Vincent

The Folks behind the Toons

Bruce W. Smith

Bruce Wayne Smith was born on September 6, 1961, in Los Angeles, California.  He loved cartoons throughout his childhood and, at age 10, made his first animated film based on designs of One Hundred and One Dalmatians.  He attended the California Institute of the Arts and graduated in 1981. 

Shortly thereafter Smith got a job as an assistant animator on a TV short Garfield in the Rough and later served as a freelance animator for Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night.  He was hired by Walt Disney Studios as an animator for Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  

In the early 1990s, Smith was selected by producer Reginald Hudlin to direct the Paramount Pictures animated film Bebe's Kids. An ambitious project, the film performed poorly and received mixed to negative reviews from critics; although some critics lauded the movie for its unadulterated depiction of Black culture and language without effort to make it more palpable to white audiences.

Entertainment reporter Kendra Beltran noted "Bebe’s Kids proved that a Black animated cast meant something to audiences. Maybe not monetarily but in a sense that Black characters didn’t just have to be the resident tokens. It would take some time before Hollywood grasped that notion but in a way, we have Bebe’s Kids to thank for what followed with the likes of The Boondocks and Disney’s The Proud Family."

In the years that followed, Smith was credited as a character designer for Ted Turner's ‘A Cool Like That Christmas,’ ‘The Pagemaster,’ and ‘Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.’  he additionally served as co-director on the Warner Bros. live-action animated film ‘Space Jam’ before returning to Disney as supervising animator on such films as ‘Tarzan’ and  ‘The Emperor's New Groove.’

 While working animation on the feature film side, Smith furthered his interest in television animation by creating ‘The Proud Family’ for Disney Channel in 2001. Initially pitched to Nickelodeon in 1998, a pilot was created for the network but was not green lit.  Smith subsequently co-founded Jambalaya Studios, which worked in conjunction with Willard Carroll's Hyperion Pictures to produce the series.  The Proud Family was picked up by the Disney Channel and ended up being a substantial hit, running for 50 episodes as well as The Proud Family television movie.

In 2004, Smith served as a supervising animator for Disney's Home on the Range. That same year, co-created and served as executive producer for the series ‘Da Boom Crew’ for The WB. Another highly ambitious project Da Boom Crew sought to be something of a combination between Star Wars with Boyz-N-The Hood, and argued that the series tries to recreate the "black experience in animated form." Although 13 episodes were produced, only four of which aired; the series was deemed a commercial failure.  

In 2009, Smith returned to Walt Disney Animation Studios to supervise 2D animation on The Princess and the Frog (specifically for the character of Dr. Facilier) as well as the 2011 film Winnie the Pooh (supervising animation of the characters of Piglet, Kanga and Roo).  Smith went on to serve as lead animator for the animated short Tangled Ever After and did character and animation designs for the movies Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph.  

In 2015, Smith served as part of the senior creative team for the direct-to-TV film Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast; and later served as an animator for Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.

In 2019, Smith directed the short film Hair Love.  This was a short that centered on a young father who struggles to help his daughter with her hair and explores the weight and ambivalence of hairstyles and maintenance among the Black community.  The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.

In 2022, Smith returned to Disney and relaunched The Proud Family with a sequel series entitled ‘The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder.’ Similar to the original series, Louder and prouder proved a significant hit for the Disney Channel - further concretizing the show's protagonist, Penny Proud, as a prominent and hugely important figure in the history of Black American animation.

In his youth, Smith was very much aware of the lack of Black characters and themes in mainstream animation.  He dedicated much of his career in an effort to move things forward in rectifying this deficit.   And it is abundantly clear that he greatly succeeded in this goal.  

I decided to create a masterpost that would help you with what you are struggling with. Hopefully any of the links below will help you! Reminder; You’re going to be okay. What you are going through will pass, just remember to breathe. 

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Distractions;

Here are some distractions to help keep your mind occupied so you aren’t too focused on your thoughts. 

-Draw something

-This website translates the time into colours.

-Create your own galaxy.

-Play flowing.

-Make a 3D line travel where ever you like. 

-Listen to music.

-Calm.

-Ocean mood, do nothing for two minutes.

Sleep issues; 

- 8 hour sleep music.

-Rainy mood. 

-Meditation.

-Coping with nightmares.

-How to cope with nightmares, 11 steps.

-Calm

-Foods that can affect your sleeping, both positive and negatively. 

 Uncomfortable with silence; 

-Rainy mood.

-10 hours of rain and thunder.

-3 hours of rain and thunder.

-Human heartbeat.

-Rainforest.

-Sound of rain on a tin roof.

-Autumn wind.

-Rain on a tent

-Traffic in the rain.

-Soft traffic. 

-Fan.

-Train.

-Simply noise.

-My noise.

-Rainy cafe.

