially when Bugs went up against Marvin the Martian.
I was just going to post the same references especially with regards to the background. The worlds of the Roadrunner and Marvin the Martian help define their characters especially with respect to the villains. (Poor Coyote)
No joke, that particular cartoon was the first time I really noticed the background style, especially in Chuck Jones’ cartoons. I must have been around 10 and I still remember it.
As a retired professional Illustrator and current fine artist for 60 years, these cartoons are indeed art and eye candy. It's what captivates us, draws us in. Though fleeting to the observer you're looking at many hours of deliberate decisions. They reflect our culture. Lastly I must mention the other often unsung hero... the orchestrated music. It's equally thought out and presented in coordinated fashion. True Americana.
The music and background complete the story. Sad that they thought these cartoons were too violent and stopped showing them. As a kid everyone knew it was entertainment. Just like video games don't make kids violent. The three stooges caused more issues with kids hitting, eye poking and slapping...
@@kj9219 I've never been disappointed with Marvin the Martian, the Jetsons, and the Flying Squirrel (who's name escapes me). 🌌🛸👽🐿️ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡԅ( ͒ ͒ )ᕤ
And Action movies today push the female domination narrative of the Feminist heroine being the main lead who is accountable for rescuing or saving the world an mankind from evil forces, often with a soyboy friend or sidekick etc. Resident Evil, Underworld, Lucy, She-hulk, the Force Awakens, etc etc.
I'm a kindergarten teacher, and all my students absolutely LOVE Roadrunner. That's awesome for me, because I grew up on it myself, and now I get to watch it again during work hours.
It's not just the backgrounds. The story lines often incorporate references to classical art, literature, history, and opera. Everyone focuses on the violence, which is so ridiculous that it can't be taken seriously, and glosses over the fact that these cartoons taught a lot about culture while they were entertaining.
@@soadown5That's no reason for censorship. Never ever change the past (George Orwell: 1984, and presently putler in ruSSia, having history books rewritten). Only add disclaimers and background information as required.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE the analysis. The background artists deserve more attention and closer look into their works. Keep it up sir, can't wait for more quality content like such!
Thank goodness I found this video. I was born in 1967, and grew up watching these cartoons., always admiring the beautiful backgrounds. In HS I was heavy into art, and I remember having this discussion with my art teacher and he totally tried to squash my love of cartoon scenery. He said ' repeating images are not art, they are a tool '. Turns out he was the tool😅
I have heard so many people say over the years that an art teacher crushed their desire to create art. I used to be pretty good at drawing, but I lost interest after taking an art class. I remember the principal and teachers talking about how lucky we were to have a talented artist as a teacher. Now that I think back on it I can't remember seeing a single artwork by her. She had the attention span of a squirrel with ADHD and couldn't stay focused on a project for very long. She never cleaned any of the tools in her room, like paint brushes and palettes. I have had serious doubts that she was an artist at all.
I'm a couple of years older than you, but there is some truth to your teacher's statement. Watching the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, I was keenly aware of the difference between those cartoons and the older Looney Toons and other cartoons. "Wait a minute, he just ran past that door and window. He did it again... inside the house!" lol
@@insidejazzguitar8112 Carl Stalling, Scott Bradley, William Lava, Hoyt Curtin- - - all underrated orchestrators. Nevertheless the musical heart of the Age
I've always admired the art in these cartoons and mourned their passing when cartoons shifted. Looney Toons was so much about art appreciation: the music, the visual art, the history.
Jennifer Wilson, I notice you wrote Looney Toons. However, the Mandela Effect changed it to tunes. You and I know these were not songs for goodness sake. Welcome to the endless world of the Mandela Effect. There’s are hundreds.
As an artist an illustrator I am so pleased that SOMEONE realized the poignancy of the background art AND Maurice Nobles contribution. It is such a shame now we no longer see cartoons on our TV's. I grew up with Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry etc. We used to get them all the time in short breaks between shows or before the News hour. Life is so much more dull and serious without a daily interlude in between programs of a short cartoon
2:17 if anyone's wondering why there are cacti in the final version but not in the layout drawing, that's because they're not part of the background. :) They were animated, because the force of the Road Runner whizzing past them causes them to fly out of their roots and follow along behind him.
Thanks for mentioning that. I thought it was an editorial decision to add more appropriate vegetation to the background. What you said makes more sense.
I always loved the backgrounds in the Roadrunner. I don't think I really noticed the others as a child, but somehow Roadrunner registered. Especially the DEEP canyons that Coyote was falling into.
"The cartoons need the background art, but the background art does not need the cartoon." That is a great perspective. I never really thought about the background of these iconic animations, but now totally agree with what you are saying. So much style in those animations. Some of the stills you showed I would hang on my walls.
I want to hang TVs on the wall and have animations play on them. Then, a nice scene will suddenly see Bug's ears and shadow pop up. I used to do it with a product called "G-Force" which does fractals and such and animates those with your music. It is a really cool active fractal audio program by Sound Spectrum.
68 here...Loony Tune cartoons are some of the best caricatures for the times they were created. The background music..the incredible amount of work involved. I never get tired of watching these classics. Nothing today touches them.
Awesome. Thank you for having this channel. Growing up, watching these cartoons gave us a wealth of culture, color, sounds, and characters that kept us company. The backgrounds were simple at first sight, but they were done so well. It gave more depth to the cartoon and the characters. People really gave quality back when these were made. Pride was put into work. Too bad the heart of it was sold off, fired, and not nurtured. No regerts, ever.
I can still hear Bugs playing that simple tune on the piano, including a sour note that avoided setting off a stick of dynamite. Haven't heard it in 40 years, except in my head.
What I've always loved about Loony Tunes was the use of classical music. One Sunday, I was listening to our local PBS radio and enjoying an eclectic mix when it dawned on me that my mental images were of CARTOONS. Hmm. Without the announcer saying anything, they were playing hours of Loony Tunes music!
@@wittykittywoescalm down. They said different, not annoying. Put away the torches and pitchforks. Lol wow. Touchy. There is nothing wrong with being different and certainly nothing wrong with having an opinion that differs from others. You do have to acknowledge that when you speak your “opinion” you now open yourself to other ppl expressing their opinion about yours. Actions have consequences.
A great cartoon that explores this idea is Daffy Duck's "A Duck Amuck." The cartoon starts off with Daffy playing as a Musketeer on an appropriate background. However, Daffy soon finds himself on a blank, white page causing the confused duck to hide offscreen while addressing the unseen artist to add the missing scenery. The anonymous artist obliges, but instead of appropriate Musketeer scenery, the artist adds a farmland background which compels Daffy to switch to being a farmer. The background is then gradually changed again to a snowscape forcing another change by Daffy. This general scenario continues throughout the short with some alterations to how the background is seen and utilized and how Daffy changes along with the background. It's one of my favorite Looney Tunes shorts.
"The characters need their backgrounds, but the backgrounds do not need the characters." Great way to put it. Loved the video. Background art in so many different genres of animation is sooooo underappreciated.
What a great piece! I always thought the background art in Looney Tunes was great, but this increased my appreciation even more, and allowed me to put a name on it. Thanks!
