The Peter & Company Animation Project
The Project
The Peter and Company Animation Project is pretty much a proof of concept that I hope to create just for fun. Essentially I plan to take various comics from the archives of this site and begin the process of turning them into miniature animated episodes, complete with voices and other soundtrack elements. These short clips will be about as long as you would imagine a single page to be when animated.
Originally my plan was to use the Nintendo DSi program “Flipnote Studio” to produce the animations, but in practice the shortcomings of the application became all too clear. It’s a fun toy, but for a project like this, it really should be done properly to do the concept justice. It is now my intention to hand-draw each animation — starting in pencils and progressing to inks/colors as time allows — and release them as short video clips onto Youtube and similar hosting sites. These will be much higher quality and more easily accessible than Flipnote’s limited capabilities would have allowed.
This is going to be a very time-consuming project, and since it is something that will entirely be done in my own free time (as the main focus of my work will always be on the side of comics, rather than animation), the official releases of each clip will be spaced apart quite a bit. To compensate for this, I will be releasing work-in-progress updates each time I get some of it done: pencil tests, storyboards, etc. These updates will be posted on this page, so keep checking back from time to time and see if anything new has popped up.
The Cast of Voice Actors
I will say this quite plainly: I am not Mel Blanc. I like to think that I am a capable enough voice actor, but I am just not equipped to produce enough variations of my voice to fill the entire cast of characters for Peter & Company. As such, I am holding online auditions to find actors/actresses to fill the roles for this project. Since sending out the first call for voices several months back, I have received many, many audition recordings via e-mail, but have only managed to nail down a handful of the roles.
If you would like to audition for your favorite character (and they have not been cast already), please do so! Simply make a recording on your computer where you conduct a reading of the character’s dialogue from any comic of your choice in the archives. E-mail it to me and I will reply with my review of the audition within a few days. I am always looking forward to hearing new samples, and if you could potentially be cast as a voice, I may send you some requests for specific comics or friendly suggestions on what I’m looking for with that character. You’ve got nothing to lose by sending in a sample, so please do not hesitate!
(Note: Please be sure to save your audio files in .WAV or .MP3 format if you can. My computer can handle most major audio types, but these are the most compatible formats and easiest to use when it comes time to make the final animations with the audio mixed in.)
The following is a list of finalized casting decisions. These characters are no longer available for auditions. Click on “Sample” to hear a recording of how each character sounds.
| Character | Voice Actor | Sample Audio |
| Peter | Jonathan Ponikvar | Sample |
| Whitney | Whitney Ponikvar | Sample |
| Seth | Luke Cariaga | Sample |
| Eddy | Luke Cariaga | Sample |
| Ezzy | Alyssa Urena | Sample |
| Head Worm | Steve “Firehazard” Puckett | Sample |
| Norton | R. “Teric” Wilson | Sample |
| Chelsea | Yesenia Carrero | Sample |
| Persephoni | Tracy “Tito” MacLauchlan | Sample |
Characters open for auditions:
Guardians: Skin.
Kids: Iggy.
Adults: Robert (Peter’s dad), Celine (Peter’s mom), Jeff, Dr. Fritz, Dr. Victor Munchkinn.
Korgar: Korgar.
Any other characters who are not listed above are available for auditions. You may choose to make recordings for any number of characters. If you are offered a role, you will then be given more information on the project, including requirements on your part, technical specifications, etc.
Note: This is a purely volunteer-based project. Since I do not plan on selling these animations or making any sort of income from them, I cannot offer any cash payment as compensation for your voice work. Those who audition for the project should acknowledge and agree to these terms.
Project Updates
Coming soon. Work will be posted here as the first phases of the animations are produced.
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:18 am
aww man i really want to do this but i’m not sure if i have a microphone
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:40 pm
If you have a webcam, check to see if there is a microphone built-in to the unit. Most of them nowadays likely come with one installed, which you can get away with using if you don’t have a traditional mic.
February 24th, 2010 at 7:01 am
Hmmm, Everyone of my Co-workers have said at one time or another that I should try voice acting…
The two that I would love to voice would be either Skins and/or Iggy. The problem is, that I at this moment I am stuck with a Stitch (Lilo and Stitch) like voice whenever I try reading the lines to my Girlfriend. Shes cracking up, but she always does when I do that voice…
Would a voice like that even suit Iggy/Skins. Naturally Skins has his Lisp…
(Always cracks me up, Lisp, who thought it would be a good Idea to put an S in the word. THEY CAN’T EVEN SAY IT!!!)
