When Calvin Wong learned last year that Cartoon Network Studios would be moving out of his old home in Burbank, he was struck with sadness.
The historic building has been the starting point for many favorite animated films over the years, including “Samurai Jack,” “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” “Adventure Time” and much more. It’s also where Wong began his first animation assignment years ago. as a storyboard reviewer on “Regular Show. “
But what worried the “We Bavia Bears” showrunner most was the fate of a staircase he walked up every day on his way to his office. Since its opening in 2000, the studio had given its employees carte blanche to draw on the walls of one of the building’s staircases. More than 20 years of memories, milestones and inside jokes have been etched into those walls through other people who have walked through the building.
“Imagining someone with a portrait of a curling iron on the walls made me unhappy,” Wong said on a recent video call. “It made me unhappy that his story, the warts and everything, was being repainted. I think that’s what happens in the The End made me need to keep it. [But] I didn’t know how we were going to do it.
On Monday, Cartoon Network Studios unveiled its online page commemorating the artist’s ladder. For the first time, the general public can get a detailed review and take a virtual tour of the area before the art was removed. After the presentation, the online page includes snapshots and anecdotes of workers and former workers who have left their mark on those walls.
Wong, who helped lead the preservation efforts, hopes they will inspire more people to share their stories.
For “Powerpuff Girls” author Craig McCracken, the former Cartoon Network Studios building was a special place.
“I literally helped decide on the building,” McCracken said, explaining that former Cartoon Network executives Mike Lazzo and Rob Sorcher shared their early studio projects with him and “Dexter’s Lab” author Genndy Tartakovsky. “We’d known for about two years that they were going to locate us for a studio, but they wouldn’t let us say anything. “
After seeing some features in Burbank, McCracken and Tartakovsky helped decide on the location at the corner of Third Street and Palm Avenue that, according to reports at the time, was a former Pacific Bell building. They even contributed to the artists’ design. (“Everybody assumes animators like big, quirky shapes, masses of color and things like that, but we need biological, neutral wood,” McCracken said. )
As soon as the studio officially opened, the artists gave them cans of spray paint and told them they could write and draw on the four-story staircase.
“It was a position for artistic experimentation and artistic freedom,” McCracken said. “[The leaders] appreciated the artists and the staircase was kind of a way of saying, ‘This is yours. ‘”So each and every day, when you went up from floor to floor, you were reminded of the freedom we had. » here on Cartoon Network.
However, only the first graffiti was done with spray paint. For reasons of fitness and protection, artists were temporarily told that they had to use pens or pencils. Over the years, the walls have been filled with self-portraits, drawings of characters from shows, and even messages in response to notes left years before.
Jessie Juwono, who works on the studio’s artist control team, first joined Cartoon Network Studios as a production intern in 2009.
“The staircase was magical, especially when you came here as an intern,” said Juwono, who noted that the creativity was “electric. “
Juwono commemorated his time as an intern with a drawing of a character he created on the staircase. Years later, when he returned to the studio as a member, he added another room right next door.
“It was a great moment to come full circle,” Juwono said. “I had to re-sign it right underneath my old drawing, so I thought, ‘And all those years later, she came back and she had this new calling and this new calling and the same love for animation. ‘”
Wong remembers feeling a little beaten and intimidated by the story it represented when he first stepped onto the artist’s staircase, but what he appreciates is that “the wall is very democratic. “
“Anyone can be inspired by it,” Wong said. So you’d have mythical sketches, but a little kid [visiting] would be drawing next to them. “
For Wong, this is the philosophy of Cartoon Network Studios, where everyone’s artistic voices at all levels were valued.
“It was a position open to all ideas,” Wong said. “Anyone can come and propose something. We put creators first, no matter how you draw or where you’re from.
Nick Winn, a prop and character designer for films such as “Craig of the Creek” and “Jessica’s Big Little World,” describes the artist’s staircase as a museum and “a time machine. “
“The staircase shows eras and how styles have been replaced over the years,” Winn said. “Seeing drawings through other people like Craig McCracken, [the] ‘Steven Universe’ team. . . as someone who grew up with Cartoon Network, it was actually all awesome to me. “
Although Winn enjoyed admiring the art in the stairwell, it wasn’t until she finished “Jessica’s Big Little World” that she added her own drawings with other members of the team.
“I forgot to draw the stairwell,” Winn said. When the last day came, I was determined to draw that stairwell before I left. “
At times, the memories commemorated on the staircase were bittersweet. Wong recalls that the workers at “Driftwood” added “all these beautiful drawings from this project” to the walls the day they learned their animated film had been canceled.
While Cartoon Network Studios continues to exist, since the discovery of Warner Bros. in 2022, its production and progression groups have been consolidated with those of Warner Bros. After abandoning its old building, the existing studio moved into the designed iceberg-shaped work buildings. via Frank Gehry, near the Warner Bros. grounds. (Their new area is decorated with memorabilia from the old Cartoon Network Studios building, adding wallpaper based on the artist’s staircase. )
“Cartoon Network cared about its artists in a way that wasn’t limited to making cartoons so they could make money,” Winn said.
For some artists, the building’s closure marked the end of an era, especially since the animation industry had been deeply affected by streamers seeking to correct its lavish overfinishing even before Hollywood’s recent contraction. Others remain confident that Cartoon Network Studios will continue to be what it did. special for them.
While Juwono wasn’t happy about the studio abandoning its historic building, she notes that in animation “things get replaced and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. “
“No matter what construction we’re in, I think we’re going to have that artistic spirit that can’t be contained,” Juwono said.
McCracken echoed his sentiment.
“Seeing [the building] up close was sad, but it’s not the position, it’s the people,” he said. “The spirit of Cartoon Network still exists among artists in the community. But this position was special and the ladder, in particular, was special.
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