Hello everyone! Submitted for your viewing pleasure, I present the latest complete style test for Peter’s mouth shapes, experimenting with his emotions and facial expressions. This is primarily a lip sync and emotion test; his hand shapes are just placeholders at the moment, as the rest of his model puppet has not yet been refined at this stage.

This test also features the first recorded dialogue of Seth (heard off-camera) by his voice actor, Christopher Wade. This specific scene will not appear in the pilot, and instead just uses a sample line of dialogue from one of the pages from the “Whitney’s Birthday” storyline of the online comic.

Animated by Spark-Flow Studios. Peter is voiced by Jonathan Ponikvar, author of Peter & Company. Seth voiced by Christopher Wade. Music: “Real World” by Alexander Brandon.

Don’t forget to follow the Peter & Company Pilot Tumblr for regular updates on the project!

The next page of the comic will be posted soon! I just wanted to share this as this week’s update for those interested in the pilot episode’s progress.

I wanted to put together a quick post that kind of gives a glimpse into why the process of making the P&C pilot — or any new animated series concept, for that matter — is taking a bit of time. While the updates are coming along at a slow and steady pace, we still have quite a ways to go yet.

For an established animated series, there are a lot of steps that go into the production of a single episode. Script writing, editing, storyboards, voice recording, and not to mention the animation itself and later editing/compositing/etc. Before any of that can commence, though, you have to get through a mountain of preproduction work on the series itself. Essentially, you have to establish the “series Bible,” wherein all the rules and guidelines for animators to follow are contained.

Character models have to be refined and streamlined for animation, since the original comic art is often too detailed. Every character has a specific set of rules and guidelines which have to be set in order to maintain continuity. For a blend of traditional and Flash animation, individual pieces of each “puppet” model need to be designed and tested. The ultimate goal is to get the final look and feel of the cartoon to be as close to the style of the source material as possible.

Thankfully, all of that only has to be done once. The downside: it definitely takes a while.

So far, we have made significant progress on prepping the character models and facial shapes for animation tests. These tests will determine the methods and procedures which we then use to create each episode. In the meantime, the script is already 100% complete for the pilot, and we are preparing some initial voice recordings of the characters to use for test animations. Additionally, I will be cranking through some more backgrounds and begin work on the storyboards while the remaining character models are being completed by the studio.

And yes, voice auditions are coming up as well. I’ll share more information on that later down the road for anyone interested in trying out for a part.

Lastly, I want everyone to keep in mind that this entire journey is all being done exclusively in our free time. Everyone involved in the project has their own regular 9-5 full-time job that pays the bills. Once the series gets picked up for a full season we’ll finally be able to focus all of our time on it, but until then we have to balance our time and energy to get through it and keep the updates flowing.

All of this is also why there hasn’t been a new Peter & Company comic page in a couple months. But that will also be updated very soon, too. Some new important characters are about to be introduced.

If anyone has any questions about the process of creating an animated series, please ask away! It’s been my dream since I was a kid to take part in the creation of a cartoon, and I want to share the experience as much as I can.

Thanks to everyone for following and supporting Peter & Company! You all are truly awesome. Stay tuned for more.

-Jonathan

Luckily, Peter won’t have to wait that long.

Oh, and the sheet music he’s playing is the dungeon theme for the original NES Legend of Zelda (now obviously the first songs I figured out were much simpler and only used one hand, but we don’t have all the time in the world to wait for Peter to figure that out, hehe). Pretty much 90% of the music I played before taking classical lessons was video game and movie soundtracks, all figured out by ear. Even nowadays one of the first things I play when I sit down is likely a Mario or MegaMan song.

This is pretty much exactly how it happened with me, only much earlier on. When I was younger (about half of Peter’s age, in fact), I came across a keyboard that belonged to my sister in the midst of a bunch of older junk that was being given away. It had long since been given up, but I dusted it off and started messing around with it. Within a few minutes of figuring out the notes, I had taught myself the first song I ever learned on piano: Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

That’s not what Peter plays here, though. That’s the Super Mario Bros. theme written in my very rough hand-scripting. It’s interesting how everyone has their own unique style for writing notes, just as they have their own handwriting.

