Skip to main content

Xylus and Dexter in Space! Special Episode - Cartoon animation

A special episode
of my animated cartoon series Xylus and Dexter in Space!

Here is a special episode of my animated cartoon Xylus and Dexter in Space!

Concept

In this Episode: Xylus and Dexter read a review posted by a viewer of the cartoon series. It doesn't end well.

(Related post: Xylus and Dexter in Space! "Mirror, Mirror" Episode 6 - Cartoon animation)

Backstory

Yes, this was a real message I got from a kid online (at least I'm assuming it was a kid?) about the cartoon, misspellings and all.

It didn't just tell say that they disliked the cartoon, they added insults too. And I'm under the impression they thought the kids in my cartoon -- made the cartoon.

So I thought it would be funny if I did a behind-the-scenes "Special" where the boys read the letter.

Artwork

illustration of two boys in costume on tv stage

I redrew the background artwork from the previous episode's cliffhanger storyline. 

I added stage lights and a TV camera to show the behind-the-scenes setting for the episode.

Caption spelling errors

The message the person who wrote this sent me was also filled with spelling errors. 

So I added those red lines you get when you misspell words in a document to the captions to point those out.

illustration of two boys in costume on TV stage
Captions shown with spelling errors


Animation

I animated the words above Xylus and Dexter to go along with the voiceover to show the many grammatical errors in-between the angry insults that were in the message.

Special Feature intro

I wanted the opening scene to be like the CBS special feature presentation intro that used to play before they would show a Charlie Brown holiday cartoon.

So I found one of those on YouTube and created my own version. I added multiple colored fonts and rotated them and zoomed and rotated the in-betweens.

The original CBS Special Feature intro

This cartoon was a fast one since most of it was one scene with an audio narrative.

I did do a scene with dexter that was actually just a detailed image illustration I drew and I added an animated head on top of it for effect. 

illustration of angry boy
Dexter getting upset

Dexter's head twitched and shook as it zoomed in closer.

Off-screen gag

I also did a whole scene that was off-camera when Dexter takes his frustration out on me.

illustration of boy in costume
Xylus cringing

All I had to do is shake the camera with each slap sound effect and Xylus would react. 

It's actually a sort of cheat that I learned from watching old cartoons where the voices and sound effects are a replacement for the animation.

Audio

For the voice of the person that sent the message, I decided to talk like the cartoon character Droopy dog.

I pulled my cheeks with my hands to make the voice. I actually learned this trick from seeing Phil Hartman do a Droopy Dog voice on an episode of the TV show News Radio.

I also added the background music from The Flinstones by Hoyt Curtin when they are reading the letter. And when the part where Dexter freaks out happens, I added some dramatic needle drop cartoon music.


Next time: Watch the next episode "Pins and Needles"

Check out the previous episode 6 "Mirror, mirror" here - https://www.tomrayswebsite.com/2022/05/xylus-and-dexter-in-space-mirror-mirror.html

Labels:
Location: Madison, WI, USA

Listen To The Podcast




Popular

Artwork for the original Candy Land game by Milton Bradley from 1955.

I have a vintage Candy Land game from 1955 by Milton Bradley and I was about to sell it so I thought I would add it to my personal art history course concept I've been doing . I'm going to try and see if I can find out how this game was created, designed and why? Here is what I found out about this game https://candy-land.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land_Wiki Candy Land is a board game about children exploring a world made out of candy and other sweets that originally came out in 1949. In every version of the game, there are a group of children that go through Candy Land. In the earliest versions of the game, it was a realistically drawn boy and girl. Drawing of the Candy Land kids I did on my phone ☝ https://board-games-galore.fandom.com/wiki/Candy_Land The game was designed in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott , while she was recovering from polio in San Diego, California. It's rumored that Eleanor also did the original artwork but I didn't find anything that
Read more

To Do: Multitasking My Business, Music, and Comics

Sometimes balancing my multiple projects can often feel like an overwhelming task. I sit and think out loud about the tasks I need to juggle this week from my vintage reselling business, my band, and my webcomic series. In this video vlog, I begin the week by prioritizing tasks and setting goals. I'm going to mark them as I go along. ✅ = Done ⏲ = Still waiting Vintage reselling business - The Pop Culture Roadshow With a vintage reselling business to run, the first order of business is to pack orders from weekend sales on platforms like eBay and Mercari.  As I pack these items I need to record a 'What Sold' video for my Pop Culture roadshow YouTube channel , turning the task into video content. ✅ Pack orders ✅ List new items I got from estate sales (See my latest eBay store listings here ) ⛔ Create a new "What sold" video for my YouTube page (Recorded not edited - Laptop upgrade issues) Band - Lorenzo's Music I've also got a new song out this month so I nee
Read more

A quick peek behind-the-scenes of a new webcomic series. Coming soon!

I've recently paused my usual diary comic to dedicate my attention to an exciting new project—a fiction webcomic series featuring two characters that may be familiar to my long-time followers.  These characters, Bobert and the Monster have made appearances on my website before , and now they're taking center stage.  I'm working diligently with the hope of launching the series shortly.  In the meantime, I'd like to share this behind-the-scenes video of the drawing process for one of the upcoming pages.  Stay tuned for more updates as I bring this creative vision to life.
Read more

New song! Variation witch

Keeping up with my plan to release new music every month.  This time around I venture into the punk blues realm. Sort of a mixture of The Black Keys and The Eels . This is a song called "Variation witch" by my band Lorenzo's Music .  The cover art is actually an antique top that I have in my collection. What I liked about it was the striped disc kind of like something in a Tim Burton film.
Read more