I've always noticed I love the look of Wile E. Coyote backgrounds, but that's probably just because the four corners states (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and especially Utah) have my absolute favorite scenery in the world. But now I see it in all of these cartoons. From the voice acting to the musical cues, the sound effects, and even the background art, Looney Tunes was just a masterpiece!
I grew up in the 70s and absolutely loved Looney Tunes. I always admired the backgrounds. Most of the action and destruction worked because of the backgrounds.
I love this video! I have always been a big fan of the Looney Tunes backgrounds and actually just discovered yesterday that there is an instagram profile that is just background shots from Looney Tunes. Each post lists the associated cartoon, year, and artists involved. Another animated show that had great backgrounds was Batman TAS. Thanks for putting this video together and giving respect to great artists 👍
@@elifaktepe5000 It’s called, as luck would have it, _looneytunesbackgrounds._ (And the backgrounds are, as this video points out, perfect gems of artwork.)
I've watched Looney Tunes going on 70 years and I will watch a few years more. I have always appreciated the background art and the way "fine art" is parodied. I'll keep watching.
I've been deep diving into old school art of Disney, Warner Brothers and others. It's honestly amazing that bunch of talented artists were creating special cartoons or movies for entertainment purposes. And did it with low pay. That's love right there
Excellent vid. I agree that the BG artists drive the look and story of animation. And the minimalist/caricature style of Noble is SOOOO hard to pull off and look good. He was a master
Loved this video -- I'm 69 years old and a graphic artist since grade school. Another cartoon to mention is "Courage The Cowardly Dog." Those liminal outdoor backgrounds ("out in the middle of nowhere," as Eustice Bang says), are haunting -- the interiors are stunning as well even though some of the textures appear to be computer generated themselves or freehand art that is 3D mapped.
I've long thought I was the only one who loves the Road Runner backgrounds. They're kind of simplified surreal depictions of the American Southwest and just lovely on their own terms. I've used them in art pieces as backgrounds for collage work. Thank you so much for making this video recognizing them as the art they are.
Fun post! I was a little kid in the mid-70s and loved watching Looney Tunes cartoons. I always observed the background artwork of the different shows, and even as a little kid, I was very aware of the details. I was also aware of how entirely different scenarios were created when you compare Bugs Bunny's world to the world of the Road Runner or Sylvester and Tweety. One thing I always observed is how the Looney Tunes worlds had more believable features, even if you focused on the artwork. Take another show, like The Flintstones. When I focused on the artwork in that show, I always saw that they just repeated certain patterns over and over to create backgrounds. And yes, then there's the orchestral music. And the humor.
I'm 72yo & my brother is 74. We watched those cartoons early in the mornings as we were getting ready for school, and then again on Saturday mornings (when the new ones aired) before we went to our catechism instruction classes. It was my brother, Ron, who began coping the backgrounds in these cartoons leaving out the characters. They were beautiful as he had a very unusual eye for art. He took that concept (and perspectives) in the Looney tunes cartoon backgrounds & applied them to his renditions of various locations in our town, such as looking downward into the local park pool from the high diving board, the bridge & river from the perspective of sitting low on the river bank, et al. But he saw what in those cartoon backgrounds what you are seeing. Ron started doing these drawings at 10yo. We talked about his artwork a lot when we were kids. As we grew older, he didn't do any artwork at all, he was always so nonchalant about his abilities. I'm going share this video with him becuz these were the things we would discuss about his art. Thanks for being back these fond memories of my childhood-memories that had not surfaced for me.
Glad to know the younger people out there can appreciate what my generation grew up appreciating. You can't imagine what it was like growing up within those years.
You really nailed the big fault in Disney cartoons. As a kid, I never understood why I didn’t like them. Part of it was how cheesy the dialog and stories were, but now you have pointed it out, it’s the mismatch between painting-quality realistic backgrounds and the simplistic, flat, line-drawn characters that spoiled them.
This was a beautiful video covering the most iconic cartoons of my life. As a kid during the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons, Looney Tunes were visually hypnotic and now I have a better understanding of these little works of art. Thank you!
Looney Toons has always stood out to me for the reasons you have added such depth to. At 66, I still watch these classics and grateful to the artist who created these gems of what have now become master pieces of art.
What a brilliant video! I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and Looney Tunes was a fixture in our home. Even as a kid I recognized the special look of these cartoons. The fabulous gags wouldn't have been as fabulous without the backgrounds. Thanks for deepening my awareness of, and appreciation for these animated gems.
As someone who's been fascinated by background art for the past 60 plus years, I was thrilled to come across this video and your channel. I've always been especially impressed by the Looney Tunes art, as well as that of the original Jonny Quest series, among others. My current favorite is Archer. I'm glad to know there are others who appreciate this somewhat overlooked art form. Thank you!!
Background art is environmental story telling. what kind of place is the story taking place in? A picture is worth 1000 words... well... how many words would be needed for Marvin Martian's house? :D
Even as a child, I was a harsh critic. I loved everything Looney Tunes, and loved Jonny Quest, but hated all the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. I refused to watch them. Certainly, they weren't made with the same love.
@@61hink similar logic to why I've always hated Tom and jerry. the cartoons don't even take their own cartoon logic seriously... Tom is no threat to Jerrry because the power of plot dictates Jerry is invincible. Which make the "bullying" aspect of it... have TOM as the victim... despite being the cat in a cat and mouse pair.
While you are studying artists at Looney Tunes I am studying you. This is an VERY well-conceived TH-cam video. It feels like you put the same thought and planning into creating this video as the Looney Tunes artists put into making a cartoon. Your hard work paid off because this video has 1.3M views on a channel with 29.1K subscribers. Keep up the good work!
I grew up watching Looney Tunes in the 60's and I was always enthralled with the look of the backgrounds. There was just something about them that made the Looney Tunes cartoons seem that much better than any other cartoons out there in TV land. It was Bugs Bunny that got me into classical music at an early age.
Yes, 100% agree. The backgrounds are a massive influence in my own art. As a kid, when video recorders first came out, I used to pause on the backgrounds and just stare at them. Great video about the unsung artists that made looney toons so amazing. Thanks!
I am a realist artist, but I have the absolute greatest respect for old school cartoonists! They did not use computers, and it was laborious and time consuming! In fact, much respect to the entire artist community, no matter what your style or medium! I think we all can be inspired by each other. I always tell friends, real artists only compete with themselves.
Totally appreciate this sentiment. Would add that it’s fascinating to have watched my (adult) child creat lots of realism art in many media and also animation at Cal. Arts. The trick for the latter is the extremely challenging task of creating something never seen before. 100% laborious and time consuming. And as I commented earlier the need for humans to continue this work has now ended. Very sad. I hope my child will find a path to a career in art that she’ll love as much as animation. Lord knows the talent is there.
@@shannonlynch8246 I totally agree!!! And you are right about creating things never seen before. I'm working on two different children's books that feature things never seen before.