Anxiety; 

-How to stop worrying. 

-Tips to manage anxiety and stress.

-The 10 best ever anxiety management techniques. 

-Self-help strategies for anxiety. 

-Helping a friend with anxiety. 

-All about worrying.

-8 myths about anxiety. 

Sad, angry and depressed/depression; 

-“I’m always sad”

-Feeling sad.

-Going through trauma.

-“I’m always angry”.

-Anger management. 

-All about anger.

-National helplines and websites.

-Self-help strategies for depression.

-Dealing with depression at work.

-Dealing with depression at school.

Isolation and loneliness; 

-Pets and mental health.

-All about loneliness. 

-“I feel so alone”

-10 more ideas to help with loneliness. 

-How to deal with loneliness.

 Self-harm;

-Alternatives to self-harm and distraction techniques.

-146 things to do besides self-harm.

-More alternatives to self-harm.

-Self-harm alternatives.

-How to take care of self-harm wounds/injuries.

-Getting rid of scars.  

Addiction; 

-How to help a friend with a drug addiction.

-What is addiction?

-All about alcohol and addiction.

-The facts about drug addiction.

 Eating disorders; 

-Helping a friend with an eating disorder.

-Eating disorder treatments. 

-Support services for eating disorders. 

-Self-help tips with eating disorders.

-Eating disorder recovery. 

-Recovering from an eating disorder. 

-100+ reasons to recover. 

-Understanding and managing eating disorders. 

 Dealing with self-hatred;  

-3 ways to ease self-loathing. 

-How to turn self-hatred into self-compassion.

-Self-hatred resources.

-10 step plan to deal with self-hate. 

 Suicidal; 

-International suicide hotlines (1)  (2)

-Preventing suicide. 

-Reasons to stay alive.

-Dealing with suicidal thoughts and feelings.

-Coping with suicidal ideation.  

 Schizophrenia;

-All about schizophrenia.  

-Helping a person with schizophrenia.  

-Understanding and dealing with schizophrenia.  

-Delusions and hallucinations.  

OCD;

-Managing your OCD at home. 

-Overcoming OCD.

-How to cope with OCD. 

-Strategies for dealing with the anxious moments. 

Borderline personality disorder; 

-Helping someone with BPD. 

-All about personality disorders.

-Treatment for BPD.

Abuse; 

-Healthy relationships VS abusive relationships. 

-Emotional abuse

-Overcoming sexual abuse. 

-Hotlines services. 

-5 ways to escape an abusive relationship. 

-Domestic violence support. 

-Signs of an abusive relationship. 

-What do to if you’re in an abusive relationship. 

-Surviving abuse. 

-What you can do if you’re sexual harassed. 

-Sexual assault support.

-What to do if you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused. 

 Bullying;

-How to stand up against bullying.

-How to protect yourself when it comes to cyber bullying.

-How to help stop people bullying you. 

 Loss and grief; 

-How to cope with a suicide of a loved one.

-Grieving for a stranger. 

-Common reactions to death. 

-Working through grief.

(Other loss and grief)

-Moving away from friends and family. 

-Coping with a breakup.

 Getting help; 

-Seeking help early. 

-All about psychological treatments. 

-Types of help.

-All about age and confidentiality. 

Things you need to remember; 

- Don’t stress about being fixed because you’re not broken.

-Remember to remind yourself of your accomplishments. Tell yourself that you’re proud of yourself, even if you’re not. 

- This is temporary. You won’t always feel like this. 

-You are not alone. 

-You are enough. 

-You are important. 

-You are worth it. 

-You are strong. 

-You are not a failure, 

-Good people exist. 

-Reaching out shows strength. 

-Breathe. 

-Don’t listen to the thoughts that are not helping you. 

-Give yourself credit. 

-Don’t be ashamed of your emotions, for the good or bad ones. 

-Treat yourself the same way as you would treat a good friend. 

-Focus on the things you can change. 

-Let go of toxic people. 

-You don’t need to hide, you’re allowed to feel the way you do. 

-Try not to beat yourself up. 

-Something is always happening, you don’t want to miss out on what’s going to happen next. 

-You are not a bother.

-Your existence is more than your appearance. 

-You are smart. 

-You are loved. 

-You are wanted. 

-You are needed. 

-Better days are coming. 

-Just because your past is dark, doesn’t mean your future isn’t bright. 

-You have more potential than you think. 

- Your value doesn’t decrease based on someone’s inability to see your worth.

text : The Donald Trump administration has terminated grants that have been used to fund PBS Kids programming.

Trump’s Department of Education will now prioritize funding for meaningful learning and improving student outcomes instead of divisive ideologies and “woke propaganda.”

WHAT. THE. HELL.

DONATE IF YOU CAN!

