Character rigs and an upcoming coming-of-age comedy in Rob & Clay

Rob & Clay is a new coming-of-age animated comedy, with a pilot currently in development, from Mark McConville (aka LS Mark on YouTube) and animator Rebecca Kartzmark. Following two friends as they experience some of life’s classic moments — from the comedic, to the tragic — the show tackles the challenges of socializing and growing up with good humour and high spirits. Rob, a mouse, is the more optimistic of the two friends. If the pilot is anything to go by, he’ll be getting his more reserved pal, Clay the cat, into all manner of capers in the upcoming series.

Set in the early 2000s with a style influenced both by Butch Hartman and United Productions of America’s cartoons, the show is sure to evoke nostalgia while also making a contribution to the more recent canon of contemporary adult animation. The two characters fit into a memorable and appealing mould, with highly emotive poses that carry the drama through powerful expressions. With character rigging in Harmony Premium and boarding in Storyboard Pro, Rob & Clay and the independent team behind it show us how Harmony can serve as the foundation of an independent animated production.

We spoke with Rebecca and Mark to discuss what that process looked like, as well as to learn about the inspiration and their intentions with Rob & Clay. They shared challenges from the project so far, insights on how they reached design decisions, and explore how they rigged complex facial expressions with multiple deformers. Read our full interview below!

Had a bit more time to kill, so here's a quick animation with the previous pose! @LSMark_
Look at Clay! Such a grumpy boy.#grumpy #animation #cartoon pic.twitter.com/dVzwfMesPZ

— Rebecca ? (@Kartzmark) May 17, 2022

Hi Rebecca and Mark, please give us a brief introduction of yourselves and Rob & Clay…

Mark: My name is Mark McConville, a YouTuber that touches on different medias, such as video games, cartoons, and movies. I started the channel in 2014 and the channel really picked up in 2018. I had a rough concept in 2019, but really started the project in 2020. 

Rebecca: My name is Rebecca Kartzmark, a senior animator at Mercury Filmworks. I met Mark in 2020 when he asked me about rigging in Toon Boom. At first, I just gave him some pointers, then offered to look at his stuff. And from there I joined the team. 

Mark: The show takes place in the early 2000s, and stars two friends, facing struggles around the social aspect of growing up. 

Who are the two main characters, Rob & Clay, and what are their stories?

Mark: Rob is a 15-year-old optimistic mouse, who has just moved into a new town, and attached himself to Clay, a 15-year-old reserved cat. Rob tries to show Clay the brighter side of life, and attempts to get him out of his shell. But oftentimes has his world view shaken through the experience they face. 

Even though they both tend to disagree with one another, they both appreciate each other, and become closer over time. 

Can you talk us through the process of designing and rigging these characters?

Rebecca: Mark designed Rob a few years ago, and the design changed over time, becoming shorter and more rounded, with Clay's design coming much later. We’re going for a clean, appealing design. Mark made the turnarounds along with notes, and from there he hired a rig artist to build them. 

Afterwards I tested the rigs and gave notes back to Mark, and from there we both figured out how to work with the rigs. 

Are there any other interesting characters we can expect to meet?

Mark: The series is mainly focused on Rob and Clay, and how they change over time. The people they meet influence the choices they make, or have them question their morals. For example: In the pilot, secondary characters impact the way Clay deals with his anxieties; and has Rob question the way he presents himself. 

Is there a message or learning to the story?

Mark: In terms of the overall series, it’s a slice-of-life with the general theme being about how the experiences you face growing up, both positive and negative, shape you as a person. And, therefore, those experiences are worth having. 

How would you describe the art style?

Mark: The art style takes influence from the UPA aesthetic, in terms of backgrounds and background characters. With the main characters being heavily influenced by Butch Hartman, but more rounded and softer looking. 

Rebecca: The animation style has strong posing, and focuses less on the in-betweens, and more on strong and quick timing. Because the animators use rigs, it’s easier to keep characters on model, which is a big factor for Mark. 