I was blessed to be a child of the sixties and seventies, enjoying the golden age of family entertainment and saturday morning cartoons and lunch time and after school rerun cartoons. It was amazing. Now, over that period of time, you were bound to rewatch a lot of them many times. Some cartoons weren't worth the time spent sitting. Poor quality, no backgrounds at all, no music, hardly any animation. Even as a child I was very very much into the technical and art side of the process as well as just enjoying the entertainment. I was making flip books on my notebooks and text books. I definitely noticed and enjoyed these backgrounds of which you speak. I really did appreciate the artwork. It made the show worth staring at, rather than just listening and glancing over enough to catch the general gist of it while doing something else too. I still can't just watch TV unless I"m really tired. Yeah, that studio really coloured my world. Great art. Bltheah bleah , buh, that's all folks!
as a child, my brother and I loved Looney Tunes and could watch the same ones over and over. Later, when someone discovered you could cut a lot of corners and still have an acceptable cartoon... we could not watch those over and over. Like the Flintstones (which I think was made for adults), for us it was scary, a father that yelled a lot, and mother that cried sometimes... and nothing striking or to truly draw the eye.
Wow! For some reason I cant watch some cartoons (eg Scooby Doo or anything after 80s) even though I was obsessed with Looney Tunes or Disney. I have never think that the different style of animation is the reason for it !
Hanna-Barbera cartoons were the worst. Even as an eight-year-old, I didn't like how the characters would walk past the same lamp on a side table over and over. They were cheap, in the worst way.
Rocky and Bullwinkle had art that cut all the corners, but that was a cartoon you watched for the writing, not the art. Hanna Barbara did not have the clever, witty writing of the Jay Ward cartoons.
I've always loved Chuck Jones works and Maurice Noble's work was always fantastic, colorful, playful, and yes they were works of art which made these cartoons Saturday morning classics that are still timeless despite being decades old. In fact, they never actually age.
I have always appreciated the background art. Another animated classic, Charlotte's Web, boasts beautiful backgrounds. Disney's Sleeping Beauty is another, with unique, almost iconic stills. Thank you for posting this. It's nice to know that other people "get it."
It's really good to see someone else who appreciates that Looney Toons background art, for decades, I thought I was the only one. I've always been a huge fan of this show, and when I saw those 'toons again as an adult, I loved it even more as I came to understand the quick one-liners that got past me as a kid!! I'm a fellow artist and, like you, I have an excellent eye for recognizing greatness. And I have always felt that Looney Toons was among the best animation ever created. Great video, excellent work, and very much appreciated. I'll be watching.
What a fasinating piece! As one who grew up on Looney Toons during the 70s and a huge Chuck Jones fan, I found a new appreciation for these talented artists from your piece. So many of the background art wasimmediately recognizable and stirred wonderful memories without a character in sight! Thank you so much for sharing and congrats on such a wonderfully well done piece of content!
Kevin, I hate to tell you but the Mandela Effect changed toons to tunes. You know these were not songs. You wrote toons because that’s how you remember it. Charles Schultz did not write Snoopy; it was Charles Schulz. Yes, really and welcome to the rabbit hole where the Monopoly dude never had a monocle- not for one second
@@DanJackson1977 So do the repeat comments I see on every TH-cam video. "breath of fresh air" is the new "How does this not have a million subs yet" copy/ paste comment.
Good content means more than overuse of ubiquitous and tropey sound effects, blaring muzak whose range competes against the vocal cadence, and face-slap close-up camera angles that seem to be a fad nowadays. The presenter doesn't need to being in the unneeded noises and rapid cut zooms as the actual content is more engaging and the blingy stuff just detracts
Thanks for reminding us of this. That higher quality art style also pointed up just how mediocre hanna-barbera and the Lantz cartoons were with their ever repeating identical backgrounds, sometimes even repeated between one cartoon and the next Also remember these cartoons were made for the big movie screen. Looney Tunes were also very much part of the mid-century modern art style. And you did a great job pulling the most intriguing backdrops in the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Always happy when backgrounds get attention, thank you. So many shows and films are filled with these gems that just rush by. Half the time I wind up paying more attention to the background, wondering how long they took to make, and where they are now, if they still exist.
I greatly appreciate you putting in the time and effort to give props for what is a largely undervalued aspect of these wonderful cartoons. The level of artistic imagination that went into creating these astonishing backgrounds approaches genius. Liked and subscribed.
I love this. Saturday mornings at my grandparents' house watching Looney Tunes is one of my fondest childhood memories. Even if I never knew the artists' names, I always loved their work. It's nice to learn a little more about them.
Interesting. Liminal spaces. Those people-less and animal-less, silent empty, surreal looking outside spaces usually with a blazing sun lighting them up (on Roadrunner) always felt slightly weird and lonely, almost sad. Now I know why. I just discovered your channel and really love it.
By an AMAZING COINCIDENCE, I visited the Met just yesterday, and was struck by Aaron Douglas's "Let My People Go." Silhouettes in unnatural colors, spear points, exaggerated landscape, wightning bowts--I gasped, and told my wife that this must surely be the inspiration for Noble's contributions to "What's Opera, Doc?" Quick, everyone: go look it up. Also, that crazed-perspective stairwell in Witch Hazel's house deserves a mention.
I just want to say that it could be a coincidence, or it could be that Google knows you were at the museum and it recommended this video to you as a result.
Absolutely an Amazing Video man! Thank you for your hard work put into this video! I also deeply appreciate the love you put into the topic of Looney Toons Background Art as well! Your awesome man !
I always noticed the backgrounds of these cartoons, maybe not always on a conscious level, especially when I was a kid. But as a teen I loved how the scenery behind what was going always fit so perfectly. Looney Tunes was best of all the cartoon shorts from the era and they hold up magnificently. I don't think they will ever be matched. I'm 62 and to this day I still enjoy them.
Great tribute to background artists. I actually knew Maurice Noble, Hawley Pratt and Richard Thomas, they were still working when I started working in animation studios in the 1970s. I love that you said the cartoons need the background art but the background art does not need the cartoon. So true.
Some of their artwork was almost too beautiful to be in a cartoon. I remember watching The Grinch that Stole Christmas as a child and thinking; This is like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Same animation. Same beautiful backgrounds.
As a 44 yr old artist, I’ve always been fascinated by these works. In these cartoons and in the early Disney films. It’s so great to see these guys celebrated
Also, Bugs Bunny was the first ever alien abductee in modern cultural history. Less than a year after Roswell, Bugs was abducted, probed, and whisked away to Mars in a flying saucer, by that little Roman fella. Steven Spielberg (who also worked at WB) paid homage to Bugs' abduction in the opening scene of ET, where the very first Earth creature ET encounters is a Rabbit, who happens to hop past as ET is digging up a carrot. I shit you not.
One of the coolest parts of the WB backgrounds is in the Freleng cartoons where the background artist would include inside gags in the signs, invoking some who worked at Termite Terrace, including Freleng himself (like "Friz" soda, in cartoons before nicknames were allowed in the opening credits).
Brought me back to my sixties childhood. So much art we were exposed to and didn’t appreciate. The talent level is still the benchmark. Until this video, I didn’t realize how much it influenced my contemporary style of construction.
One that is particularly worth a mention is The Aristo-Cat., layouts and background by John McGrew and Gene Fleury. And from Noble, Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century is probably up there with What's Opera. The early Pepe Le Pew cartoons really stood out for the minimalist style too.
