Charlie Dog - My Favorite Looney Tunes Character

Charlie Dog is the best for alot of reasons, not only is he ridiculously underrated but his humor and cartoons are relatable to me.

Bob Clampett made a cartoon called Porky's Pooch released in December of 1941, and that was the true start of the "Ain't Got No Dog and Ain't Got No Master" trope we would get to see in the next few years where Chuck Jones would re-use that concept and make it even funnier and insane. 

In all of his cartoons where he meets with Porky, there was always this witty yet hilarious nature to them. Every short is Charlie exploring the outer world needing a master.

His personality is that he can act supercilious, can be mostly talkative, and sometimes a bit snarky. His poses, expressions and lines at times make me chuckle. I don't think I would ever like anyone in real life to act like Charlie Dog but seeing it in an entertainment perspective, it's nothing like I ever seen before, and it manages to work perfectly. 

I think Chuck Jones was the best director to create these cartoons. I adore his more structured and tone-down humor especially in these era of cartoons mostly late 40s- early 50s. 

What I also noticed in these cartoons is that there's this singular gag where Porky wraps the dog up making him have to go to Australia, Siberia and Scotland. Very memorable moments. 

He also teamed with other distinctive individuals, and those are hilarious cartoons too. Dog Gone South (1950) and A Hound For Trouble (1951).

With these cartoons however there is a change, in A Hound For Trouble (1951), Charlie explores a different country, Italy. Here he's less sympathetic and more natural to the given environment he's taken place in, but I still love these cartoons. I say they're even better.

Charlie Dog hasn't had much recognition outside of the classics except for appearing in specials, TV episodes and movies.

But there is one Looney Tunes cartoon which he appears in that definitely made the character feel alive again.

In my opinion, Looney Tunes Cartoons is a near perfect tribute to the classic cartoons entirely. This short is simply called Adopt Me. Where Charlie this time tries to get adopted in a pet store. It's hilarious and has some clever and funny moments. Feel free to watch the actual show on Max! It might be possible that I should watch this show more frequently.

Rare Animated Cels

 

Nothing's been too interesting lately, but I'm glad it's September. I thought let me create a simple post this time and share some cel art, mostly Disney. 

It's inspired from Andrea Deja's Deja View blog. 

The first one. This is really cute, from Dumbo (1941). I'm pretty sure Dumbo himself was easy to ink and paint because he has less amount of colors than Timothy Q Mouse does. I bet the ink and paint team were really careful trying to noticeably point each color layer Timothy matches with like his clothes.

Here's another from the same movie. I bet the animators in general were having alot of fun drawing sets of rubbery and playful movements while the characters were dancing. 

Here's a stellar shot of The Headless Horseman from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949), one of my all-time favorite Disney films, only professionals can pull off expressing the scene from where this took place. Nice colors too.

Something a little more random, but definitely not bizarre as it's different sets of poses not attached to the final product, from Pinocchio. I love the Pleasure Island scenes and I somewhat really like the warm colors of Lampwick here. 

Another classic Disney character, Brer Bear, tied up but enjoying and letting loose. This looks clean, and obviously love the atmosphere.

This is an excellent drawing of Tramp from well, Lady and The Tramp (1955). I like how he chews his bone, and has extraordinary amounts of detail. 

I heard that painting the more realistic characters like Cinderella were extremely difficult to manage, but it all turns out gorgeous and handsome looking. I really admire the layout to this one. I wonder what's happening outside. 

I surprisingly never watched Little Hiawatha, because it's a Silly Symphonies cartoon and it's in Technicolor, so I gotta watch this someday. Anyways, this is cute.

An interesting cel of Donald Duck from the animated short, Clown Of The Jungle (1947). I know this cuz I watched this loads of times also it was drawn by Hal King. My favorite overlooked animators.

Here's a funny cel of Prince Phillip with his horse Samson. I always felt absorbed by how different the animation in Sleeping Beauty looked. Couldn't tell if it was using the same techniques as previous old Disney films or something. 

