Concept Sketches for “3-2-1 Penguins!”

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As I mentioned in Friday’s post, I’ve spent the last few months designing characters and props for the TV series 3-2-1 Penguins! which airs Saturday mornings on NBC. Last weekend the first episode I actually worked on (”Green-Eyed Monster”) was broadcast. My name was in the credits, which means that for two seconds on Saturday I was ignored by millions of people. Still, it was kinda cool.

(EDIT: I owe an apology to several of my friends and relatives who tried to watch the show but missed it. Turns out NBC’s Saturday morning schedule varies from city to city, even within the same time zone. Penguins airs at 10:30am in Minneapolis, 11:00am in Chicago, and Noon in Dallas. To make things worse the TV listings in Chicago, where I spent the weekend, listed the wrong time so I missed my own premiere. Back home my DVR was set to record it, so assuming the TV guide was correct I can still see it when I get home tonight. Anyway, thanks to everyone who tried to watch. It means a lot that you made the effort.)

Penguins was created by Big Idea, the company behind VeggieTales. Big Idea owns all of the concept art I created for the show, but they have graciously allowed me to post sketches on my blog after each episode airs.

The Green-Eyed Monster (pictured above) and the Sheep were based on some rough sketches provided by the director, the very talented Tod Carter. The rest I came up with largely on my own.

I’ll post more sketches from future episodes I’ve worked on after they air.

(All artwork is copyright © Big Idea. All rights reserved.)

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This Saturday: Space Penguins Coming to a Planet Near You!

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For the last few months I’ve been working as a freelance character designer on 3-2-1 Penguins!, a new animated series on NBC. The premiere episode airs this Saturday (10:30am Central, check your local listings).

3-2-1 Penguins! is about four wacky penguins (Zidgel, Fidgel, Midgel, and Kevin) who travel the universe along with two kids, Jason and Michelle. Imagine Star Trek as a screwball action-comedy, raplace Captain Kirk with a clueless penguin with a pompadour, and you’ve got the basic concept. Penguins was created by Big Idea (the studio behind VeggieTales), so each episode is built around a Bible lesson form the book of Proverbs. Some of the scripts are really wacky and hilarious, so I’m hoping the show gains a solid audience.

Big Idea owns all of the artwork I’ve done for the series, but they’ve graciously allowed me to post it on the blog—as long as I don’t show any artwork for a given episode until after that episode airs. So watch for lots of concept sketches in the coming weeks.

I didn’t actually start work on the show until episode #2 (which airs next Saturday), but if you happen to catch the premiere please leave a comment to let me know what you think. I’m not fishing for compliments. I genuinely want to know your honest opinion. It airs this Saturday at 10:30am CST on NBC.