Ren and Stimpy

I talked about this at length yesterday on my post about the Ren drawing, but Ren and Stimpy meant a lot to me as a kid. It inspired me to be the artist I am today. I took a lot from the show and the things that made it unique. I know it isn’t for everybody, but it was definitely for me. Most people tend to just remember the show for the gross out humor, but that was one of the least important aspects for me. I really liked the tonal shifts and mood changes, especially from Ren. The expressionistic backgrounds that would just pop up to represent mood had a big impact on me. The use of incidental music, shifts in animation style, bizarrely detailed hand painted close-ups, all these things put together created a sort of fever dream that sparked my imagination. Here I wanted to put my own spin on the characters, but keep their designs largely intact. And I think they look great together.