Finally for the Disney cels is from The Ugly Duckling (1939), the lily pads are extremely pleasant and gorgeous, and I like the simplicity. Very appealing. 

BONUS 💥

Here is some more animated cels but they're from different franchises. Enjoy.

This Ren and Stimpy cel is just too perfect, from one of my favorite episodes of the show. I also love these designs best. They feel more at ease, and detailed.

This cel brings me back nostalgia. Rock Bottom used to be one of my all-time favorite episodes when I was a kid. The atmosphere, the concept is just impeccable and what made Spongebob just a great show. I talked about Season 1 of Spongebob already. Feel free to check it out.

Here's a neat cel of Sugar Bear from the Sugar Crisp adverts from the 60s-70s. 

And finally, I just gotta include one from  Looney Tunes. A personal favorite cartoon of mine, Duck Amuck. I love Chuck Jones's design of Daffy Duck the best, and so is his expressions, very good stuff. 

Countless Varieties Of Artificially Produced Breeds (?!)

 

I was actually watching some of Hick Critic's Looney Tunes review videos, you should highly check those out they're awesome. I was watching Part 9, and when he reviews Dog Tales (1958), I saw this particular scene. 

I'm not making this up. The Warner Bros. animation studio and the McKimson crew decided that it was a great idea to trace dog designs from Lady And The Tramp which is a Disney animated feature. 

Back when I first watched this short which was 2 years ago, I didn't even notice it. I knew nothing about Lady and The Tramp at that time, and I thought that you weren't allowed to steal from other animation studios whatsoever until now.

I recently researched some of the model sheets from that movie, and I'm serious, the Scottish Terrier resembles Jock basically.

The original source was a comparative size sheet. you can tell it's exceedingly similar. 

Same with Peg, the tail, and the furry textures.

If you look into the scene again, the bulldog is exactly like this particular design. I don't think Looney Tunes makes angular and distinctive proportions like this. 

Even the dog designs later in the cartoon, feel more like Looney Tunes. 

 

Now to begin with, I'm not even a fan of the original movie, but I do have to say, these designs are really inventive and well-crafted. I don't think you'll ever see a design like Boris the Russian Wolfhound and it stinks that it's been re-traced to make it more crappy.

Even the chihuahua, is referenced to Pedro. 

Lastly, this dog is more hard to observe, but to me it looks alot like Lady, with the long silky furry ears. 

So yeah, really weird but if there is any cartoon I didn't know re-used character designs or content from anywhere else, let me know. I love looking back at short films especially if I have different opinions on them.

Phil De Lara & Manny Gould

 

I make no secret that I absolutely admire alot of the Looney Tunes cartoons and I will always love them no matter what. 

When first knowing about certain animators and discovering animation reels for the first time, the first studio that came to me was Disney. I love alot of them like Ward Kimball, John Sibley, Hal King, Hugh Fraser, you name it. I was pretty aware of animators until I knew the name "Rod Scribner", and then had to know a few more Warner Bros. animators that made one of my favorite scenes from the cartoons. 

My favorite Looney Tunes director as of now is Robert McKimson mostly the late 40s-early 50s era. He made some of the best cartoons I ever seen like The Windblown Hare, The Prize Pest and The Grey Hounded Hare, all are truly underrated classics.

From what I gathered, Manny Gould and Phil De Lara are among my favorites.

While I tend to like Clampett's zany and wacky exaggerated essence, they weren't always a promise. In my opinion, Clampett is a great director to study and experience I'll give it that, but maybe I like something less wildly cartoony and random to really get invested in a more coherent premise. Chuck Jones and McKimson I feel more drawn towards when it comes to mild but still entertaining cartoons.

Anyways, here is what animators I chose best.

Phil De Lara is underrated for alot of reasons, he's got excellent force, you could literally pause a frame of his, and it would be a great individual drawing piece.

I find his character designs to be really likeable.

