Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538315
FALL 2025 27 opposite page: (from top) Samurai Jack storyboard art by Tartakovsky and Bryan Andrews; Tartakovsky broke new ground with the graphic look of Samurai Jack. this page: Tartakovsky's character designs for the Hotel Transylvania movies were inspired Golden Age animators. Quiet on the Set Samurai Jack was followed by writing, directing, and executive producing Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Tartakovsky was on a roll. But when he made a different kind of risky move, founding Orphanage Animation Studios, it was 2008, in the heart of a recession. The studio's efforts to sell feature films weren't successful, and because they needed the work, Tartakovsky's team decided to come up with a series. They sold Sym-Bionic Titan to Cartoon Network, but it was canceled after 20 episodes, and his studio folded. "It was a low point for me in my career," he says. Not sure what to do next, he told Sony: "If you guys need any help, I'm available." At that time, the studio had been working for years on a Dracula movie for kids. He was asked to take a look. "I went home, wrote two pages of jokes and ideas, came back the next day, [and] told them what I would do with the movie," he says. Sony liked his concepts, which incorporated his love of classic 2D animation and influences like his beloved Tex Avery. He was hired, going on to leave his distinctive aesthetic imprint on the Hotel Transylvania franchise, directing the first three films, writing on the third, and writing and executive producing on the fourth. The Hotel Transylvania movies were a major achievement for Tartakovsky. They showed that he could pivot from TV to film and helm a successful franchise. They also proved his versatility, especially when he made a detour between the second and third films—a mature version of Samurai Jack for Adult Swim, which premiered in 2017 and ran for 10 episodes. Leaving kids animation "released us to do more sophisticated storytelling [and] character development," he says. This project for an adult audience also stirred new ambitions. He noticed that when he got feedback on the new Samurai Jack, the parts people found most powerful were those without dialogue. "I thought, can I connect all the no-dialogue sequences Hotel Transylvania franchise images courtesy © 2012 Sony Pictures Animation Inc. "oNe THiNG i NoTiCeD TiMe AND AGAiN WAS [GeNNDY'S] ABiliTY To STiCK To HiS GUNS AND PRoTeCT HiS ViSioN AGAiNST WeiRD STUDio NoTeS … WHeRe GooD AND BolD iDeAS ARe SloWlY GRoUND DoWN iNTo SoMeTHiNG BlAND AND DeRiVATiVe. " –Bryan Andrews FALL 2025 27