February 24th, 2010 at 9:29 am
@Nanothnir: Well I can say, I’m entirely open to your own interpretation of the characters’ voices. If you’re doing your own take on Skin and it’s making your girlfriend crack up so hard, there’s certainly no harm in sending in an audition! I’d love to hear what you’ve got if you’re willing to record it. Plus who knows, maybe experimenting with your voice as a recorded sample will help you come up with a new sound for Iggy or Skin. It’s worth a shot, eh?
February 25th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
for the auditions, is there a certain format that the recordings have to be in?
February 26th, 2010 at 12:43 am
Oh, I completely forgot to add that information into the post! Thanks for the reminder, I just edited the page with the updated info. My computer can handle pretty much any major audio format, but I just prefer if they could be saved as either .WAV or .MP3. These are the most compatible formats and the easiest when it comes time to make the final animations and mix the audio together.
February 27th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Are there specific lines that you want to hear? Something that you think would make a character?
February 28th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
I would love to try out. It may be later this week, but I will do my best.
To tell the truth, I just got attached to thiis comic today by a friend and I am willing to have fun. Sure, I would like to know how you want the characters to sound like, but outher than that, I’ll think of something.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:32 am
I am willing to participate in this voice acting. As asked…I think…is what do you want read for a tryout? Straight from the comic is what I am assuming. I will send in a tryout in (hopefully) a couple of days. To tell the truth, I just found out about this today and read the first 64 strips. I am very pumped to help out!
March 1st, 2010 at 7:36 pm
There are no specific lines that I am looking for with these auditions, so it’s entirely up to you. The only requirement I have is that you use one of the comics from the archive as your source material for your dialogue. For the actual characters and how they sound, I’m leaving it mostly up to your own interpretations, since I’m definitely open for suggestions on how they can potentially be voiced.
If you really would like a suggestion, here’s how I hear a few of them in my head:
Seth: A deeper voice than Peter’s, but still recognizably “young.” He’s not an adult character, as he is roughly the same height and build as Peter, so he should be considered around the same physical age.
Iggy: Since his dialogue is written in a simple script, I imagine he would have a goofy sound to his voice, almost simple-minded. Think something similar to big Ed from “Ed, Edd & Eddy.” This is definitely open to interpretation more than the other characters, so feel free to explore his voice a bit more.
Chelsea: She should have a deeper female voice than the other girl characters, to push the idea of her being a more intimidating character.
Korgar: C’mon, it’s freaking KORGAR. Scream into the mic and growl a few times, I’m sure something will come out of it, hehe.
If you have any more questions about a specific character’s voice, feel free to ask and I’ll answer as best I can.
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I sent in a tryout and I am open to any criticism or comments. I hope to improve, so give me a chance XD.
March 5th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I sent you an FA note a while back. I’m still having some issues with my mic, but the sound is better. I’ll send you something as soon as I can.
Take care,
Tyvara
March 7th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Tomorrow after work I will be getting onto trying how I can get Iggy, Eddy and Krogar to sound. Who knows how I do for my own personal critic (girlfriend), but I should be able to see how I go after that…
Iggy I will be doing with a kink to his voice, much like what I said before…
Krogar, he will be your average Ork…
Eddy, well i was thinking my normal voice. Who knows…
March 14th, 2010 at 2:50 am
If a person makes a recording, can it be sent as a QuickTime file, or do you prefer another format?
Peter’s Father and Eddy have caught my interest: Don’t know if Korgar would be a wise choice to audition for, because I (ahem) teach Math.
March 14th, 2010 at 2:56 am
@Jon: You can send your audition in any format. I prefer it to be in either MP3 or WAV, but my computer can handle pretty much any type of sound file, so whichever is easiest for you will be fine. If your audition is chosen for the role you’ll need to have a way to record in MP3, though, since that’s the format I’ll be using to compile the sounds with the video.
Also, Korgar would be awesome for you especially because you teach math! hehe
March 16th, 2010 at 1:17 am
Thinking about Peter’s mom……. hmmm……… Now where is my microphone?
March 18th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
Hey dude whats your email i have entries i want to send but can’t find your email any where????
March 18th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Sorry about that, dude! My e-mail address is peterandcompany@gmail.com.
March 29th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Now,if my bro let me use his microphone….I might try.But only being ten…hmmm……That would be hard.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Ok,I wish you were using Hatena.But I understand.(lol continued from last comment…)