How do those meddling kids do it? How do Scooby and the gang keep such an upbeat attitude as they pass through a world of decay and darkness? For the Mystery Inc. team every day amounts to stormy skies and abandoned places. Every destination is a haven for greed and deception where more than half the people they meet are fear mongering criminals. Perhaps Scoob and company cope with their bleak reality by finding comfort in the beauty that surrounds them.The background art in Scooby Doo Where Are You? (1969-1971) is equally splendid and foreboding. The rich, painterly environment almost compensates for the clunky character animation. Ex-Disney artist, Walt Peregoy set a high standard during his brief, first episode stint as Background Stylist. But the background crew continued to churn out quality, creepy work throughout the following two seasons. Hanna-Barbera may be known for their annoying use of repeated, looping backgrounds but, as you are about to see, in this case the sublime scenery is well worth another look.
A batch of interiors...
As you may recall, the gang's greatest coping mechanism was always food. Here's a look at a few variations of their only real sanctuary, the Malt Shop...
(Backgrounds by: Ron Dias, Daniela Bielecka, Gary Niblett, Rolly Olivia, Peter Van Elk, Eric Semones, Curtiss D. Perkins, Richard Khim, Gino Giudice, and Robert Gentle
Background Styling: Walt Peregoy, Fernando Montealegre)
All backgrounds came from Scooby-Doo Where Are You? Seasons 1 & 2...
25 comments:
THOSE were the days, I tell ya...
You rock! No more searching for cool desktop wallpapers! This also gives me the idea for some screen grabs from my jonny quest dvd box set.
I always wished that we could have those kinds of backgrounds in the "Scooby-Doo" comic books. No blame is placed on the great artists, it's all about budgets and paper-types.
Good job with the background caps. Other bloggers have caped some of the classic WB and Fleischer cartoon backgrounds too. It's nice to see this work spotlighted like this.
But you know, even as a little kid I was bothered by the repetitious "If it wasn't for you meddling kids" endings. Weren't they ever going to encounter some real ghosts and monsters?
Me for the haunted carnival! stomach grumbles Okay, no. Me for the malt shop first--then the haunted carnival!
Wow, that really is some gorgeous art. I certainly wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out.
Here's a couple more to add to everyone's collection:
Scooby-Doo "Spooky Space Kook" Screen Caps.
Not as clear as yours though as these were taken off from the episode video that I got the soundtrack rip from.
Dave
Glad you all are appreciating these!
Rozum- that would have been cool. Too bad you couldn't strike up a deal to use some of the original art from the show. I wonder where all of these pieces are right now.
david- I think there's one episode on season one (the carnival one) where it's not a guy in a suit. (It's an AWOL android.)
Well, when the "13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo" finally came on they were real ghosts. Vincent Price was one of the regulars. Too bad Scrappy ruined that show.
thanks Dave, that's one of my favorites.
These are out of this world. I was always a little bit freaked out as a child by this show and that's the reason why I liked it. It had such a spooky atmosphere thanks to the great shots like these.
You had to go and mention Scrappy didn't ya?
I liked "Gold City" the best. Fantastic collection of buildings and etc,
Hey man, congrats on making the messy nessy list for "13 things I found on the internet today!" http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/06/02/13-things-i-found-on-the-internet-today-2/
Awesome stuff, dood!
Cool! Thanks Lefty!
They're fantastic! Thanks so much for taking the time to highlight the great work of these artists
Beautiful. I remember that I used to watch cartoons rather mindlessly when I was a kid. Once we were taken to a Disney film and my dad pointed out to me that there was a difference in the artwork from different studios. I trace my love of animation back to that day.
I've always appreciated the extra work that has gone into some of the cartoons from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I've also been very mindful when a studio just phoned the artwork in. Thank you for listing this artwork from Scooby Doo!
Anyone want to view a pan background from the Gold City episode? Let me know and I will send a link to you.
Carly@semo.net
Christopher, while I'd love to see the Gold City background, I'd not want you to e-mail it to me. (Attachments, Viruses, Et. Al.)
As you have a Blogger account, why don't you post it and link it here? That way it would be available to everyone, without threat of malware/virus.
I managed (after 12 years of looking) to get my hands on one of the first episode background pieces. From what I've learnt online, most of these background cels didn't survive long after being filmed as the acetate was expensive so they washed the paint off and reused them! The piece I managed to get had been taken home by one of the artists, stuffed into his work drawer for several years before selling it to an online dealer. Fortunately for me the dealer didn't know just how rare the piece was so I quickly bought it. I'd be willing to share a photograph of it if you're interested? :)
Andrew- That's very cool that you got one!
I'm sure the internet people would enjoy if you posted a photo or nice scan someplace (maybe imgur.com or something) so we could all fawn over it. If you do that just paste a link to it in another comment. This post continues to get a number of visitors to this day, so it would be appreciated by some.
No because those don't exist. Human beings are always the real monsters. That's the lesson.
These are beautiful pieces of art. Brings back so many memories. Many Thanks.
Thank. you for posting these!! They are like 80% of what made this show amazing!
Can we PLEASE PLEASE see the background art you own?! I am so enamoured of the background artwork from the original cartoons.
Hoping this site is still around….
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