Also, the keyboard had an ability to speak the “Doe-ray-mee” notes in an awkward 1980’s digitized voice. The “Doe” sounded more like “Doo,” so making it say “Doodie” was about the most brilliant thing my 6-year-old mind had heard up to that point. Though seeing Peter crack up over it here just makes him look like a dingus, hehe.

Ahh, who am I kidding, I’d still laugh now.

It’s been a good while since I’ve managed to get a new page of Peter & Company finished and posted to the site, so in the meantime I wanted to share the latest progress that has been made on the upcoming pilot episode!

This is the short sample clip of Peter talking that we’re using as a base for what will become Peter’s design in the upcoming animated series. This is a very rough version used to test lip-syncing using only basic mouth shapes and a few variations in facial emotion, just to give a base to work off of in future tests. This week I will be completely redrawing all of the mouth shapes, which will be integrated into the next updated test along with more variations in the eyes, ears and head movements. So just consider this the foundation upon which the final look and feel of the animation will be built. The finished version will be a lot more refined and streamlined.

This is the first time Peter has been officially brought to life, voiced by myself! I’ll be doing his voice throughout the animated series (and Whitney will be voicing her own character — the rest will be cast once the auditions are held).

So yes! This week the next page of Peter and Company is going to be drawn and inked on Livestream. It’s been two months since the story progressed and it’s about time that I get the ball moving again! I’ve been getting steady work done on the pilot, but I hate to think that the updates to the comic are stagnating because I can’t keep my focus in both areas. So that changes NOW. And in the meantime, a reminder to those who want to keep up with the progress on the pilot:

Follow the Peter & Company Series Production Tumblr!

The next page of Peter & Company will be posted next week. See you all then!

And it begins.

Most everyone who follows my Livestream shows have seen me play piano at some point. There are a few recordings on Youtube of me playing various classical pieces and video game themes. What I haven’t shared yet, though, is how I first got started with the instrument. This story will be the start of Peter’s love of the piano.

Yes, I gave Peter a cold entirely to serve as a vehicle to get him to stumble across this keyboard. He’ll thank me later.

Also, upon seeing the panel with a toddler-aged Peter doodling in crayons, Whitney demanded that I immediately draw a baby Whitney as well. How could I say no?

In other major P&C-related news, we are making HUGE progress on the animated pilot episode! I know it’s been a couple months since any updates have been posted, but today I would like to officially announce the Peter & Company Pilot Episode Production Tumblr! Now there is a place where we will be posting all future updates to the animated series, including all pre-production artwork, character model sheets, test animations, information on voice auditions, and the final pilot. Additionally, I’ll keep the Tumblr alive throughout the life of the future animated series and continue posting updates. So you can expect to see a number of things there, from random character sketches/doodles to finished products. I’ll also cross-post the comic updates there as well.

So bookmark that site — or add it to your Watch list, if you have a Tumblr as well — and join us for the ride! The pilot episode is coming!

Per the artist’s own description: “I wanted to portray what would happen to Peter if he received some bad advice on women. To do this, I had to introduce Mark, one of my more “comically sexist” characters from an old comic of mine.” HA, awesome. Thanks for the comic, Alex!

To those who are wondering what’s going on with the next page of Peter & Company: while the upcoming pilot episode is taking up the majority of my time, I am expecting there to be a bit of a slowdown with the regular production of new pages of P&C. So I am hosting guest pieces of Peter & Company comics and artwork during the weeks when I don’t have a page to post! If you would like to submit your own piece of guest artwork to be featured in a future update on this site, read the guidelines on this post here.

Currently he is a graphic design student. Just this week he set up his DeviantArt account, which he will be using as an online portfolio for his digital and cartooning work. Thanks so much for contributing, Johnny!

