Dude Do's & Don'ts

A style guide for drawing your favorite Dude, I’m An Aspie characters! 

The preferred way to draw Fuzzy is in half-profile or profile. Facing head-on is discouraged, unless a doofy look is desired.

In half-profile, the eyes overlap, with the front eye in full view and the other behind it. The nose never overlaps the eyes. In profile, only one eye is visible. In either position, first draw three hair tufts facing forward, then the rest in the other direction.

Make Fuzzy’s nose big, but don’t go overboard. Think of his face blowing a balloon.

Pupil size and placement is the key to Fuzzy’s expression. All the specificity of emotion is in the pupils and eyelids. Use pinpoint dots in general, and exaggerated pupil shapes when called for.

Fuzzy’s arms can disappear. Give him arms only when action dictates.

Also, his mouth often disappears. Give him a minimal mouth only when needed for expression, and place it over top of his body. For outrageous expressions, you can give him a wide open mouth by adding a lower jaw.

Fuzzy has no neck or torso, so sometimes his head functions as his entire upper body.

Other characters start with similar eyes, and a snout. Unlike Fuzzy’s nose, center the snout under the eyes.

Dinky is a “floor dog.” Head-on, you can see only his head, tail, and top of his butt. In profile, his front and rear paws are both in the back – think of him having an extra-long neck, rather than a long torso. BUT – when walking (on all fours), his front legs go under his head. Physics!

Dinky’s ears flop down unless conveying a strong emotion. (And then, you can see his paws.)

Squishy Bird is plump, with a head shaped like an egg, and body like a larger egg. Always give him a mischievous glint in the eyes, and avoid drawing his beak open.

Scentsor’s head is a series of curves for his helmet, then sharp points for his ears and snout. Give his body a forward lean, and then a tail as large as the rest of him. Keep his snout separate from the rest of his body.

Now you are ready to draw like a boss. Have fun!

Half Life

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P.S. - Dudes! FlummoxVision™, the new iPad app from Flummox and Friends launched this week! It includes the pilot episode, plus you can purchase NEW video shorts, starting with "The Alternate Method," from right inside the app. Includes "Discuss Mode" to interact with the characters, subtitles option, and notification as new videos become available. Download FlummoxVision™ for free on the App Store TODAY!

The Making of "We’re Invited to a Party"

By now, I hope you've all watched the Flummox & Friends pilot! If not, then go see it here. Today, we'll go behind the scenes of how my animated short got made. 

I was approached by Executive Producer Christa Dahlstrom around the end of last year about being involved, and I knew immediately I wanted to be a part of it. First, I needed to write a script. The idea came from the theme of the episode, which is a party. I decided to use Fuzzy and Dinky Doughnuts, and simply show two very different reactions to receiving a party invitation. 

The most challenging part was the ending. I had to answer the question, what actually works in overcoming a child’s resistance once they’ve put their foot down? This was where I had to do research. I ended up going to message boards to hear how actual parents had dealt with such a situation successfully. The strategies I found made it into the script. So when Dinky understands Fuzzy is uncomfortable about the party, he can first tell him, "That's okay." Then, he can offer him reasons for going without any pressure, so Fuzzy ultimately agrees to go.

After the script was approved, the next step was the drawings. Having never done animation before, I didn’t know how many drawings were needed, so I just did as many as I thought were necessary to show the level of detail. This ended up being 50 drawings. You can see some of them here, including a few that didn't make the final cut!

Around the same time, we started to talk about voices. I told Christa I had a strong interest in doing the voice of Fuzzy, since some of my favorite cartoons are voiced by their creators. It wasn't clear how we might do this, with our being on two different coasts. However, Christa found a way to make it happen! As with many other aspects of this project, she understood I had a vision for the final product and allowed me to follow that, for which I am very grateful.

So what we did was record my part in a studio local to me, and actor Perry Whittle recorded Dinky's part in California. I had also tape-recorded a “scratch track” with a friend reading Dinky’s part to demonstrate how it should sound. Some amusing discussions arose as we worked on the final takes. At one point I was giving very specific directions on the pronunciation of “Wooff.” It was not to be an actual dog bark, but a more literal, John Elder Robinson-esque utterance. That was a detail we had to get right.