Well done! The artwork is wonderful and gives us a window into a period of time - The city scapes, the cars, houses all speak of a time long gone, yet somehow modern
Great video! I think they did some of their best work in the Merrie Melodies line. Maybe they were able to be more experimental with those. Rocket-Bye Baby is a good example. The Porky and Daffy cartoons of the 40's and 50's almost always seemed to have gotten a bit of extra attention. You can see the Hopper influences in their Urban settings quite often.
This was so interesting. As a kid, I watched Looney Tunes every Saturday morning, and I was always fascinated by the backgrounds. There was a lot going on, but I would sometimes just focus on the backgrounds and I would get an entire different perspective. I don't think I ever thought about all the work and people that went in to producing these films!
When we moved to southern California and we started exploring, we immediately realized where the background images came from. Outdoor music venue in What's Opera Doc? That's the Hollywood Bowl. Crazy antenna in Marvin the Martian? Mount Wilson. Crazy canyons in Road Runner? That's Canyonlands, in Utah. Beautiful woods with immense trees? That's Sequoia National Park. On and on it goes.
Now I understand why as a young adult I fell in love with the work of Salvador Dali. Those cartoons ARE some of the best things ever created for entertainment in my opinion. As an adult, when Roger Rabbit and eventually Space Jam came out, my friends and I were some of the first people at the theater to watch. Of course we also later bought them on VHS tape so we could introduce our children to Warner Bros Cartoons. I also enjoy classical music, I'm pretty sure the cartoons influenced that as well. It's amazing how timeless they truly are. I don't know any adult who doesn't still enjoy a good chuckle watching Bugs, Daffy, Tas, Wile E., Marvin and all the rest. Thank you so much for showcasing the unsung heroes of the golden age of Warner Brothers animation. I just recently saw a cartoon and the thought struck me how similar the background looked to a Dali piece. A few days later, I stumble on your video- in which I find that, yes, it probably WAS drawn to evoke his work along with other Grand Artists, in order to add certain emotive elements to the flow of the story.
When I stumbled on your site, I was sort of stunned to all of the content on Maurice Noble. You see, I am a distant relative of Maurice’s (Mother’s Cousin’s…?). When I was little my siblings and I would always wait until the end of the cartoon and if he was in the credits, we’d all yell, “Maurice!! “
Over the years I met him a handful of times at family gatherings. I remember him as very natty dresser (stylish, int the old days) & wore a beret. cocked to one side. He was very cool.
I had no idea the breadth & level of his work! I was amazed! Fantasia? Snow White? The Opera? Are you kidding me?! He had always be Cousin Maurice who worked on cartoons to me. Wow!! Did you open my eyes! It was kind of gift to know more about him.
Thank you for your site and spotlighting his talent.
I’m happy he is still touching lives all these years later. BTW, I still watch cartoons and i still yell “Maurice”. If i see his name.
Oh that’s just wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing this story. Maurice won’t be forgotten. ❤️
What a blessing for your family. 😊
Awesome story. Thanks for sharing!
Great reaction, and neat story for your family!!
Of course! You have to yell Maurice. What a delightful relative.
I'm a retired animator and ended up working as one because of Looney Tunes. Was my favorite show growing up the 60s, and yes, loved the backgrounds even back then. Plus, with my mum being an artist and my dad a cinematographer, it was probably inevitable. Anyway, was always in awe of my coworkers in the background department, much respect. Great vid thanks for doing this 👍
I’ve always wanted to ask this of an animator… did you ever insert anything subliminal into a frame or two? Thanks!
Current animator here and I also got in it from watching Looney tunes in hte 80's/90's. Did you work on anything during that period? I probably have watched that too.
As visual artist myself i often pay attention to the looks of the cartoon. I often pause and examine not only static part but also animation. And i can agree with one thing: it is pandemonium. How else can we call dynamic sequence in which character gains more limbs or is even simply multiplied?
Also worth notifying is how huge role music has to play. I am impressed with Loney tunes approach where custom music was actually created for individual cartoon. It's not like in Scooby Doo ,where they could use the same set of soundtrack in every episode, coz it didn't harm story in any way. It was very universal bgm after all.
just wanted to say thank you for being a part of our childhood!
@@GrantTarredusDid he ever answer your question about subliminal messages? Because I wonder about that too! 😊
Maurice Noble lived a few houses down from my grandparents in California. Every summer when I would visit them, I would visit him as well. He was a very kind man who always took time to tell me stories about his work with Looney Tunes and Disney, and teach me about drawing. It created a lifelong love. Thank you for putting out this video. It brought back a lot of wonderful memories.
That’s a wonderful story ❤️
What a beautiful story
It's splendid to know of his kindness as well as artistry. What wonderful memories for you.
That's awesome..😊
I did not know the cartoons were in color. I didn't own a color TV until I was 35.
I think the artwork is one of the reasons I love the older cartoons so much!
I know that is one of the reasons for me.
Same!
Me too. Love the old disney films like Snow White. The artwork is incredible! All hand done , no cgi in sight. Worth waiting for.
AI generated art is soulless.
That and the score
As a kid in the 70s I always loved the backgrounds, especially the Roadrunner and Bugs Bunny ones. They were always so weird and cool especially when Bugs went up against Marvin the Martian.
How about that big orange monster guy from the Halloween special?
@@bobsmith6544 yesssss! Hahahaha
@@nilsnyman6767 Rowing a boat down a scary tunnel. wtf!
I was just going to post the same references especially with regards to the background. The worlds of the Roadrunner and Marvin the Martian help define their characters especially with respect to the villains. (Poor Coyote)
Great to see Maurice Noble get some of the recognition he deserved. I've always loved his work, especially stuff like "Bewitched Bunny" (1954).
Oh, that's a good one!
Agreed. It’s funny as a child seeing those backgrounds gave me a sense of peace in the wild zaniness of a looney tunes cartoon.
No joke, that particular cartoon was the first time I really noticed the background style, especially in Chuck Jones’ cartoons. I must have been around 10 and I still remember it.
His backgrounds made me appreciate fine art, especially when going to museums and galleries. Recognizing his inspirations, inspired me.
As a retired professional Illustrator and current fine artist for 60 years, these cartoons are indeed art and eye candy. It's what captivates us, draws us in. Though fleeting to the observer you're looking at many hours of deliberate decisions. They reflect our culture. Lastly I must mention the other often unsung hero... the orchestrated music. It's equally thought out and presented in coordinated fashion. True Americana.
The music and background complete the story. Sad that they thought these cartoons were too violent and stopped showing them. As a kid everyone knew it was entertainment. Just like video games don't make kids violent. The three stooges caused more issues with kids hitting, eye poking and slapping...
@@kj9219
I've never been disappointed with Marvin the Martian, the Jetsons, and the Flying Squirrel (who's name escapes me).
🌌🛸👽🐿️ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡԅ( ͒ ͒ )ᕤ
@@StanErvin-yo9vlRocky, from Rocky and Bulwinkle (I forgot how to spell it, but yeah)
we were exsposed to unreal art and music and we were too young to even know it....65 yrs old now!
@@StanErvin-yo9vl rocky and bullwinkle!...?
The animation they did in these days was so well done that it blows away even the new animation nowadays in a lot of places.
