Overeating, alcohol and self-loathing wouldn't normally be a winning combination in real life, but on BoJack Horseman it is. Well, it is for the audience at least because BoJack Horseman provides some of the funniest and evocative TV out there today. For the titular character, a washed-up actor who can't seem to move on from the glory days of his '90s sitcom superstardom, not so much.
However, it seems like things are looking up for BoJack in Season 2 of this animated series, which hit Netflix Friday. He's got a new job as the lead role in a Secretariat biopic, a new love interest in newly-awoken-from-a-30-year-coma network executive Wanda Pierce and — dare I say it? — a new attitude about life. You'll just have to binge-watch your way through Season 2 to find out how long any of that actually lasts.
One person responsible for translating those changes in BoJack's life to the screen is Lisa Hanawalt, the production designer of the show. BoJack Horseman may be the first animated series Hanawalt has worked on, but the Los Angeles-based artist's portfolio of vivid, anthropomorphized animals was a clear inspiration for the show's animation. With the detail, humor and color found in the animation of this series, Hanawalt has helped make the fact that talking animals live and work right alongside humans in BoJack Horseman feel not weird at all.
Hanawalt spoke with T-Lounge via email about what went into creating the look of the second season of BoJack Horseman, including the creation of some crazy set pieces, how skyscapes set the mood of this season and why viewers won't be able to resist Wanda's cuteness.
Since the fundamental design of the main characters and settings of BoJack Horseman had already been completed for Season 1, was it easier to tackle the production design of the show going into Season 2? Why or why not?
I felt so much more confident going in the second season. Just seeing the positive reaction to the first season helped me set aside my fears of failure and fraudulence. And yes, we had those existing, fundamental designs and color schemes that we could build on vs. designing everything from scratch.
All that said, Raphael [Bob-Waksberg, the series creator] and I both like new challenges, so there were a ton of new characters and backgrounds this season and we didn’t rest on our laurels at all!
There are a lot of jokes in this series that fans might not see during an initial viewing, especially ones that are animal-specific, such as a chicken laying an egg when she’s startled and raccoons dumpster diving. How do those make it into the show? Do the animators or the writers come up with them, or do both groups work together to make them happen?
The background gags are very collaborative! Some of them come from Raphael and the writers, a huge portion of them are created by storyboard artists. The supervising director, Mike Hollingsworth, and I always go in and pepper up backgrounds with stuff. I love taking a break from drawing to come up with text-based jokes: store names, menus, dumb T-shirt slogans, license plates, labels on buttons, legalese on a prison release form. One of my favorite things this season was writing a blog post for an MRA blog.
BoJack has earned praise not just for its comedy but also for its depth and on-screen representation of depression and other issues. How do you go about striking that balance when creating the look of the show?
I like making things that are both funny and eye-catching, and BoJack is the perfect canvas for that mix. Some scenes are packed full of silly artwork parodies and visual gags, but for our more depressing moments, the scenery needs to take a backseat to the character drama and just let the colors and lighting do the work.
BoJack is the first animated series you’ve worked on. Now that you’ve got two seasons under your belt, would you want to work on another animated series? Why or why not? If so, would you stick to production design or would you try your hand at another area, like writing?
The best thing about working here is I continue to learn more about animation and working as part of a team as we go along, there’s no reason to jump ship! I do get bored very easily, so even though the thought of doing something new is intimidating, I’d love to do more writing and learn more about storyboarding and directing.
Any final thoughts on Season 2 of BoJack?
I’m so proud of this season and all the talented artists who helped to create it!
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