THE ART OF BEING LOONEY
For almost a century, the Looney Tunes have been among the most beloved characters in animation. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, the Road Runner, Yosemite Sam and their often crazy companions turned the animated short into an art form built on perfect timing and expressions and gloriously impossible ideas. Their world may be chaotic, but the animation behind it was anything but: every gesture, explosion or raised eyebrow was created by highly skilled artists and carefully planned movement. Coinciding with the cinema release of Coyote vs. Acme, The Art of Being Looney celebrates the drawings, cels and production artwork behind these extraordinary characters. Nearly a century after their first appearance, we still love them because, however often they fail, explode, fall off cliffs or lose their tempers, they always get up and try again.
1. Daffy Duck at the Piano
Bugs and Daffy’s Carnival of the Animals, 1976
Manny Perez (1914–1981)
Pencil on animation paper
Original rough animation drawing of Daffy Duck energetically playing the piano. Manny Perez was one of the master animators on Chuck Jones’s television adaptation of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals.
2. Road Runner with Question Mark
Chariots of Fur, 1994
Warner Bros. Animation / Chuck Jones Film Productions
Gouache on acetate
Original production cel from Chariots of Fur, directed by Chuck Jones (1912–2002). The theatrical short marked Jones’s final film as director featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
3. Road Runner with Non-Matching Production Background
Chariots of Fur, 1994 / background from No Man’s Valley, 1981
Warner Bros. / Bill Melendez Productions
Gouache on acetate over hand-painted background
Original Road Runner production cel from Chariots of Fur displayed over an original non-matching hand-painted production background from No Man’s Valley (1981), produced and directed by Bill Melendez (1916–2008).
4. Bugs Bunny in Shock
Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production, 2015
Warner Bros. Animation
Coloured pencil on animation paper
Production drawing of Bugs Bunny, marked B72, made during the digital production process for Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production, later retitled New Looney Tunes. The drawing captures Bugs in an exaggerated moment of surprise and movement.
5. Yosemite Sam in a Car
Looney Tunes: Back in Action, 2003
Warner Bros. Feature Animation
Pencil on paper
Panoramic production drawing of Yosemite Sam from Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Directed by Joe Dante, the feature combined live action with traditionally animated Looney Tunes characters.
6. Daffy Duck, “Height Jokes”
Space Jam: A New Legacy, 2021
Len Simon (b. 1970)
Pencil on animation paper
Signed production drawing by animator Len Simon, created in connection with a sequence involving the transition of the Looney Tunes characters between two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation.
7. Daffy Duck and Claw Chaney
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies, 1972
Filmation / Warner Bros. Television
Pencil on animation paper
Original production drawing of Daffy Duck with the monster character Claw Chaney. Daffy’s name for the character is a comic reference to silent-film actor and celebrated screen monster Lon Chaney (1883–1930). The individual animator responsible for this drawing has not been identified.
8. Road Runner – Publication Artwork
c. 1980s–1990s
Warner Bros.
Ink on Strathmore board
Original finished line artwork of the Road Runner, probably created for reproduction in a Looney Tunes colouring or activity book. It forms a pair with the Wile E. Coyote artwork also shown in the exhibition and appears to originate from the same publication project.
9. Wile E. Coyote, Tweety, Sylvester and Porky Pig
Daffy Duck and Porky Pig Meet the Groovie Goolies, 1972
Filmation / Warner Bros. Television
Gouache on acetate
Original hand-painted production cel showing Wile E. Coyote, Tweety, Sylvester and Porky Pig as silhouettes. The television special was an unusual crossover in which Filmation animated established Warner Bros. characters alongside its own Groovie Goolies cast.
10. Wile E. Coyote
1995
Chuck Jones (1912–2002)
Pencil on paper
Original sketch of Wile E. Coyote drawn by Chuck Jones during an interview in 1995. Jones created the character with writer Michael Maltese and directed the classic Road Runner and Coyote cartoons from their beginnings in 1949.
11. Wile E. Coyote – Publication Artwork
c. 1980s–1990s
Warner Bros.
Ink on Strathmore board
Original finished line artwork of Wile E. Coyote, apparently created for the same colouring or activity-book project as the accompanying Road Runner drawing. The clean inked line was intended for reproduction rather than animation production.
12. Bugs Bunny, LeBron James and the Tasmanian Devil
Space Jam: A New Legacy, 2021
Including drawings by Len Simon (b. 1970)
Pencil on animation paper
Group of four production drawings: Bugs Bunny, LeBron James and two sequential studies of the Tasmanian Devil falling forward. The drawings document character poses and movement during production of a feature combining traditional two-dimensional animation with digital and three-dimensional imagery.
13. Bugs Bunny – Head Studies
Bugs and Daffy’s Carnival of the Animals, 1976
Manny Perez (1914–1981)
Pencil and coloured pencil on animation paper
Two original rough studies of Bugs Bunny by master animator Manny Perez. The drawings reveal the exploratory stage of the animation process, establishing expression and character before the image was refined for filming.
14. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
c. 1980s–1990s
Kelley Jarvis (b. 1968) for Warner Bros.
Pen on paper
Original character illustration by Kelley Jarvis showing Bugs Bunny seated on a mound of carrots with Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. Jarvis worked as an illustrator, animator and licensed-character artist for major American entertainment studios.
15. Bugs Bunny, “Ain’t it Doc”
Space Jam: A New Legacy, 2021
Len Simon (b. 1970)
Pencil on animation paper
Signed production drawing by animator Len Simon, made in connection with a sequence in which Bugs Bunny is translated from his traditional two-dimensional form into a three-dimensional digital character.
16. Yosemite Sam
A Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur’s Court, 1978
Manny Perez (1914–1981)
Chuck Jones Productions / Warner Bros. Television
Pencil on animation paper with timing notations
Original rough animation drawing of Yosemite Sam by Manny Perez, retaining production timing notes. Directed by Chuck Jones, the television special reimagined Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court with Bugs Bunny and other familiar Warner Bros. characters.