Three fingers and a thumb on hands. But that's not even half asbadas having to walk around with a missing #2 toe!. Ouch.
Modern cartoons are designed for the homosexual market.
@@reginaldforthright805 theyll watch anything that moves
@@reginaldforthright805 that and animal f-ers
And Action movies today push the female domination narrative of the Feminist heroine being the main lead who is accountable for rescuing or saving the world an mankind from evil forces, often with a soyboy friend or sidekick etc. Resident Evil, Underworld, Lucy, She-hulk, the Force Awakens, etc etc.
This video was today’s hidden gem. You’ve opened my eyes to cartoons I grew up with and didn’t see them for what they are. Thank you 🙏
Exactly what I was thinking!!! Blown away 😀 Nostalgia… when childhood was being a child, watching Saturday morning cartoons.
I'm a kindergarten teacher, and all my students absolutely LOVE Roadrunner. That's awesome for me, because I grew up on it myself, and now I get to watch it again during work hours.
He was my favorite growing up!!! (Born 1984)
It's not just the backgrounds. The story lines often incorporate references to classical art, literature, history, and opera. Everyone focuses on the violence, which is so ridiculous that it can't be taken seriously, and glosses over the fact that these cartoons taught a lot about culture while they were entertaining.
Could it also be educational?
Yeah...the casual racism was cool too
I love classical music because of looney tunes
@@soadown5 Get a life, no one likes a malcontent.
@@soadown5That's no reason for censorship. Never ever change the past (George Orwell: 1984, and presently putler in ruSSia, having history books rewritten). Only add disclaimers and background information as required.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE the analysis. The background artists deserve more attention and closer look into their works. Keep it up sir, can't wait for more quality content like such!
Thank goodness I found this video. I was born in 1967, and grew up watching these cartoons., always admiring the beautiful backgrounds. In HS I was heavy into art, and I remember having this discussion with my art teacher and he totally tried to squash my love of cartoon scenery. He said ' repeating images are not art, they are a tool '. Turns out he was the tool😅
I have heard so many people say over the years that an art teacher crushed their desire to create art. I used to be pretty good at drawing, but I lost interest after taking an art class. I remember the principal and teachers talking about how lucky we were to have a talented artist as a teacher. Now that I think back on it I can't remember seeing a single artwork by her. She had the attention span of a squirrel with ADHD and couldn't stay focused on a project for very long. She never cleaned any of the tools in her room, like paint brushes and palettes. I have had serious doubts that she was an artist at all.
@@lorisewsstuff1607 Sadly, many successful "artists" are defined by the size of the shovel they carry.
I'm a couple of years older than you, but there is some truth to your teacher's statement. Watching the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, I was keenly aware of the difference between those cartoons and the older Looney Toons and other cartoons. "Wait a minute, he just ran past that door and window. He did it again... inside the house!" lol
Great video. The Loony toons music could equally be the subject of a video like this.
@@insidejazzguitar8112 Carl Stalling, Scott Bradley, William Lava, Hoyt Curtin- - - all underrated orchestrators. Nevertheless the musical heart of the Age
I've always admired the art in these cartoons and mourned their passing when cartoons shifted. Looney Toons was so much about art appreciation: the music, the visual art, the history.
Jennifer Wilson, I notice you wrote Looney Toons. However, the Mandela Effect changed it to tunes. You and I know these were not songs for goodness sake. Welcome to the endless world of the Mandela Effect. There’s are hundreds.
I loved the music!!! Sounded like they had a whole orchestra to record it!!!
As an artist an illustrator I am so pleased that SOMEONE realized the poignancy of the background art AND Maurice Nobles contribution. It is such a shame now we no longer see cartoons on our TV's. I grew up with Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry etc. We used to get them all the time in short breaks between shows or before the News hour. Life is so much more dull and serious without a daily interlude in between programs of a short cartoon
Don't forget the pre-movie cartoons at the movie theater.
2:17 if anyone's wondering why there are cacti in the final version but not in the layout drawing, that's because they're not part of the background. :) They were animated, because the force of the Road Runner whizzing past them causes them to fly out of their roots and follow along behind him.
Thanks for mentioning that. I thought it was an editorial decision to add more appropriate vegetation to the background. What you said makes more sense.
That happens every time I run past some cacti. Damn things always end up stuck in my butt.
Background, midground (often in layers), and foreground...
I always loved the backgrounds in the Roadrunner. I don't think I really noticed the others as a child, but somehow Roadrunner registered. Especially the DEEP canyons that Coyote was falling into.
"The cartoons need the background art, but the background art does not need the cartoon." That is a great perspective. I never really thought about the background of these iconic animations, but now totally agree with what you are saying. So much style in those animations. Some of the stills you showed I would hang on my walls.
Reminds me of something. Your not the fish in the bowl, your the water that surrounds the fish.
Something like that. I guess
I want to hang TVs on the wall and have animations play on them. Then, a nice scene will suddenly see Bug's ears and shadow pop up. I used to do it with a product called "G-Force" which does fractals and such and animates those with your music. It is a really cool active fractal audio program by Sound Spectrum.
68 here...Loony Tune cartoons are some of the best caricatures for the times they were created. The background music..the incredible amount of work involved. I never get tired of watching these classics. Nothing today touches them.
Awesome. Thank you for having this channel. Growing up, watching these cartoons gave us a wealth of culture, color, sounds, and characters that kept us company. The backgrounds were simple at first sight, but they were done so well. It gave more depth to the cartoon and the characters. People really gave quality back when these were made. Pride was put into work. Too bad the heart of it was sold off, fired, and not nurtured. No regerts, ever.
I'm close to 50 years old, and I still catch myself singing "Kill the wabbit"! These works of art have clearly made a strong imprint on my psyche.
I can still hear Bugs playing that simple tune on the piano, including a sour note that avoided setting off a stick of dynamite. Haven't heard it in 40 years, except in my head.
62 here and still quoting bugs.....
It's my ring tone.
Wasn't that Ride of The Valkyries?
@@bobsmith6544 Yes it was.
What I've always loved about Loony Tunes was the use of classical music. One Sunday, I was listening to our local PBS radio and enjoying an eclectic mix when it dawned on me that my mental images were of CARTOONS. Hmm. Without the announcer saying anything, they were playing hours of Loony Tunes music!
And I always found that music to be very annoying, guess people are different.
Yes anyone who thinks looney tunes was annoying is very different
@@australien6611oh no! someone had an opinion different then mine! they didn’t even state they hated Loony Tunes itself, just the music! oh no!!!!!
@@wittykittywoes geez you must be too busy to have a life being a TH-cam comments section police officer 🙄
@@wittykittywoescalm down. They said different, not annoying. Put away the torches and pitchforks. Lol wow. Touchy. There is nothing wrong with being different and certainly nothing wrong with having an opinion that differs from others. You do have to acknowledge that when you speak your “opinion” you now open yourself to other ppl expressing their opinion about yours. Actions have consequences.
