I made a Calvin & Hobbes Animated Strip
Ok, so the other day I said to my buddy ‘Man, I think it’d be cool to animate a Calvin & Hobbes short’. Next day I saw someone put one up on YouTube that has since been removed, probably as a result of a lawyer’s letter or something. Bill Watterson is renowned for not wanting to cheapen the Calvin & Hobbes brand by licensing out his product. It’s why you don’t see official Calvin & Hobbes coffee mugs, or t-shirts, or video games, or…anything C&H really. And I really like that he decided to go that route. Anyways, I decided since it was Saturday night and I was ploughing through work I’d take a short break, heed some of the comments I saw on the C&H YouTube video and animate a Calvin & Hobbes strip. In my mind, and it would seem other people’s minds too, giving Calvin a real voice may taint the idea we have of him. So, an animated series may be a little tricky…I can’t think of the kind of voice Calvin would have in real life. Anyways, an animated strip stays a little truer to the original material, keeps a lot of Watterson’s interesting line (his line is where I think a lot of the magic happens), and I can fill in some stuff without (I hope) shanking things too much.
An interesting exercise. Glad I got that off my chest. May make some of my own comic strips like this.
Original:




Can’t see why Watterson would be at all unhappy with this animated cartoon, Mike. It is…………Kiff!
Shot Debora. Supa-kiff!
thats a good idea . never seen an animated still like that before
Shot buddy.
I echo Debora’s comments as your animation definitely adds to Calvin’s characterization. However, the publishing world and rights can be a bit sticky. But … it truly is Kiff!! 😉
Thanks Gwynn. Sticky indeedy.
This is awesome! You should make a whole site for animated comics!
Thanks Jacob. A nice idea.