From there, the drawings and audio went to animator Jed Bell to morph into action using Adobe After Effects. We went through a couple rounds of reviews to iron out the details like timing. Then sound effects were added, and we had our finished cartoon. I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

People have asked what it’s like to see my characters animated. Keep in mind that Fuzzy and Dinky go back over 25 years to notebook paper doodles. (Have you read their origins? If not check them out here.) So for people to see them on the screen is mind-blowing, all the more so in the context of an important show like "Flummox and Friends."

Is there the possibility of more cartoons? I'd love to see "Flummox" get picked up and seen widely, and if so, I absolutely hope to do more animated shorts. The success of Flummox & Friends really depends on all of you demonstrating a demand. So if you want to see more, take this survey to share your feedback with the producers, and share the pilot with everyone you know. The first time was certainly a learning process, so given the opportunity, there's the potential for many more adventures of Fuzzy and friends!

“Dude, I’m An Aspie” Making First Animated Short

Fuzzy and pals are coming to life in animated form! Their first cartoon short will appear in the pilot episode of the TV show Flummox and Friends.

Flummox and Friends is an offbeat, live-action comedy designed to help kids navigate the social and emotional world. Viewers will join Professor Gideon T. Flummox and his friends as they put their minds to work creating inventions that help them understand the most perplexing scientific mystery of all: other people! Inspired by Pee Wee’s Playhouse, The Big Bang Theory, and the original Electric Company, Flummox and Friends lets families talk about social and emotional challenges as they watch and laugh together.

The show is targeted to elementary school age children who are struggling socially or emotionally, with or without a diagnosis of autism or a related condition. A key difference of Flummox and Friends from typical children’s educational programming is its message of acceptance of the kids who watch, with no expectation that they need to change who they are. The pilot episode was recently filmed thanks to a successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign. The creators hope to produce more episodes and bring the show to the air in many potential outlets, including cable TV, online, and DVD.

I’m thrilled to be working with Flummox and Friends! It was a natural fit, given that we both mix a quirky sense of humor with information that respects the intelligence of all ages. It reminds me of some of my favorite shows growing up, and I know it will be well-received by children on the spectrum and their families.

“We’re so excited that Matt will be contributing his talents to the Flummox and Friends pilot!” says Executive Producer Christa Dahlstrom. “Matt’s characters and illustrations are a perfect compliment to the live action story line of our show and representative of the eclectic mix of music and animation we hope to incorporate in every episode.”

Stay tuned for further updates as we start work on this awesome project, and be on the lookout for the Flummox and Friends pilot! Until then, enjoy this video preview:

Stoking the Fire

Are cartoon characters alive? Do they die? Do they know we exist?

When you’re on the spectrum, it’s not unusual to bond more easily with a fictional character than with real people. It’s neither right nor wrong; it’s simply a fact of life. So, philosophical questions like these take on legitimate importance. Because if you've found, as I have, that obsession over fictional works is a state of bliss, it follows that you want that obsession to last. But how?

Discussions on the topic abound on Wrong Planet: "Do you wish fictional characters were real?" “Yes, I do. Sometimes desperately enough to make myself feel sick. *shrug*,” says BelindatheNobody. "Sure would bring color and smiles to this grey and unhappy world... Sigh... :(" adds Celtic Frost.

"Does anyone think of a favorite character as your alter-ego?" another topic asks. "I go so far as to have 'conversations' with some of them," says a user named conundrum. "On occasion, this actually helps me figure stuff out. :)" "I pretend… they are my imaginary friends who support me and encourage me," writes IdahoRose. "Oftentimes [they] possess characteristics that are present in my own personality, so I guess you could say they bring out the best in me." CMD explains that she identifies with characters who are fellow outsiders. "Whenever I become upset over how different I am from others, I try to figure out how they coped."

Latching onto a fantasy can be incredibly uplifting, and practical, however illogical it might seem. Fortunately, there are many ways for us to feed our daydream.

Fandom today goes far beyond watching a TV show or reading a book. It’s creating fan art, writing fanfic, partaking in cosplay, joining online communities, and more. In this way, I think fictional characters can be said to be alive. They live inside us when we draw them, or write stories about them, or debate what they would do. Fantasy universes are our modern-day legends, like folklore of old, handed down through past generations.