A great cartoon that explores this idea is Daffy Duck's "A Duck Amuck." The cartoon starts off with Daffy playing as a Musketeer on an appropriate background. However, Daffy soon finds himself on a blank, white page causing the confused duck to hide offscreen while addressing the unseen artist to add the missing scenery. The anonymous artist obliges, but instead of appropriate Musketeer scenery, the artist adds a farmland background which compels Daffy to switch to being a farmer. The background is then gradually changed again to a snowscape forcing another change by Daffy. This general scenario continues throughout the short with some alterations to how the background is seen and utilized and how Daffy changes along with the background. It's one of my favorite Looney Tunes shorts.
"Thanks for the sour persimmons, cousin!"
More fun if you can spray everything in sight whilst you're saying it🙂
"Ain't I a stinker? Hehehe!"
@@tabathasheffroth7981You almost have to have bitten into a sour persimmon to truly appreciate the reference! Thanks for sharing. 😂
The cartoons need the background art but the background art does not need the cartoon.
One of my favorites. And anytime Daffy gets his beak shot off.
I have so many great memories of watching these as a child. For pure entertainment you just can’t beat these classics. Thanks for this video! 👍🏻
"The characters need their backgrounds, but the backgrounds do not need the characters."
Great way to put it. Loved the video. Background art in so many different genres of animation is sooooo underappreciated.
So profound...If it's true of cartoons, it's true of life too. 😄
What a great piece! I always thought the background art in Looney Tunes was great, but this increased my appreciation even more, and allowed me to put a name on it. Thanks!
I've always noticed I love the look of Wile E. Coyote backgrounds, but that's probably just because the four corners states (Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and especially Utah) have my absolute favorite scenery in the world.
But now I see it in all of these cartoons. From the voice acting to the musical cues, the sound effects, and even the background art, Looney Tunes was just a masterpiece!
Even as a child I was fascinated by the art work in these cartoons. They all need to be preserved, warts and all, for their significance.
Fantastic video. Makes me want some of this art on the wall in my house!
Same here, buddy. Love me some Looney Tunes!
@7:12 - As an absolute sucker for surrealism, that one really caught my eye; would like to have that on my wall
crazy to see your comment on such a small channel. he definitely deserves it! this video is amazing.
Hand drawn animation is every bit as important as any painting on the wall of any museum anywhere in the world…imagine what DaVinci might have done
I thought the exact same
I grew up in the 70s and absolutely loved Looney Tunes.
I always admired the backgrounds.
Most of the action and destruction worked because of the backgrounds.
I love this video! I have always been a big fan of the Looney Tunes backgrounds and actually just discovered yesterday that there is an instagram profile that is just background shots from Looney Tunes. Each post lists the associated cartoon, year, and artists involved. Another animated show that had great backgrounds was Batman TAS. Thanks for putting this video together and giving respect to great artists 👍
What’s the name of the instagram profile? I would love to check!
@@elifaktepe5000 It’s called, as luck would have it, _looneytunesbackgrounds._ (And the backgrounds are, as this video points out, perfect gems of artwork.)
just left the video to go run over and follow that insta!
Thank you for sharing. I just found the Instagram page 😊
@@froctavio You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful. 😊
I've watched Looney Tunes going on 70 years and I will watch a few years more. I have always appreciated the background art and the way "fine art" is parodied. I'll keep watching.
I've been deep diving into old school art of Disney, Warner Brothers and others.
It's honestly amazing that bunch of talented artists were creating special cartoons or movies for entertainment purposes. And did it with low pay. That's love right there
Regretably, Disney has fallen the furthest.
Excellent vid. I agree that the BG artists drive the look and story of animation. And the minimalist/caricature style of Noble is SOOOO hard to pull off and look good. He was a master
I've loved this art my whole life....mostly unconsciously, but sometimes very consciously ... thanks for pointing it out and featuring it
Loved this video -- I'm 69 years old and a graphic artist since grade school. Another cartoon to mention is "Courage The Cowardly Dog." Those liminal outdoor backgrounds ("out in the middle of nowhere," as Eustice Bang says), are haunting -- the interiors are stunning as well even though some of the textures appear to be computer generated themselves or freehand art that is 3D mapped.
I've long thought I was the only one who loves the Road Runner backgrounds. They're kind of simplified surreal depictions of the American Southwest and just lovely on their own terms. I've used them in art pieces as backgrounds for collage work. Thank you so much for making this video recognizing them as the art they are.
Fun post! I was a little kid in the mid-70s and loved watching Looney Tunes cartoons. I always observed the background artwork of the different shows, and even as a little kid, I was very aware of the details. I was also aware of how entirely different scenarios were created when you compare Bugs Bunny's world to the world of the Road Runner or Sylvester and Tweety.
One thing I always observed is how the Looney Tunes worlds had more believable features, even if you focused on the artwork. Take another show, like The Flintstones. When I focused on the artwork in that show, I always saw that they just repeated certain patterns over and over to create backgrounds.
And yes, then there's the orchestral music.
And the humor.
I'm 72yo & my brother is 74. We watched those cartoons early in the mornings as we were getting ready for school, and then again on Saturday mornings (when the new ones aired) before we went to our catechism instruction classes. It was my brother, Ron, who began coping the backgrounds in these cartoons leaving out the characters. They were beautiful as he had a very unusual eye for art. He took that concept (and perspectives) in the Looney tunes cartoon backgrounds & applied them to his renditions of various locations in our town, such as looking downward into the local park pool from the high diving board, the bridge & river from the perspective of sitting low on the river bank, et al. But he saw what in those cartoon backgrounds what you are seeing. Ron started doing these drawings at 10yo. We talked about his artwork a lot when we were kids. As we grew older, he didn't do any artwork at all, he was always so nonchalant about his abilities. I'm going share this video with him becuz these were the things we would discuss about his art. Thanks for being back these fond memories of my childhood-memories that had not surfaced for me.
Glad to know the younger people out there can appreciate what my generation grew up appreciating. You can't imagine what it was like growing up within those years.
You really nailed the big fault in Disney cartoons. As a kid, I never understood why I didn’t like them. Part of it was how cheesy the dialog and stories were, but now you have pointed it out, it’s the mismatch between painting-quality realistic backgrounds and the simplistic, flat, line-drawn characters that spoiled them.
This was a beautiful video covering the most iconic cartoons of my life. As a kid during the golden age of Saturday morning cartoons, Looney Tunes were visually hypnotic and now I have a better understanding of these little works of art. Thank you!
I'm glad that we can all appreciate Looney Tunes for their art without being judged that it's a cartoon aimed for kids.
This video sure makes you really appreciate the time and effort they put into these great classic creations. Wow. I never looked at cartoons that way.
Looney Toons has always stood out to me for the reasons you have added such depth to. At 66, I still watch these classics and grateful to the artist who created these gems of what have now become master pieces of art.
What a brilliant video! I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and Looney Tunes was a fixture in our home. Even as a kid I recognized the special look of these cartoons. The fabulous gags wouldn't have been as fabulous without the backgrounds. Thanks for deepening my awareness of, and appreciation for these animated gems.
As someone who's been fascinated by background art for the past 60 plus years, I was thrilled to come across this video and your channel. I've always been especially impressed by the Looney Tunes art, as well as that of the original Jonny Quest series, among others. My current favorite is Archer. I'm glad to know there are others who appreciate this somewhat overlooked art form. Thank you!!