Started this at 15 and finished it at 17, thank you to @zigazone , @firadessa and @darlenchanted for being the reason I didn’t give up on them

+YouTube link

This was the last appearance of Peppermint Patty and Marcie before Charles Schulz's death a few weeks later. As far as I'm aware, it's the last time he ever drew them.

With that context in mind, this already pretty eerie feeling strip becomes an absolute doozy.

I'm already someone who has a hard time with the concept of death, that one day I won't be able to think anymore, or draw anymore. That one day I'll die and my creations will die along with me. So this strip throws me into soul searching existential terror every time I come across it.

It's easy to interpret it as introspection about being at the end of your life. That this is a man coming to terms with his imminent death through his art. I think that part might be intentional, or at least it happened subconsciously. The subtext is definitely there. Schulz is using Peppermint Patty as a mouthpiece for his feelings on his imminent passing, using an abruptly ended football game as a metaphor. There's no fanfare at the end, no grand finale, nobody shakes your hand and says "good game". You did have fun, but... is that really it? The way the art becomes rougher and shakier as it goes on just adds to it. Schulz was probably getting emotional finishing this strip because he knew his time was coming and this was the last time he'd ever draw Peppermint Patty and Marcie.

But if you overthink it, the way I have when it puts me into a mood. If you take all that and pair it with the imagery and dialogue of the strip, along with this being the final appearance of a character Schulz had a lot of affection for, if I can get a little Creepypasta-y for a second, this becomes one of the most haunting pieces of existential horror ever made. It's like a Peanuts equivalent of those Garfield strips where he wakes up in a world where he doesn't exist.

Simply put, it seriously reads like Peppermint Patty herself is dead, and is being ushered into the afterlife by an apparition of Marcie.

Let me lay it out best I can.

Peppermint Patty is in an empty, raining void. For the majority of the strip, the ground isn't even there. Patty is just sitting here in nothingness as she keeps calling out for Charlie Brown, who does not answer, because he is not there. No one is. Marcie appears out of nowhere, just standing there behind her. She tells Patty it's getting dark and she should come with her. The way her tone reads, with the ellipses, it feels unnatural, it has none of Marcie's usual snark. As if she's the angel of death come to bring Peppermint Patty to the afterlife. Patty becomes still and expressionless, you can barely make out her face anymore. The art becomes rougher and shakier, almost distorted. Patty is barely recognizable by the final panel as the dread of her situation sinks in. She realizes her end is here and reflects on it, barely able to comprehend it. She asks the apparition of Marcie if they "had fun", as if she's questioning if the life she lived was worth it. She did have fun, but she thought it would be different. She thought there would be more to it. But this is it. It's over. "Marcie" leaves as Peppermint Patty is left to grapple with this in her final ever appearance in a Peanuts comic strip.

Tipped off about the prominent role of the Little Red-Haired Girl, Donna is very much looking forward to seeing The Peanuts Movie. She thinks there’s a real possibility that, this time, Charlie Brown will muster the courage to get off his bench and speak to her at last.

November 6, 2015

(Vanity Fair) – Donna Johnson Wold’s hair, which was once, in her own words, “violently red,” has long since faded to the white you’d expect of an 86-year-old grandmother.

Having lived her whole life in Minneapolis, Wold now resides in a nursing home, where she has recently been undergoing physical therapy. Every day, her husband, Al, drives five miles to visit her so the two of them can sit in the sunshine together and reminisce.

One of Mrs. Wold’s fondest memories happens to be of a relationship she had with another man more than half a century ago. She still has a few reminders of him and that time: a scrawled-upon 1950 desk diary, a music box, and a large collection of decades’ worth of Peanuts comic strips, cut out from the pages of The Minneapolis Star Tribune, many of which revolve around a pretty redhead.

The strips have a special significance for Mrs. Wold. Around the peak of its popularity, Peanuts was published in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries in 21 languages with a readership of 355 million. And yet, every now and then, it was a secret romantic correspondence, imbued with a hidden meaning only truly understood by its creator and one other person.

So that trailer for Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical dropped today and it had some great moments shown in it.

OG Peanuts designs used for Charlie Brown and gang when they're younger.

This Peppermint Patty and Marcie moment.

Brown Sibling Cuteness

Sally being an adorable Horse Girl.

But the thing that caught my attention the second time viewing it was one of the kids at the camp.

Before I bring it up, here's a quick history lesson:

This is Dolores. She only appeared in some educational filmstrips from the 70s that are pretty rare. One had been discovered a while ago, hence where this shot came from.

And here's a random shot from the trailer. Note the girl next to Sally that isn't Eudora. Then compare her to this shot of Dolores from one of the filmstrips.

Tan/brown skin. Freckles. Black hair with curly pigtails. Purple shirt, black shorts, and white shoes.

Did they bring back Dolores??? If they did, then that is AWESOME!!

Here are more shots where she appears.