Fizzy's Lunch Lab has Launched

As many of you know, over the past six months, I’ve been hard at work producing my first animated show for PBS Kids Go! with my creative partner, Evan Sussman. This was a gigantic undertaking as we successfully brought together a team of 50+ that included food writers, physicians, dietitians, script writers, actors, musicians, software engineers, and an army of talented artists. I’m confident that our dream team created a truly innovative children’s program and website designed to halt the childhood obesity epidemic. Professor Fizzy and his gang are finally ready to educate and inspire families to get out of the drive-thru and back into the kitchen. We will be rolling out a new recipe and animated video every week for the next 40 weeks, so be sure to check back.  

I am thrilled and proud to share our creation with you - Fizzy’s Lunch Lab!

Fizzy's Lunch Lab

Two and half years ago, fellow animation director, Evan Sussman and I met at JP Licks in Boston, MA and came up with a show idea over coffee. I was fed up with the lack of kid-friendly cookbooks, and Evan had been trying to create a nutrition-based website or property with his dad (Dr. Craig Sussman). We combined our ideas that day and we set out to create a kids cooking show that focused on the importance of health and nutrition...But it had to be FUN. After thousands of hours of hard work, failed development deals, personal investment, it's nice to see Fizzy's Lunch Lab living on PBS Kids Go!

The last four months have been a whirlwind for Evan and I. It has included finalizing our deal with PBS, creating the season 1 outline in two weeks, writing 46 short scripts (with amazing writers), starting animation production, moving into our office, and launching our preview website...Along with our new studio's website. Fizzy's Lunch Lab has been the hardest thing (by far) I've worked on and it's shaping up to be a winner. We still have a lot of work ahead of ourselves, but it has been rewarding to see the preview site and trailer so well received.

I know the next five months of production are going to be equally as demanding, but I know that Fizzy's Lunch Lab has the ability to truly help kids and families make healthier decisions. Coming from someone who was incredibly overweight as a child, I'm happy to share Fizzy with everyone and hope it can make a difference.

Check out the Lunch Lab Preview Site.


The first sketches of Fizzy

Sneak-peek

Again...Almost one month later...

Here's a character design sneak-peek for the secret project I've been mentioning for the last couple months. My partner-in-crime, Evan Sussman and I have been neck-deep in production. The good news is that there will be an official announcement in the next week or so. Stay tuned.

One month later...

I have been purposely holding off on this post until I hit the one month mark from my last entry...well, at least for the last week. It's been a whirl-wind month as I have started production on the biggest project of my life. I haven't had time to do anything but work. It's been a loooong few weeks. One of the highlights this month was the release of the first two Monster Squad books I illustrated for Penguin. I snapped this photo in B&N last week. Quite exciting and surreal. Big thanks to Ms. Laura Dower and Megan Benett at Penguin. You can buy the Monster Squad books here. Back to work...

Bug off...

...I've been busy. Exciting news is on its way!

Splitting Time

So...for the last few weeks, I have been quite busy slaving away on a project that I'll announce in the coming weeks. At the same time, I have been juggling the Monster Squad Illustrations for Book 3. The dust has cleared and here's a couple in-progress images to tickle your fancy...Adios.

Monster Squad Book 4 Cover...finalized!

I just got this in from the fine folks at Penguin. Here's the final Monster Squad Book 4 cover with the text layout. Bon Appetite!

Terrible Yellow Eyes

There's been some buzz around the web about Terrible Yellow Eyes. It's a blog that features artwork inspired by Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are. I had some free time yesterday and decided to sit down and make something. I remember the first time I came across the book, I was generally scared by the characters. I think there is still something creepy about Sendak's Terrible creatures. Anyways...here's my process and the final.


Yes...sometimes my initial sketches are this loose. I try to get down the ideas first.


Rough line-work in Flash.


The final colored entirely in Photoshop.

New Doodle

I haven't had any time to draw in the last few weeks. I've been very busy working behind-the-scenes on a project that's been taking up all of my creative energy and time. Here's a little doodle that I managed to produce at 6 this morning. I hope to hop back to the drawing board in a couple of weeks.

BTL finished!

My team recently wrapped on the Between the Lions animated episodes. Our job was to turn the puppet-based show into an animation one. Here are some stills from the 2nd animated episodes.

Art Direction: Dave Schlafman
Background Design: Jon Renoni
Characters: Steph Laberis

Bot Process

I've been quite busy working on a handful of projects including the third installment of the Monster Squad book series. Recently, I had some time to doodle in my sketchbook. I felt inclined to take the sketch a bit further in the computer. Below is the before (sketchbook)...after (computer). Enjoy!

UNICEF spot is done

For the last two months, I have been working on an animated spot UNICEF, the children's organization. This spot was created to inform donors, governments and/or partners about UNICEF’s Education in Emergencies initiatives. I was lucky to work with a great organization and a team of artists:

Direction: Dave Schlafman
Animation: Dan Flynn
Animation: Mike Annear
Backgrounds: Jen Blicharz and Dave Schlafman
Compositing and Sound Deisgn: Evan Sussman
Music: Daniel Koren
V.O: Gigi Abraham

UNICEF Education in Emergencies Spot from Dave Schlafman on Vimeo.