At the same time, our obsessions can also be deeply personal. I watch a cartoon by myself, but in a community, I encounter other fans, each with their own personal interpretation. Maybe another fan’s vision supports my own, or maybe it clashes. Personally, I won’t read fanfic when it comes to my most beloved characters. Shipping? I find it juvenile and offensive. As for fan art, when it's respectful and faithful to the original, it can be awe-inspiring.

Can you imagine if our real-life relationships worked this way? If you had to draw a caricature of your best friend instead of talking with them? If you included a quote from your pilates partner at the bottom of your signature? If you put your sister and your former roommate into a romance, and then wrote scenarios for them? 

And yet, we go to these great lengths and more, to stoke our obsession with an imaginary character. Maybe that’s because even the most basic social interaction is prohibitive. Like talking to them. Like being able to shake their hand, Aw, heck, we'd like to give ‘em a big sloppy hug! It’s only a natural desire when you meet a real-life person you like; so why not fantasy characters, who are the most awesome people we know? Whoever develops the technology for personalized interaction with fictional characters, will make themselves a lot of money. I say, if we have Siri on our phones, why not Harry Potter? Pikachu? Sheldon Cooper? Insert your own preference.

So if fictional characters do possess a sort of "life," can they also die? We hate to see our favorite shows or books end. It can be like losing a friend. I found one take on this topic in a most unexpected place.

Angry Beavers was a late-90’s Nickelodeon cartoon. A show worth watching, if not worthy of obsessing over. Recently, I happened across the unaired final episode, "Bye Bye Beavers," on YouTube. What I found was far more edgy and profound than anything ever scripted in the show. In a fascinating 10 minutes of dialogue, heavy on ad-libs, the beavers learn they are animated characters in a cartoon, that is now ending, and they will cease to exist.

Norb: We’re over! How could they do this to us? There is no dog! My doofy brother, we’re goin’ buh-bye!

Dag: Bye-bye? Why-why?

Norb: Because we are over! As in done, through, finished, ended, terminated, extinguished, down for the count, adios …. We aren’t real! We’re animated characters in a cartoon. Real beavers don’t have appliances, they don’t use bathrooms, and they don’t talk!

The characters then proceed through the Stages-Of-Cartoon-Being-Over, from denial, to bargaining, to acceptance. They offer a few choice words for the network honchos who pulled the plug. Best of all, they interact with their own voice actors, and name-drop other characters they played in other cartoons. Basically, they confront the concept of "cartoon death" by obliterating their "cartoon reality."

"Bye Bye Beavers" is the kind of awesomeness you'd only expect from a hardcore fan. How cool is it, seeing it done by the people who made the cartoons? They acknowledge that the characters are something bigger than the show. They get it. They know what matters to fans like us.The characters cannot die. How can they, when we're here discussing them, ten years later?

A Beavers fan named dpstq expands on this point in a video commentary called "Bye bye beavers and its overall impact." "There’s more to this than just two characters breaking the fourth wall," he explains. The show’s creators, in making this final episode, "wanted us to see this not as a show, but as an experience."

Yes, most definitely, cartoons are an experience! True fans have known this for years. When you hear the Wrong Planet members talk about how much their favorite characters mean to them, can you doubt we’re no longer talking about just a TV show? Sometimes it’s a coping mechanism, or an imaginary friend, or a splash of color in an otherwise hopeless world. We live this stuff. It's something sacred.

The Beavers commentary goes on, “Imagine the kind of ending that last show would have had, if the creators, still making the characters aware of what they were, also made them aware of what they meant. It would have been a melancholy, bittersweet, but perfect ending. Even though Daggett and Norbert may vanish away forever, they knew that they were made for a reason.”

This is the key. What if fictional characters could speak to their devoted, emotionally invested fans, which describes the majority of us? Animaniacs spoke with tongue in cheek to its crazy, nit-picky fans in 1995’s "Please Please Pleese Get a Life Foundation." But I doubt the sincere approach has ever been done. What if our favorite characters knew we love them, and they loved us back?

That may be beyond the realm of the possible, so we depend on our imagination to make our fantasy last. "Don't stop imagining. The day that you do is the day that you die." goes the refrain of a song called "Seventeen" by Youth Lagoon. Indeed, fantasy is vital long past our youth. It keeps us hopeful, helps us deal with everyday problems, and enables us to learn about ourselves. As long as we keep imagining, we keep our inner fantasy worlds alive, and thereby, our own selves as well. Stoking the very fire of life energy within us.

