Bravest Warriors

Created by Pendleton Ward
Executive Producers: Breehn Burns, Will McRobb & Chris Viscardi, and Fred Seibert

You’ve seen the evolution of the Bravest Warriors logo design, but today we want to show you the evolution of the Bravest Warriors themselves! According to showrunner Breehn Burns: In evolving Pen Ward’s designs of the four main characters from his original Bravest Warriors short, I worked with character designer Phil Rynda of Adventure Time to maintain the spirit of Pen’s drawings while also establishing something new. I wanted the group to evolve past their “pure uniform,” anime-inspired look and into a casually futuristic style, so each character could express their personality with their clothes but still be ready for a fight. I was inspired by the way the X-Men have evolved over the years, from them all wearing the same thing to each having a distinct look. Chris was the biggest challenge, because we were hunting for that iconic element that makes him instantly recognizable. In the end we chose to keep the oversized gloves from Pen’s design as his main quirk — he wears them all the time, even to bed. Another thing we kept were Danny’s eyebrows, so you can read his expression from a mile away. We were also very aware of working in a post-Adventure Time world. Pen’s Cartoon Network show is amazing, and the design has evolved a long way from his original short film (back when Finn was still named “Pen”). The challenge was to find our own style, while keeping in mind that designing these characters based solely on the Bravest Warriors short would be like designing Futurama based on the old Tracey Ullman Simpson’s shorts. Our show needs to take a step in its own aesthetic direction, and it keeps evolving beyond my expectations with every artist we bring in. So that’s how we got to the super cool (and stylish) Bravest Warriors we know and love today! What do you think of their final designs? Any thoughts on their older looks? Or maybe you have some designs of your own you’d like to share. Then don’t forgot to let us know what you think, submit your design ideas as fan art, follow us on twitter and subscribe to our Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel for even more news on your Bravest Warriors! - Mike

August 31, 2012

You’ve seen the evolution of the Bravest Warriors logo design, but today we want to show you the evolution of the Bravest Warriors themselves!

According to showrunner Breehn Burns:

In evolving Pen Ward’s designs of the four main characters from his original Bravest Warriors short, I worked with character designer Phil Rynda of Adventure Time to maintain the spirit of Pen’s drawings while also establishing something new.

I wanted the group to evolve past their “pure uniform,” anime-inspired look and into a casually futuristic style, so each character could express their personality with their clothes but still be ready for a fight. I was inspired by the way the X-Men have evolved over the years, from them all wearing the same thing to each having a distinct look.

Chris was the biggest challenge, because we were hunting for that iconic element that makes him instantly recognizable. In the end we chose to keep the oversized gloves from Pen’s design as his main quirk — he wears them all the time, even to bed. Another thing we kept were Danny’s eyebrows, so you can read his expression from a mile away.

We were also very aware of working in a post-Adventure Time world. Pen’s Cartoon Network show is amazing, and the design has evolved a long way from his original short film (back when Finn was still named “Pen”). The challenge was to find our own style, while keeping in mind that designing these characters based solely on the Bravest Warriors short would be like designing Futurama based on the old Tracey Ullman Simpson’s shorts.

Our show needs to take a step in its own aesthetic direction, and it keeps evolving beyond my expectations with every artist we bring in.

So that’s how we got to the super cool (and stylish) Bravest Warriors we know and love today!

What do you think of their final designs? Any thoughts on their older looks? Or maybe you have some designs of your own you’d like to share.

Then don’t forgot to let us know what you think, submit your design ideas as fan art, follow us on twitter and subscribe to our Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel for even more news on your Bravest Warriors!

- Mike