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I’ve always been a bit of a fan of the work of Rolf Harris, even though he tends to be made a mockery of much of the time. OK, he may insist on making ridiculous noises with his mouth or wobbling a piece of cardboard around and calling it music, but the man is an incredibly talented artist (as you’ll know if you saw his programme where he painted a portrait of the Queen) and he was even, apparently, a champion swimmer.
In the eighties Rolf’s artistic skills saw him hosting a show called Rolf Harris’ Cartoon Time, which featured a number of classic cartoons (Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, that kind of thing) with Rolf showing you how to draw the different characters with a big thick marker pen in between the cartoons. This show was the seed which ultimately grew into Rolf’s Cartoon Club, the subject of todays post.
Rolf’s Cartoon Club was show on Childrens ITV, first airing in 1989 and continuing until 1993, and whilst a lot of fun to watch was also, dare I say it, quite educational too. The show began with more of Rolf’s mad sound effects and the weird heavy breathing thing he does, layered together into a theme song. It’s impossible to write down quite how Rolf pronounces the words “Rolf’s Cartoon Club”, so instead you’ll have to watch the clip below to hear what I mean.
The show itself featured Rolf sat in a little command pod consisting of an easel and an Amiga computer with a video camera attached. Rolf could draw frames of animation on paper, which were then captured by the Amiga and played back, thus allowing Mr. Harris to instruct us dear viewers in the art of cartoon animation.
As well as telling you how to make your own animations, the show also featured clips of cartoons from various sources, including TV shows, films and television adverts, with Rolf then explaining the techniques used in them, be it traditional animation, computer animation or claymation.
The “Club” part of the name wasn’t just for show either. It was actually a real club you could join, with you receiving a “Rolfaroo” membership badge and regular newsletters. If you were really lucky you might even find yourself on the programme itself, as several club members were invited to appear in the workshop section to make their own animated creations.
Some episodes also featured special guests from the world of animation who would share how they made their own cartoons. A good example is the following clip with Terry Brain and Charlie Mills, creators of The Trap Door, who give some insights into how they used an Atari ST to do their lip synching and how to make a cartoon character look like it’s eating something!
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