From Hanna-Barbera to Cartoon Network History


Back in the day, cartoons got me through the grey days of the rainy Cleveland skies. Jonny Quest was my all time favorite and a childhood hero for sure.


A few years back, I found myself in the Sony archives thumbing through unnoticed Hanna-Barbera storyboards, drawings and pretty much the entire history of cartoon Americana.


William Hanna and Josph Barbera kicked it all off for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with their cat and mouse rivalry, “Tom and Jerry.” Classic-animated-cinema no doubt, 114 cartoon shorts created between 1940 and 1957 and earning seven Academy Awards for Animated Short Film.


Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was a staple for my Saturday mornings for sure—The Flinstones, Space Ghost, The Jetsons (Above) and yes, my beloved Jonny Quest. In 1991, Hanna-Barbera was purchased by Turner Broadcasting System, who then leveraged the entire H-B animated catalog to launch the Cartoon Network in 1992. The result—Power Puff Girls (Below), Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo and more.


On to the present. “I still love cartoons!” Therea’s no doubt that the process, craft, design and evolution of developing animated cartoons inspires me. Partly due to influence on my childhood; the talent behind the scenes; and the many historic contributions to pop culture.

Calef Brown

Continuing this tradition and in celebration of the 20 historic programming years of Cartoon Network, Murphy Design is actively collaborating with over 75 artists who will be sharing their artwork with the public during this year’s Comic-Con celebration.

Cookie Concept by Cartoon Network Design Department

The featured artwork are a few of the sketches and doodles that will be showcased in this year’s mini zine created for Cartoon Network and given away at this year’s “Con.”

Stefan Glerum : Merijn Hos

Get pumped up for the premier of Cartoon Network’s 20th Anniversary Exhibition, unveiled at the year’s Comic-Con in San Diego July 12—15, 2012.


Christopher David Ryan

Jonathan Bergeron


Marc Bell : Rui Vitorino Santos


Jorge Catoni : Leo Espinosa

Leo Espinosa : Emile Morel

Cartoon Network Design and Art Departments


For additional information and more visual articles featuring the 75 featured artists, please connect--The Artist Studio, Featured Artists, Roman Klonek, Project Introduction.

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