I also like when a character stays as a still frame, but the only thing that's moving is the lip-syncing.

I'm not kidding by the way, I noticed that in some of these cartoons. Its a good way to not have too much exaggerated movement and keep the conversation focused. 

What I also love about the McKimson cartoons is the one-off characters. They're fun designs and very complex. The other directors have character designs that looked too round and simple, not to say that's bad at all, but something about these characters, they're more tough and interesting.

My second and final choice is Manny Gould. I mentioned him before, but now it's time for me to talk more about 'im.

Just like Rod Scribner, his animation is very vivid and wacky. While working with Clampett, him and the other animators had more freedom and less limitations, so this meant the drawings were more stretchy, and bizarre almost like Jim Tyer at Terrytoons. While I really like it, its not always useful as an illustrator and future animator myself.

But I really like Manny Gould, he's definitely a loved animator by most fans. There's alot more energy and wit to his animation in the McKimson cartoons in particular. Heck, he animated that one dance sequence from Hot Cross Bunny (1948).

Other notable favorites is that funny walk Daffy does in Draftee Daffy (1945), his expression when he glimpses at the piggy banks in The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) and the unnamed cat noticing Tweety resting his nest in Birdy And The Beast (1944).

I have talked about McKimson and other animators and directors from other animation studios like Ken Muse, who worked for Disney and the Tom and Jerry cartoons, and Jack Kinney who directed the How To cartoons starring Goofy. 

I could just list like 50+ more animators I like but it would take all day honestly. I would like to keep my inspirations fairly low level. 

Classic Animation Backgrounds

 

I've been loving the heck out of animation backgrounds lately. I got some that are outstanding and very pleasing to me.

This is from The Adventures Of Ichabod And Mr. Toad, my favorite Disney film, I love that sky. I also love the green grass, and roads. This is such a sweet and beautiful image.

The best parts of Lady And The Tramp were the backgrounds and similar to the Mr. Toad scene I just showed you, the skies are gorgeous, the dog pound almost looks realistic to me as well. I love everything about this.

Same as I said about Lady And The Tramp, the best thing about Sword In The Stone is the backgrounds. My favorite is this one in particular. So nostalgic. 

This angle is really good too.

I always loved the Sam and Ralph cartoons, and the backgrounds to those were fun. I love this one the most. From Woolen Under Where (1963) 

Ralph chatting with Sam, I adore it so much.

This is a perfect frame from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937). That sunset is really nice and the bottom of the image looks astonishing. Those colors are extremely pleasent. I love the dwarfs in this movie and this whole scene is just cinematic.

Now here's a Looney Tunes cartoon, Kitty Kornered, what I love about this frame in particular is the color scheme, those bottles, the snow, the door, it brings that warm feeling of what I'm like about the night especially in the wintertime. 

The final scene of The Jungle Book is really beautiful. Baloo and Bagheera are hilarious characters in my opinion, I love when their hanging out together, this has incredible colors and fits the jungle perfectly. 

I love the colors in this shot of Robin Hood (1973). I unfortunately cropped this image, but it's perfectly good like this honestly.

Bambi is my comfort film, this film is both handsome and intense. I love this frame. 

I always loved how The Curious Puppies cartoons looked. This one's awesome. The color scheme to me looks unique.

Here's some screencaps from Farm Frolics (1941)

Back then, this was one of my favorite Looney Tunes cartoons background wise, still agree today.

From Lion Around (1950), this has a peaceful and comforting background choice. I love the trees and the sky is so natural. Definitely an underrated one.

Lastly is another Snow White frame grab, this is perfect to end it off. Because it's the final bit of the film, and it's also one of my favorite endings in any animated film. I love the whimsical orchestra playing in the background and it just looks highly professional and real. 

This was a great selection. I'll definitely be adding more images sometime in the future. Want something similar to this?

Click on these links.

https://sngexplorationblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/essence-of-beauty-in-art.html?m=1

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