Darren

a: digital color over scan pencil drawing, 2004.


b: digital mixed media with scan of India ink drawing, 2006.


c: blue Col-erase and black Prisma Color on copier paper, 20.32 cm. x 25.40 cm. (8.0 in. x 10.0 in.), 2008.

Darren Hunt was the first on staff character artist at Cartoon Network, Trade Creative Services (TCS) group, and, as I understand it, always a snappy dresser. Previously, he was a character artist with Disney's theme park merchandise group in Florida.

As an artist, he was cast on assignments playing towards his strengths with dynamic comedic characters. Outside of publishing (comics and coloring activity books), he probably worked on most, if not all, of the "Dexter's Laboratory," "Johnny Bravo," and "Ed, Edd n Eddy" ever to reach the consumer public. Of the little I saw, he was one of the best traditional inkers I have personally encountered. Now days, however, most commercial character art is inked digitally - again excluding publishing, but mostly due to volume.

He was always looking to find a way to improve the way we did things at the network, including experiments with 3-d computer modelling programs, but it was close to impossible implement huge changes when most of our duties was quick turn-around 2-d work.

a) A birthday drawing which is half the joke. The other half had Merrill in a rabbit costume because he share the same birthday. The two together are a play of Chuck Jones' classic Bugs Bunny/ Daffy Duck feud. [***--]

b) A birthday drawing done in the style of Robb Armstrong's "Jump Start." Tinker Bell is one of his favorite characters. [**---]

c) With this previously unpublished drawing done for a cubicle shingle/ name plate, I found that Darren was generally dissatisfied with my charicatures of him. What I saw as barrel chested, he saw as fat. Some one once said that in the TCS movie, Darren should be cast with Billy Dee Williams. [****-]