I admit I have the most amazing conversations with my favorite fictional characters. They tend to be one-sided conversations, but, eh, what can you do? Not with my own characters though. That would be weird. Or maybe just redundant. But maybe some of you have talked with Fuzzy?

I haven’t stopped imagining. Have you?

Sweet Animation Fixation

I have a confession to make. See, lately, I’ve been venturing off to this fantastic, alternate universe… where baby ducks karate chop rattlesnakes, and viral video stars are held captive in the sky, and somehow I find myself rockin’ out to Kenny Loggins. But don’t be alarmed, its all good. Yeah… I’ve gotten hooked on Regular Show.

I’ve obsessed over many a cartoon before. Back in the day, it was I who was mad for Ren and Stimpy. Then, I went totally insaney for Animaniacs. And most recently, I went pure wild animal crazy over Fantastic Mr. Fox. But it’s more of a joy, this kind of obsession. It sneaks up and pounces. I wonder sometimes, where does it come from? How does it find me?

Regular Show, as they say, is anything but. It tends to leave me cheering at my TV. It is culturally literate, imaginative, nostalgic, utterly ridiculous, and so, so quotable. It stars one of the all time great animated duos in Mordecai and Rigby, whose genuine if dysfunctional friendship is the kind we wish we all had. The Regular universe is the creation of one JG Quintel, who writes, draws, and voice-acts, and I have no doubt this creator-driven quality is what makes the toon so good.

So where does my obsessive joy come in? I think it’s when I start finding this fantasy world and its characters living inside my head, insinuating itself into my daily life. The workday doldrums are so much more bearable, picturing my boss as a gumball machine, and threatening that if I don’t get back to work, I’m SO UNBELIEVEABLY FIRED!!! Ah. Try it. It’s so much fun.

From little moments like that, my fixation grows. Soon, all is just right with the world. Obsession, at its best, is a natural high. Like riding a wave of exuberance. A feeling of coming home, when I didn’t even realize I left. My inward buzz can’t help but manifest itself outwardly, and other people take notice.

“You sound much more jolly these days!” my friend said to me the other day. What, me, jolly? But it’s true, I am. Truth be told, there are other things in my life making me happy right now. But life just becomes more fun, when I’m obsessed.

Maurice Sendak appeared on the Colbert Report recently. “Why write for children?” the pundit asked the legendary author and illustrator. “I don’t write for children,” he retorted. “I write! And somebody says, ‘That’s for children!’”

Art that finds devoted fans is often created without intention to please an audience. The artist who is true to himself doesn’t choose his audience, it chooses him. I see this personal quality in Regular Show, as I did in Ren and Stimpy, which was also a creator-driven show. I try my best to follow that principle in my own work. I don’t write for Aspies. I write and I doodle for myself, and you wonderful people come along and say “That’s for me!”

Still, as personal as my creations are, I share them. Art brings us together, even more so in the digital age. I love being able to touch others with my drawings and words, to invite you into some fantastic inner universe uniquely my own.

A word about bronies, if I may. Here’s a community created around a cartoon, that has now crossed over from internet meme to veritable social movement. I work for a children’s charity, and earlier this week, a Brony Society contacted me. They offered to fundraise for us as their community service project, by shoveling sidewalks and collecting donations. I had to smile, and think, “What fine, civic-minded adults, brought together by their obsession over ponies.” I can never diss the Bronies again. They’re good people. I tell you, cartoons… they’re good for us.

One more quality of cartoons that inspires fascination: their spontaneity. The nuances they express with ease that words alone cannot. Exploding with immediacy upon the page or the screen, the pencil captures inspiration for posterity, like lightning in a bottle. A little piece of the artist that lives on forever. As Ian Frazier of The New Yorker says:

“A cartoon is a remark made by hand and eye instead of breath… that doesn’t vanish in an instant but remains its original spontaneous self indefinitely… The more you examine it, the better you see its live, black-on-white drawn lines vibrating forever like just-plucked strings.” Not so far fetched, is it, obsessing over a cartoon?

So, maybe that’s where my joy comes from. I dunno. Probably best to not to think about it too much. Better to call it magic, and sit back and enjoy.

But this much I know: I love escaping inside the universe of Regular Show. Maybe some of you like crawling inside my weird universe too. So go ahead, find your own obsession. It just might do you good. Cause it’s not just the children who need a good bedtime story. Hm! Hm!