23rd Anniversary of ChalkZone

Rudy's got the chalk! Chalk! chalk! chalk! chalk! chalk! chalk!

CHALKZONE!

23 years ago today, Nickelodeon aired a truly unique cartoon and one of my all-time favorite Nicktoons ever. The series focuses on a young artist named Rudy Tabootie, who discovers a box of magic chalk that allows him to draw portals into the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything ever drawn with chalk and erased exists as living/tangible entities. He soon makes friends with Snap, a short, blue, wisecracking superhero drawing made by Rudy when he was eight years old, and they would have their first adventures together in ChalkZone. A couple of years later, Rudy meets Penny Sanchez, his academically intellectual classmate, and they became best friends after sharing a comic he made about him and Snap's adventures. She soon becomes the one other person to enter ChalkZone, much to her initial surprise, and together, the three friends go on all sorts of adventures in ChalkZone.

In the real world, Rudy lives with his mother and father, Millie and Joe, who runs a meat shop. At school, Rudy and Penny are teased by Reggie Bullnerd, the school bully or get them into trouble with Mr. Wilter, their grumpy teacher who vehemently dislikes cartoons, and thus doesn't approve of Rudy's passion for cartooning. In ChalkZone itself, Rudy, Penny, and Snap interact with all sorts of characters. First, there is Cyclops, the kilt-wearing guardian of the magic chalk mines where Rudy obtains his magic chalk (Rudy later draws a second eye for him and renames him "Biclops"). Then, there is Queen Rapsheeba, ChalkZone's musical artist whom Snap has a crush on, and Blocky, a light green block friend of Snap's and Rudy's first-ever drawing. However, they also face villains such as Skrawl, a drawing who blames Rudy for being ugly and wants to destroy him, and the Craniacs, a series of robot drawings obsessed with collecting futuristic devices.

Before it became its own series in 2002, Chalkzone originally premiered as a pilot short on Fred Seibert's Oh Yeah! Cartoons animated shorts showcase in 1998. The series ran on Nickelodeon from March 22, 2002, to August 23, 2008, with 40 episodes in total. Every episode would have about two or so segments featuring Rudy and his friends on their adventures, one segment starring only Snap, and an episode would end one-minute music videos sung by Rudy and his friends (credited as "Rudy & The Chalkzone Band"). When drawing the chalk characters, the animators would use a gummy eraser to give their outlines a chalk-like look. The final season featured new character designs with a slimmer line quality and a zooming chalk transition as new artists and overseas studios were used for the remainder of the series.

ChalkZone has been one of my favorite Nicktoons ever. I just love its unique animation style, its comedy, its characters, and music. I would watch it on both the Nickelodeon and Nicktoons channels. Rudy is my favorite E.G. Daily characters, Snap is my favorite character in the show, and Skrawl is my favorite ChalkZone villain (one of Jim Cumming's finest performances). I'm aware the show has a complete DVD, but it's unavailable. I can only watch it on Paramount +. Even as I worked on this pic, I've been binge-watching the show. This will always be one of Nickelodeon's finest and most unique cartoons ever.

******

My first ChalkZone fanart ever! To tell you the truth, because of the series' unique animation design, I was doubtful if I would ever be able to make any art of the cartoon through Photoshop, the art program I use for all my fanart. Had I thought otherwise, I would've made something for last year. It seemed like making ChalkZone fanart would only be a pipe dream.

A couple of weeks ago, however, when I was waking up, I remembered that Photoshop has chalk brushes. So, I thought I could overlook my doubts and experiment to make anything for the show. Before I could, I checked to see when ChalkZone's next anniversary was. I wished it would've been months later, especially since I had other projects to work on. Fortunately, I completed some of my submissions ahead in advance. So, at that point, I got right to it!

First, I made some screenshots of Snap. Once I found the right postures, and I traced his outlines, I proceeded with the experiment. I sadly discovered that I am unable to make the chalk effect because my Photoshop doesn't have the feature necessary; I use a Photoshop CS6, and the chalk effect can be done in later versions. So, I used the chalk brush, it didn't work the way I intended. Ironically, I ended up using the crayon brush for Snap's outline. It's not perfect, but it's pretty close, especially if you look at this pic from a distance. Pleased with the results, I would continue with the rest of the piece.

Now, I just had to collect some screenshot references for the pic. Originally, this pic would have Rudy Tabootie standing right beside a chalkboard, and Snap would pop out from behind a chalk portal. Obviously, making Rudy's vector was simple enough. I took screenshots for Rudy, and I had to improvise for the right pose. However, I changed my mind with my initial idea, and chose to have Rudy, Snap, and Penny appear in ChalkZone, and this was decided at the last minute. Before working on Penny, I took screenshots of some locations of ChalkZone yesterday. Then, I used the chalk brush, and even if it's not 100% exact, it turned to work splendidly. Then, I got to work on Penny. I struggled to find the right posture, but then I settled for this, and this was the last addition to the pic. In the end, this whole pic turned out better than I thought.

Now although I was able to make a close to exact ChalkZone fanart, I realize that Photoshop is not exactly the correct program to make this kind of art. I did find really great CZ fanart drawn by @henry140. I inquired on which program he uses, and he told me he uses iPaintX. I should consider install the app if I decide to make more ChalkZone fanart.


ChalkZone by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber and owned by Nickelodeon

Rudy Tabootie, Penny Sanchez, and Snap's vectors by me

Background by me

Happy 23rd Anniversary, ChalkZone! Thanks for 23 years of showing us how magical chalk is.