Animation Behind the Scenes at the Cartoon Network

By Gabby Hyman gabby.hyman@theanimationschooldirectory.com

If you always wondered how much work goes into art and animation of your kids' favorite television shows, look no further than the online tour at the Cartoon Network.

The Cartoon Network's website http://www.cartoonnetwork.com employs a delightful admixture of stills, animations, and video clips to detail the layered steps in building a weekly show. You can follow a show from its initial pitch, to storyboarding, animation drawing, ink and paint, backgrounds, sound looping, and final editing.

It's amazing to consider that with the abundance of powerful design and animation software used by entertainment professionals today, much of the work by Cartoon Network designers and animators is still done by hand in the old-fashioned way.


The website tour shows the sequence of artwork that builds into episodes of Atomic Betty Teen Titans, Futurama, and more. Initial design and episodes are created in Los Angeles, but much of the animation work is outsourced overseas.

From Storyboard to Editing

Storyboard artists take the original idea sold during a pitch and create the dramatic map of the episode. Frame-by-frame, the storyboard not only reveals the action sequence, it directs the animation team in lighting, prop setting, background, and point of view. Software programs like FrameForge, 3D Studio, Storyboard Artist, and StoryboardQuick are industry favorites, but at the Cartoon Network, boards are made by hand.

Once the boards are completed, the cartoon is sketched out. Inkers and painters fill in the color and design the palate to be used throughout in animating characters.

Background artists use the palate to draw the scenery where the action takes place. It takes a lot of time to create a digital frame that passes in the flicker of an eye.

About the Author

Gabby Hyman has written for print and online media for more than 20 years. He has created online content for eToys, GoTo.com, Siebel Systems, Avaya, and Nissan UK. He has also been a web consultant to the Governor of California. As an author of fiction, journalism, and poetry, Gabby is a former English professor for the University of Illinois, University of Alaska, and Old Dominion University. He holds an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Alabama.