So yes, I’m continuing with the call for additional guest artwork, as I had mentioned in last week’s post. Since the animated pilot episode for P&C is taking up all of my free time, I will be posting fan-drawn artwork whenever a week comes around where I couldn’t get the next proper page finished in time. If you would like to contribute, these are the only rules:

1: It needs to include the characters of P&C, and they need to be the focus. Just don’t go drawing nothing but your own characters with Peter randomly walking by in the background.
2: It can be a single illustration or a comic, black & white or color, traditional or digital. Whichever works best for you!
3: It must be a family-safe rating. Though I think this one’s a no-brainer, hehe.

Also, anyone who contributes a piece of work that gets posted to the site will earn themselves a pretty sweet little prize: a free copy of the first Peter & Company collection book, hot off the press of its new publisher.

Oh yes, and that’s the other bit of big news for this week! Thanks to a family member’s recommendation, I was able to find a new publisher for the first Peter & Company book (and all books to follow after this point). Not only will the book be getting a significant price cut compared to its original cost, but it also will be made available in physical bookstores and comic shops across the country! This means that you’ll be able to walk into Barnes & Noble and see P&C sitting on the graphic novels shelf, right next to Peanuts. It will take a few weeks for it to show up in their systems, and even then it’s up to the individual stores to order their stock, so if you would like to help spread awareness, give them the ISBN for the book (ISBN: 978-1478125938) and have them order a few copies for the shelves.

Thanks so much, everyone! Please keep those drawings coming! I will be back next week with the next comic page, since I’ve gotten it mostly finished in pencils, so the rest should come along easily.

Edit: Since I completely forgot to add this in the original post, you can send your submission to me via e-mail at PeterandCompany@gmail.com.

This was a surprise sketch given to me recently by the always-awesome Danny Valentini, author of the Draconia Chronicles. His rendition here of an older Whitney giving Peter a letter (I’m assuming a Valentine’s Day gift) is one of the best I’ve ever seen of her character. He really captured her look and personality on the first try! All of my thanks goes to Danny for this one on the absolutely amazing job! If you’ve never read the Draconia Chronicles before and you love fantasy/action stories with tons of fighting/battle scenes, you should definitely give it a read. (Note: his website is currently in the middle of a run of guest comics, so if you decide to give it a look, hit the archives first)

I’m going to continue working to get the next page finished, but as I mentioned above, I likely will not be able to meet a weekly update schedule while all of the work on the pilot is going on. As such, if you would like to submit a piece of guest artwork for a future update, feel free to e-mail it to me and I will post it on an upcoming date! Everyone who contributes a guest update will also receive a special gift from me in the near future.

I will have the pilot episode update blog up and running soon, where I’ll start posting all of the news and pieces of character art that have been completed so far. Also, some HUGE news concerning the first P&C collection book is coming up VERY soon (like later this week). So stay tuned!

I debated on having Peter playing one of the games I actually owned as a kid, but decided instead to make one for The Chronicles of Ademar. Help Lily chase after Links, while defending herself against a swarm of Grobian Beetles! (trust me, that description will make more sense once the first book is finished, hehe)

A Quick Update on the Animated Pilot Episode:

I’m in the process of putting together the progress blog, which is where I’ll be posting all of the updates on the pilot and details on the different phases of production. In the meantime, all of the Kickstarter funds have come in, so it’s time to get started on the first steps: finishing the script and drawing all of the character art. As part of the model sheets, I will have to include a wide selection of facial expressions for each character. I’d like this to be more than just the standard “happy/sad/angry” selection, so to make this even more fun, I’m going to open the door for suggestions!

If you’d like to suggest a facial expression to include, go on Twitter and post the following:
- The character you’d like to see (choose between Peter, Seth, Whitney, Chelsea, Ezzy, Iggy, or Korgar)
- The emotion/expression (get creative with it: instead of just a simple emotion, make it situational, like “stepping on a loose thumbtack”)
- The hashtag #PeterAndCompany

That last one is the most important: if you don’t include the #PeterAndCompany hashtag, I won’t be able to see it. I’ll do searches for any suggestions, pick the best ones, sketch them up, and post them as images on my Twitter account, and later on the progress blog once it is up and running. This should help to add some variety to the model sheets and make each character’s expression chart unique!

Got a random question you’d like to ask Whitney and me? Check out our Formspring page and ask away!