Cartoonito Beepers
2021
In the fall of 2021, a golden ticket fell into our laps — an open brief from Cartoon Network for the launch of their new pre-school platform, Cartoonito. For this amazing opportunity we conjured up our greatest act yet: a lovable, quirky group of instrumental sound-makers known as “The Beepers.” Together, they form a fun, ever-evolving, jam band that rocks out with their crocs out while learning valuable life lessons.
Kick drum
Percussions
Bass synth
Spacey-synth
Backup vocals
Lead synth
Our metronome
Lead guitar
Musical fun > homework
Each one of the Beepers episodes teaches a different lesson that aligns with one of Cartoon Network’s core educational pillars, The Four C’s: Curiosity, Courage, Caring, and Creativity.
Within a given episode, there's overlap among these pillars. In our episodes, The Beepers learn about cooperation, adapting to change, and getting the courage to shine — all through a musical lens, so it doesn’t feel like homework.
We started with three episodes.
(Episodes 1, 2, and 3)
Ep 1: The Visitor
The Beepers find the perfect groove after a new friend shreds a little too hard.
Ep 2: Funky Time
The Beepers play with tempo and learn that adapting to change can be... sweaty.
Ep 3: Spotlight
When a spotlight gives everyone a chance to solo, a shy Beeper discovers the courage to shine.
The Concept Behind the Design
We didn’t have any pre-baked ideas about who would make up our band except that each character would represent a different musical instrument or sound—a simple concept that would allow us to speak to even the littlest among us.
Character Design
Creating our characters was a labor of love. We wanted each one to be unique and memorable. And importantly, each needed to embody the sound of an instrument.
Is a wawa sound swirly?
With each instrument, we had to explore what the sound would look like so we could begin to choose the right design elements.
The guitar should be jagged and energized.
Hi-hats should feel quick, light, and metallic.
We had a blast experimenting with shape, color, and motion as we strived to capture the essence of their particular sound. Our designs are based on simple, geometric shapes. The graphic silhouettes, playful colors, and fun materials are easy to read and provide greater flexibility in motion.
Because The Beepers shorts were going to live or die based on the bossness of the music, we reached out to our amazing composer, Mikey Maleki, to help us bring this to life. We had a great back and forth with him—a duet of music and design, each one riffing off the other.
This collaboration produced a deliciously dark disco track, a stone-cold Funkadelic groove, and a knee-wobbling dancehall banger that not only gets fingers snapping and heads bopping but also introduces kids to new genres of mind-expanding music.
Coda
There’s nothing we’d love more than exploring other musical genres in the future with this crew. What kind of Beepers will show up when we do bluegrass or be-bop? Or Viking metal? Or underground desert polka? Only time will tell.
Spotlight
Group Creative Directors
Joe Mullen
Thomas Schmid
Creative Director
Marc Steinberg
Creative Consultants
Andy Lyon
Mike Bertino
Steve Day
Executive Producers
Emily Rickard
Jay Brooker
Jeff Ellermeyer
Kirsten Collabolletta
Nick Carmen
Orion Tait
Ryan Honey
Senior Producers
David Guti Rosado
Jamey Kitchens
Head of 3D / 3D Supervisor
Alex Dingfelder
Head of 3D Animation
Alessandro Ceglia
Head of 2D Animation
Peter Kallstrom
Head of Post Production
Paal Rui
Designers
Joel Plosz
Mark Kulakoff
Patrick Sluiter
Storyboards
Junyi Xiao
Matty Deans
3D Lead
Eugene Goryachev
Marc Steinberg
3D Animation Lead
Peter DeSalvo
Rigging Supervisor
Ernesto Ruiz Velasco
3D Artists
Alfonso Petersen
Beatrice Viguier
Chloe Tu
Rui Huang
Tina Chao
Riggers
Jing Huang
Jordan Levitt
Juan Carlos Barraza Mendoza
3D Animation
Hillary McCarthy
Josh Baum
Laura Koval
Peter DeSalvo
Tyler Lancaster
2D Animation
Nicole Pappas
Rafael Araujo
Editor
Billy Kostka
Sound
Music and Sound Design
Mikey Maleki
Mix Engineer
Jeff Kolhede
Funky Time
Group Creative Directors
Joe Mullen
Thomas Schmid
Creative Director
Andy Lyon
Creative Consultants
Marc Steinberg
Mike Bertino
Steve Day
Executive Producers
Emily Rickard
Jay Brooker
Jeff Ellermeyer
Kirsten Collabolletta
Nick Carmen
Orion Tait
Ryan Honey
Senior Producer
David Guti Rosado
Head of 3D / 3D Supervisor
Alex Dingfelder
Head of 3D Animation
Alessandro Ceglia
Head of 2D Animation
Peter Kallstrom
Head of Post Production
Paal Rui
Designers
Joel Plosz
Mark Kulakoff
Patrick Sluiter
Storyboards
Junyi Xiao
Matty Deans
3D Lead
Eugene Goryachev
3D Animation Lead
Tyler Lancaster
Rigging Supervisor
Ernesto Ruiz Velasco
3D Artists
Alfonso Petersen
Beatrice Viguier
Eugene Goryachev
Rui Huang
Riggers
Jing Huang
Jordan Levitt
Juan Carlos Barraza Mendoza
3D Animation
Gordana Fersini
Hillary McCarthy
Josh Baum
Laura Koval
Peter DeSalvo
Tyler Lancaster
2D Animation
Nicole Pappas
Rafael Araujo
Editor
Billy Kostka
Zen Rosenthal
Sound
Music and Sound Design
Mikey Maleki
Mix Engineer
Jeff Kolhede
The Visitor
Group Creative Directors
Joe Mullen
Thomas Schmid
Creative Director
Steve Day
Creative Consultants
Andy Lyon
Marc Steinberg
Mike Bertino
Executive Producers
Emily Rickard
Jay Brooker
Jeff Ellermeyer
Kirsten Collabolletta
Nick Carmen
Orion Tait
Ryan Honey
Senior Producer
David Guti Rosado
Head of 3D / 3D Supervisor
Alex Dingfelder
Head of 3D Animation
Peter Kallstrom
Head of Post Production
Paal Rui
Designers
Joel Plosz
Mark Kulakoff
Patrick Sluiter
Storyboards
Junyi Xiao
Matty Deans
3D Lead
Wing Sze Lee
3D Animation Lead
Tyler Lancaster
Rigging Supervisor
Ernesto Ruiz Velasco
3D Artists
Beatrice Viguier
Elias Glasch
Wing Sze Lee
Riggers
Jing Huang
Juan Carlos Barraza Mendoza
3D Animation
Alessandro Ceglia
Hillary McCarthy
Josh Baum
Peter DeSalvo
Tyler Lancaster
Tyler Mahn
2D Animation
Nicole Pappas
Rafael Araujo
Editor
Billy Kostka
Sound
Music and Sound Design
Mikey Maleki
Mix Engineer
Jeff Kolhede
