Friday, December 22, 2006

Tis the season of goodwill......



I go out of my way to correct folks who miscredit me for my work on BOB THE BUILDER - I'm quick to let folks know that I'm officially NOT "the creator" of Bob, although I am the man who designed the show from scratch, from a blank canvas, with no influence or input from anyone else. The originator of the show, however, would appear to have no such compunction in misleading the public as to his own involvement:

"If you want some psychology from Chapman then he readily explains that, to succeed, a character must “touch a child’s heart, bond with them emotionally so they can’t do without it”. Deliberately, he drew Bob with a big head and a small body because that’s how pre-schoolers look. Although he still receives handsome royalties, he sold the creative rights for Bob to Hit Entertainment to have the financial freedom to set up his own company. But you get the impression that he is rather wistful about that now."
This time round a Guardian article:
"This time around, however, Mr Chapman is doing things on his own terms. "I don't want to criticise HIT - they made Bob the Builder a major success. But I was only involved in the development of my property up to when it began on television," he said. "

Another glaring misconception. The creative team who took Bob the Builder through development to the BBC consisted of myself, Kate Fawkes @ HIT and producer Jackie Cockle @ HOT Animation. It was our collective work that got BOB THE BUILDER commissioned, and for that I'm immensely proud. There was nobody else involved.

What a great shame that, even with millions that my designs helped to garner, some people are incapable of letting folk know the truth. I'm not really that bitter, guys, it just hacks me off when I read rubbish like that. Looking forward to setting the record straight when we start promoting FRANKENSTEIN'S CAT next year. The preschool knitted mittens are definitely OFF! :-D

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from all @ BADA BLING! x

12 comments:

Tidyfiguremaker said...

Tis the season to be jolly!!
Maybe we can all club in together and see if we can get Mr. Teatime to pay a visit, HO HO HO!

Seriously though, if there is any justice in the world you will reap the rewards of all your hard labour. I'm sure that it will happen you've just got to make it so.

Todd Harris said...

great job on this! have a great holiday season!

Andrew Glazebrook said...

Hope you've all had a great Christmas and Boxing Day and all the bset for 2007 and the world of Frankenstein's Cat !!!!!

boob said...

Jeez...whatta buncha lame-o's! Only thing left to do is riot I figure ;)

Have a wonderful holiday or two!

Niel Bushnell said...

Fight! Fight! Fight!

roque said...

What a lousy thing to happen to you, Curtis. Well, at least you have the right attitude...

Ryan Wood said...

That's unfortunate to hear Curtis. If anyone asks we'll all set 'em straight! Hats off to ya, all the best this new year!

Jo Bling said...

Many thanks for calling by with the comments guys, supportive and amusing (Bushnell!) as they are :-) I'm usually quite good at accepting misquotes and cock-ups in the inustry as they happen so fequently, but this just smacked of straight-forward glory-grabbing.

Shame indeed...

New post to follow shortly, I promise!

jimmynock said...

Yo Jo, What Ya Know?
Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day and finally "Happy Be Kind To A Hairy Nun Day" Its been a while since I have stopped by and I could kick myself in the habit for that! As always your art is looking great. I just wrapped on a big project so I'll be stopping by more often. I need the insperation! PS> I hope its OK I put a link to your blog from mine.
Hope all is well
Sister Alfonso Nunzio Manocchio

Anonymous said...

Hello there

Can I just say your illustrations and ideas are just amazing. Can you tell me how you have gone about illustrating your images like pocket dog and frankenstiens cat. Any info you can give me would help on the tools of the trade as I wouldnt mind trying my hand at doing a bit of sketching.

Didnt think I'd ever see illustrations that were sooo good that I'd want to try myself.

Bristol Andy!

Jo Bling said...

Jimmy, how you doin' ya big hairy nun, ya? :-D Always good to hear from you sir. I'll get a link vice versa'd no worries.

Bristol Andy, thanks for the kind words, you've got me blushing now. We're making a huge portion of FRANKENSTEINS CAT in Bristol at A Productions Studio. Very cool people indeedy!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the reply Jo Bling

Can you say who in Bristol is doing the Cat stuff?

Also are you able to tell me what tehniques you use for your piccies?

Keep posting, it makes my boring day at work go quicker ; )

Bristol ANdy