© 2021 by Matt Doering

Doug Unplugs

I Art Directed “Doug Unplugs” (Apple TV+), a CG-animated junior series based on the book series “Doug Unplugged” by Dan Yaccarino produced by Dreamworks Animation.

Art Direction Overview

Set in the near-futuristic Mega City, Doug Unplugs follows a young robot named Doug who senses there’s more to life than just the facts. While other robots plug in for their daily download, Doug unplugs and explores the human world with his best friend, Emma.

Development

I joined Doug Unplugs toward the end of development as the team – led by EPs Jim Nolan, Aliki Theofilopoulos and author Dan Yaccarino – was finalizing the greenlight pitch to Apple. While many artists had already contributed beautiful work, I was brought in to help solve a key visual challenge:


How do we make the human and robot worlds feel visually distinct while still belonging to the same universe?


My solution: define each world through shape language. The robot world is grounded in circles; the human world, in rectangles. Each is supported by secondary shapes from the opposite world to create visual contrast and unity.




With the shape language defined, I began exploring playful shape configurations that reinforced the theory.


Using paper cutouts allowed me to keep the visuals tactile and whimsical – echoing the charm of the show’s children’s book roots – while staying grounded in the circular and rectangular forms that differentiated each world.




I then tackled a few larger scale concept paintings to see how these rough, cut-out style ideas might translate into more dimensional and practical CG style sets pieces.




My final development assignment asked that I explore how my design theory and shape exploration might translate to the show's most elaborate set – Rebots – an up-cycling center in the Robot World that is owned and operated by Doug's family.


Many real world, high tech spaces can feel dull or sterile. For this environment, I wanted to strike a balance – futuristic and high-tech, but also warm and inviting. I used rounded shapes and an analogous cool-toned palette to help achieve that feeling. Later in production, we explored and refined the intricacies of Rebot’s inner workings.



Moving into Production

Once greenlit for production, I assembled a talented internal design team to build on the visual concepts I had established during development. Together, we brought key Robot World and Human World environments to life, balancing the creative ambition of the development artwork with schedule and budget constraints, while integrating executive feedback throughout the process.


To add warmth and character to the highly geometric Human World, we set it in a perpetual autumn, giving the space a distinct inviting tone and richness.


Character and Costume Designs

Throughout production, I had the pleasure of working closely with our lead character designer, Bertrand Todesco, to populate the world with charming and lovable characters. Below are a few examples of characters and costumes I art directed in partnership with him.


I also worked closely with painters Joyce Lee, Natalie Kay Corsie, and Shannon Hallstein, as well as our Design Supervisor Heekyoung Yum, to establish a consistent look for character color, surfacing treatments, and texture callouts. Many of the textures on the show were hand-painted by our talented team to achieve the unique storybook quality I envisioned for the art direction.


Sample Character Design Process

In this section, you'll find an example of the standard character design process we used with our Lead Character Designer, Bertrand Todesco, illustrated through the development of Squishy Bot.


Each design handout was preceded by a curated set of references and key creative notes from me and the show's executive producers, intended to inspire and guide Bertrand (and other designers) in shaping a character’s look and personality.



Armed with reference materials and direction, Bertrand – and other designers – would submit a range of rough sketches for myself and the executive producers to review. In the case of Squishy Bot, we requested a second round of exploration, combining our favorite elements from the initial sketches to refine the character further.



Once a final design was approved by the executive producers, we sent it to the DreamWorks Current Series creative executives and the team at Apple TV+ for rough concept review.


After receiving their approval, Bertrand (or the assigned designer) would create a detailed, multi-angle line art turn for our partners at CGCG Inc., the external vendor animation studio.




Once the final line art turn was approved by our executive producers, it was passed along to the color design team for final paint and texture callouts.



In the case of Squishy Bot, we received late notes requesting a rethink of the foam texture originally selected for his paint and color callouts. After exploring several alternative options, we landed on a squishy rubber gel texture that better suited the character. In situations like this, we would send only the updated texture callout to the vendor animation studio, rather than repainting all views in the character’s paint file.


Set Design and Process

Throughout production, I had the pleasure of working closely with our set designers – Chris Baldwin, Tuan Vo, and Design Supervisor Heekyoung Yum – to expand Doug's world with vibrant environments. Below are a few examples of sets I art directed in partnership with them, along with a glimpse into our set design process.


Our vendor animation studio, CGCG, required our team to deliver full line art views for each set, which posed several challenges. Flexibility to make changes on the fly and the ability to preview how sets would look with CG characters were essential for gaining sign-off from executives. As a result, after quickly producing rough sketches, most of our design exploration happened directly in Maya.



Below are examples of the completed School Set in episode!


Below are examples of the completed Restaurant Set in episode!


As the Bot Family Farmhouse moved into final design, we identified two key issues: the space felt overly busy and needed simplification, and the overall atmosphere lacked the warm, cozy farmhouse feeling we were aiming for. Additionally, we wanted to make it more visually clear that the home was inhabited by a robot family.


At that point, I stepped in to revise each key angle of the set—strengthening the farmhouse vibe while incorporating subtle hints of futuristic robot technology consistent with the rest of Robot World.


Note – Click & drag the arrows below for before & after reveal


My favorite – and also most challenging and rewarding – set was the playground featured below. In the story, the Robots help the Humans transform an empty lot in their neighborhood into a new playground. Each key feature of the set required three distinct stages, as both the Humans and Robots learn the importance of accessibility and accommodation. The goal was to show that the best playgrounds are those where both Bots and Humans can enjoy the features equally.


Thank you!!


Thank you for taking the time to review this portfolio! Pictured right is Matt with the Doug Unplugs Design Team and Production Coordinators summer 2019.


All "Doug Unplugs" images © Dreamworks Animation.