Background art is environmental story telling. what kind of place is the story taking place in? A picture is worth 1000 words... well... how many words would be needed for Marvin Martian's house? :D
Even as a child, I was a harsh critic. I loved everything Looney Tunes, and loved Jonny Quest, but hated all the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. I refused to watch them. Certainly, they weren't made with the same love.
I liked the Johnny Quest toon , , , I always recall the one with the giant daddy long leg spider , , ,
@@gregjames3001 Never forget the one with the Komodo Dragons on leashes.
@@61hink similar logic to why I've always hated Tom and jerry. the cartoons don't even take their own cartoon logic seriously... Tom is no threat to Jerrry because the power of plot dictates Jerry is invincible. Which make the "bullying" aspect of it... have TOM as the victim... despite being the cat in a cat and mouse pair.
When there’s passion at EVERY level in an industry, you get art.
Thank you for pointing this out in Looney Toons.
When I was a kid, I used to cry if I overslept and missed Looney Tunes. It was just the best.
While you are studying artists at Looney Tunes I am studying you. This is an VERY well-conceived TH-cam video. It feels like you put the same thought and planning into creating this video as the Looney Tunes artists put into making a cartoon. Your hard work paid off because this video has 1.3M views on a channel with 29.1K subscribers. Keep up the good work!
I grew up watching Looney Tunes in the 60's and I was always enthralled with the look of the backgrounds. There was just something about them that made the Looney Tunes cartoons seem that much better than any other cartoons out there in TV land. It was Bugs Bunny that got me into classical music at an early age.
Yes, 100% agree. The backgrounds are a massive influence in my own art. As a kid, when video recorders first came out, I used to pause on the backgrounds and just stare at them. Great video about the unsung artists that made looney toons so amazing. Thanks!
I am a realist artist, but I have the absolute greatest respect for old school cartoonists! They did not use computers, and it was laborious and time consuming! In fact, much respect to the entire artist community, no matter what your style or medium! I think we all can be inspired by each other. I always tell friends, real artists only compete with themselves.
Totally appreciate this sentiment. Would add that it’s fascinating to have watched my (adult) child creat lots of realism art in many media and also animation at Cal. Arts. The trick for the latter is the extremely challenging task of creating something never seen before. 100% laborious and time consuming. And as I commented earlier the need for humans to continue this work has now ended. Very sad. I hope my child will find a path to a career in art that she’ll love as much as animation. Lord knows the talent is there.
@@shannonlynch8246 I totally agree!!! And you are right about creating things never seen before. I'm working on two different children's books that feature things never seen before.
I’m embarrassed to say.. I hadn’t given the backgrounds a second thought until seeing this. They’re beautiful. Thanks, I would have missed this.
I was blessed to be a child of the sixties and seventies, enjoying the golden age of family entertainment and saturday morning cartoons and lunch time and after school rerun cartoons. It was amazing. Now, over that period of time, you were bound to rewatch a lot of them many times. Some cartoons weren't worth the time spent sitting. Poor quality, no backgrounds at all, no music, hardly any animation. Even as a child I was very very much into the technical and art side of the process as well as just enjoying the entertainment. I was making flip books on my notebooks and text books. I definitely noticed and enjoyed these backgrounds of which you speak. I really did appreciate the artwork. It made the show worth staring at, rather than just listening and glancing over enough to catch the general gist of it while doing something else too. I still can't just watch TV unless I"m really tired. Yeah, that studio really coloured my world. Great art. Bltheah bleah , buh, that's all folks!
The original Looney Tunes were the best animated cartoons ever made IMO. Thanks for helping me to appreciate them even more.
as a child, my brother and I loved Looney Tunes and could watch the same ones over and over. Later, when someone discovered you could cut a lot of corners and still have an acceptable cartoon... we could not watch those over and over. Like the Flintstones (which I think was made for adults), for us it was scary, a father that yelled a lot, and mother that cried sometimes... and nothing striking or to truly draw the eye.
Wow! For some reason I cant watch some cartoons (eg Scooby Doo or anything after 80s) even though I was obsessed with Looney Tunes or Disney. I have never think that the different style of animation is the reason for it !
Hanna-Barbera cartoons were the worst. Even as an eight-year-old, I didn't like how the characters would walk past the same lamp on a side table over and over. They were cheap, in the worst way.
Scooby Doo was Hanna-Barbera.
Rocky and Bullwinkle had art that cut all the corners, but that was a cartoon you watched for the writing, not the art. Hanna Barbara did not have the clever, witty writing of the Jay Ward cartoons.
This is what I was going to say!
I've always loved Chuck Jones works and Maurice Noble's work was always fantastic, colorful, playful, and yes they were works of art which made these cartoons Saturday morning classics that are still timeless despite being decades old. In fact, they never actually age.
I have always appreciated the background art. Another animated classic, Charlotte's Web, boasts beautiful backgrounds. Disney's Sleeping Beauty is another, with unique, almost iconic stills.
Thank you for posting this. It's nice to know that other people "get it."
A blast from the past for sure…having grown up on Looney Tunes.
Thank you for this video❤
It's really good to see someone else who appreciates that Looney Toons background art, for decades, I thought I was the only one. I've always been a huge fan of this show, and when I saw those 'toons again as an adult, I loved it even more as I came to understand the quick one-liners that got past me as a kid!! I'm a fellow artist and, like you, I have an excellent eye for recognizing greatness. And I have always felt that Looney Toons was among the best animation ever created. Great video, excellent work, and very much appreciated. I'll be watching.
What a fasinating piece! As one who grew up on Looney Toons during the 70s and a huge Chuck Jones fan, I found a new appreciation for these talented artists from your piece. So many of the background art wasimmediately recognizable and stirred wonderful memories without a character in sight! Thank you so much for sharing and congrats on such a wonderfully well done piece of content!
Kevin, I hate to tell you but the Mandela Effect changed toons to tunes. You know these were not songs. You wrote toons because that’s how you remember it. Charles Schultz did not write Snoopy; it was Charles Schulz. Yes, really and welcome to the rabbit hole where the Monopoly dude never had a monocle- not for one second
Dude you’re a breath of fresh air in the content creation industry
"The content creation industry". Not sure why but those words together depress me.
@@DanJackson1977 So do the repeat comments I see on every TH-cam video. "breath of fresh air" is the new "How does this not have a million subs yet" copy/ paste comment.
Good content means more than overuse of ubiquitous and tropey sound effects, blaring muzak whose range competes against the vocal cadence, and face-slap close-up camera angles that seem to be a fad nowadays. The presenter doesn't need to being in the unneeded noises and rapid cut zooms as the actual content is more engaging and the blingy stuff just detracts
I remember watching _What’s Opera Doc_ when it originally showed on TV.
I grew up on these cartoons, thank you for bringing the backgrounds more into focus.
Thanks for reminding us of this. That higher quality art style also pointed up just how mediocre hanna-barbera and the Lantz cartoons were with their ever repeating identical backgrounds, sometimes even repeated between one cartoon and the next Also remember these cartoons were made for the big movie screen. Looney Tunes were also very much part of the mid-century modern art style. And you did a great job pulling the most intriguing backdrops in the Looney Tunes cartoons.