Can you describe the process from storyboarding through to finished animation?

Rebecca: Mark does the initial rough storyboards based off of the scripts that he wrote himself. After the rough boards are done, they are sent to storyboard revisionists who clean them up, and make it more on model. 

From there, Mark breaks the storyboards down and creates scenes to be given out to animators. The animators are asked to do a posing pass, and show it to Mark. From there he gives out revisions, and afterwards the scene goes into animation pass. Because it’s a small team, if the animation revisions aren’t outstanding, I take over and fix the shots, so the animators can move onto new scenes. 

The animation style has a thick black outline, which is done in the compositing stage. Audio and music still need to be done. 

Here's the correct version where you have antics, secondary action, nice Arcs, etc. pic.twitter.com/LuaahA0ML2

— Rebecca ? (@Kartzmark) January 30, 2022

Much of the character’s emotiveness is through facial expressions. What techniques helped you achieve this level of expression?

Rebecca: For greater emotions, we have a more complex rig that is broken down more and has multiple deformers. We also have a simpler rig, for those shots that don’t need a lot of movement. Mark made an expression sheet with some notes, and I tested the rigs and animated the shots that went through the different emotions. 

There are multiple shots that are up-close to the character, so it’s very important that the expressions are strong and easy to read. 

Are there any other software tools or techniques that are proving useful while making the pilot?

Rebecca: Mark used WriterDuet for the script and Storyboard Pro for the boards. Afterwards, the shots are broken down with Adobe Premiere Pro, which then is sent out to the animators, who use Toon Boom Harmony. The backgrounds are done in Adobe Photoshop. 

What have you found challenging about the project so far?

Rebecca: This is the first time Mark has ever directed something of this scale, and it’s been eye opening on how much work these things take. And how many opportunities there are for things to go wrong.

Mark: Because of what I do online — reviewing things and having opinions that can clash with others — people could assume that I’m approaching it like: “See, this is how you do it. Look how easy it is!”

If anything, it’s the opposite. It gives me firsthand experience on much work it takes to make something. Even if it’s a small pilot.  

When can we watch the full show!?

Mark: Rough date is the first quarter of 2023, but that’s not taking into account unforeseen circumstances. 

At first I had another pilot idea for the same show, and some work was done. So the rough estimate was initially 2021. However, I didn’t feel like this was the proper way to introduce the characters, so I spent the later half of 2021 reworking the script and felt more confident with the new pilot. 

What’s nice about doing this as an indie project is there’s no real deadline. And there's more creative freedom compared to working with a studio. The setback is that things can go on indefinitely. So it takes a lot of willpower and discipline to keep things on track. 

What are some unique struggles when running an independent project?

Rebecca: It mostly comes down to keeping things on track, and trying to have a schedule. It's still more laid back than a studio setting, where the deadlines are strict, but it's important to not try to let things drag on for too long.

The struggles of running an indie project are good struggles! It teaches Mark to be more organized, and really learn just how much effort it takes to create a cartoon. I'm learning how to lead a team, keeping the animation on track, and taking over revisions from animators so they can move onto new scenes. This is an amazing learning experience, and I'm having a lot of fun with it!

What advice do you have for collaborating on a project like Rob & Clay?

Mark:  Understand that not everything will turn out exactly how you imagine it. For Example: Something that you write in a script, and works well in storyboarding, can turn out to not work out as well when it’s put into motion. Be prepared to roll with the punches, and try your hardest to make the best of it, and take everything as a learning experience. 

Communication is very important if you want to have a successful project. The more people you add on, the more you have to be organized, and be open with suggestions and critiques. 

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• Curious to see more work from Rob & Clay's creator? Be sure to explore LS Mark’s YouTube channel.
• Want to see more of Rebecca Kartzmark's rigs and animation? Visit Rebecca's portfolio and watch her original short, Royal Pain.
• Explore Toon Boom’s blog for more stories from animated productions and the teams behind them.