Always happy when backgrounds get attention, thank you. So many shows and films are filled with these gems that just rush by. Half the time I wind up paying more attention to the background, wondering how long they took to make, and where they are now, if they still exist.
I greatly appreciate you putting in the time and effort to give props for what is a largely undervalued aspect of these wonderful cartoons. The level of artistic imagination that went into creating these astonishing backgrounds approaches genius. Liked and subscribed.
I love this. Saturday mornings at my grandparents' house watching Looney Tunes is one of my fondest childhood memories. Even if I never knew the artists' names, I always loved their work. It's nice to learn a little more about them.
I have always been fascinated with the backgrounds in the show
Interesting. Liminal spaces. Those people-less and animal-less, silent empty, surreal looking outside spaces usually with a blazing sun lighting them up (on Roadrunner) always felt slightly weird and lonely, almost sad. Now I know why. I just discovered your channel and really love it.
By an AMAZING COINCIDENCE, I visited the Met just yesterday, and was struck by Aaron Douglas's "Let My People Go." Silhouettes in unnatural colors, spear points, exaggerated landscape, wightning bowts--I gasped, and told my wife that this must surely be the inspiration for Noble's contributions to "What's Opera, Doc?" Quick, everyone: go look it up.
Also, that crazed-perspective stairwell in Witch Hazel's house deserves a mention.
I just want to say that it could be a coincidence, or it could be that Google knows you were at the museum and it recommended this video to you as a result.
creepy..... very creepy
Absolutely an Amazing Video man! Thank you for your hard work put into this video! I also deeply appreciate the love you put into the topic of Looney Toons Background Art as well! Your awesome man !
I always noticed the backgrounds of these cartoons, maybe not always on a conscious level, especially when I was a kid. But as a teen I loved how the scenery behind what was going always fit so perfectly. Looney Tunes was best of all the cartoon shorts from the era and they hold up magnificently. I don't think they will ever be matched. I'm 62 and to this day I still enjoy them.
I'm so glad I clicked on this video! Very well-done and fascinating information. Thank you.
Me too, I like the paintings hidden in cartoons, like the hyperrealistic cutaways from spongebob and some empty backgrounds. Absolutely marvellous
The original loomey toons are the most perfect cartoons for both children and adults. Nothing today can come close.
Great tribute to background artists. I actually knew Maurice Noble, Hawley Pratt and Richard Thomas, they were still working when I started working in animation studios in the 1970s. I love that you said the cartoons need the background art but the background art does not need the cartoon. So true.
Some of their artwork was almost too beautiful to be in a cartoon. I remember watching The Grinch that Stole Christmas as a child and thinking; This is like a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Same animation. Same beautiful backgrounds.
As a 44 yr old artist, I’ve always been fascinated by these works. In these cartoons and in the early Disney films. It’s so great to see these guys celebrated
This is a well crafted piece on a fascinating subject and very entertaining! Many thanks.
Also, Bugs Bunny was the first ever alien abductee in modern cultural history. Less than a year after Roswell, Bugs was abducted, probed, and whisked away to Mars in a flying saucer, by that little Roman fella. Steven Spielberg (who also worked at WB) paid homage to Bugs' abduction in the opening scene of ET, where the very first Earth creature ET encounters is a Rabbit, who happens to hop past as ET is digging up a carrot. I shit you not.
Wait… that’s what it was referencing in the film?
@@geoffreyrichards6079 yep
@@nodiggity9472 Could’ve fooled me… Though had the tree (yes, it was a tree) been a carrot, I might’ve drawn the comparison more.
@@geoffreyrichards6079 Spielberg's on record somewhere saying that was a homage to Bugs Bunny.
One of the coolest parts of the WB backgrounds is in the Freleng cartoons where the background artist would include inside gags in the signs, invoking some who worked at Termite Terrace, including Freleng himself (like "Friz" soda, in cartoons before nicknames were allowed in the opening credits).
My Dad was one of those great background artist Tom OLoughlin and a great artist........🎉
Makes me wanna go back in time. Imagination at work big time !
Thanks for this video !!
Praise to you and your kind words of acknowledgement for the work of these fantastic artists.
Maurice Noble is definitely one of my favorite artists of the time. So modernist. My favorite ones are his depictions of Marvin the Martian's lab.
Brought me back to my sixties childhood. So much art we were exposed to and didn’t appreciate. The talent level is still the benchmark. Until this video, I didn’t realize how much it influenced my contemporary style of construction.
I looooove what you’re doing, it’s interesting, beautiful, useful. Keep doing this pleaseeee ♥️ we need this
How enlightening! Thank you so much for creating this video. Those were my formative years and these cartoons made and indelible mark on my life.
Absolutely beautiful art. Great video too.
This is incredibly well done! I love WB background art.
Welcome back man
Amazing video, well researched and love the constant spotlight of each individual background scenery.
We're so preoccupied with amusement that we overlook the talent and beauty of the background.
One that is particularly worth a mention is The Aristo-Cat., layouts and background by John McGrew and Gene Fleury. And from Noble, Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century is probably up there with What's Opera. The early Pepe Le Pew cartoons really stood out for the minimalist style too.
Well done! The artwork is wonderful and gives us a window into a period of time - The city scapes, the cars, houses all speak of a time long gone, yet somehow modern
Great video! I think they did some of their best work in the Merrie Melodies line. Maybe they were able to be more experimental with those. Rocket-Bye Baby is a good example. The Porky and Daffy cartoons of the 40's and 50's almost always seemed to have gotten a bit of extra attention. You can see the Hopper influences in their Urban settings quite often.
This was so interesting. As a kid, I watched Looney Tunes every Saturday morning, and I was always fascinated by the backgrounds. There was a lot going on, but I would sometimes just focus on the backgrounds and I would get an entire different perspective. I don't think I ever thought about all the work and people that went in to producing these films!
When we moved to southern California and we started exploring, we immediately realized where the background images came from. Outdoor music venue in What's Opera Doc? That's the Hollywood Bowl. Crazy antenna in Marvin the Martian? Mount Wilson. Crazy canyons in Road Runner? That's Canyonlands, in Utah. Beautiful woods with immense trees? That's Sequoia National Park. On and on it goes.
Now I understand why as a young adult I fell in love with the work of Salvador Dali. Those cartoons ARE some of the best things ever created for entertainment in my opinion. As an adult, when Roger Rabbit and eventually Space Jam came out, my friends and I were some of the first people at the theater to watch. Of course we also later bought them on VHS tape so we could introduce our children to Warner Bros Cartoons. I also enjoy classical music, I'm pretty sure the cartoons influenced that as well. It's amazing how timeless they truly are. I don't know any adult who doesn't still enjoy a good chuckle watching Bugs, Daffy, Tas, Wile E., Marvin and all the rest. Thank you so much for showcasing the unsung heroes of the golden age of Warner Brothers animation. I just recently saw a cartoon and the thought struck me how similar the background looked to a Dali piece. A few days later, I stumble on your video- in which I find that, yes, it probably WAS drawn to evoke his work along with other Grand Artists, in order to add certain emotive elements to the flow of the story.
It is amazing the amount of work artists get done.
knew there were reasons for my obsession with looney tunes. They are Art in every way