Last year, animation director Howard E. Baker dazzled audiences with his work on the feature Piece by Piece, the acclaimed LEGO biography of pop star Pharrell Williams. Prior to that, he helmed a wide variety of special LEGO projects featuring The Minions, Jurassic Park, Batman, Star Wars and Trolls World Tour. He has directed episodes of Disney’s Sheriff Callie’s Wild West and was a storyboard artist on numerous classic toons, including The Rugrats, Aeon Flux, The Ren and Stimpy Show, Duckman, Hercules, G.I. Joe: Renegades, Aaahh!! Real Monsters and Duck Dodgers.
Recently, Baker has been busy working on a charming online graphic novel titled The Beauties, which chronicles the glamorous adventures of Lotta Rhinoceros, a “bodacious, bling-wearing” beauty salon owner, her staff of attention-craving, coiffed animal ladies working at Sauvage Hair in downtown Junglewood, and a big heist gone wrong. We recently booked an appointment with Baker to find out more about Lotta and her misadventures.
“It’s been a project I’ve kicked around for about 25 years,” says the L.A.-based artist. “When Covid hit and I was home a lot, that’s when I decided to sit down and make it a book. The novel took about 18 months to draw. I had come off a disastrous project at Disney Feature, was not working, and needed to start something new for myself, and this was one of the ideas that came out of that time. I’ve always loved standing up and dressing animals in lady’s clothes, especially the most awkward shaped ones like Rhinos and Camels. I love caper stories and the idea that best laid plans can go awry to create broad comedy.”
Baker says Lotta and her world were originally created with animation in mind. “This was intended for animation, like a feature, TV, short series, special, web series (clearly anything!)” he notes. “I always drew it that way, but after pitching it everywhere over the years and getting lots of, ‘We love this BUT….’, I realized the only way for it to see the light of day was to make the story into a graphic novel. For me, it’s a new form of storytelling, and I love the differences from film language and storyboarding. There’s so much you can do with it style wise that would just confuse people in animation that was really fun to play with.”
He thinks the best way to The Beauties into animation would be to serialize it. “You can beef up the PG-13 quality into more Adult Swim territory and cast some really funny ladies,” Baker says. “Being a female-driven story, the voice cast would have to be a group of phenomenally funny women. I’m open though, if someone wants to make it a film, we can do that too! I’d love to see these characters come to life!”
Baker mentions that he has a long list of comic-book idols. “The history of comics is rich with so many great artists, and I’m always discovering new ones, so here’s a few I would call heroes: William Steig, Bill Waterson, Harvey Kurtzman, Walt Kelly, Juanjo Guarnido, Craig Thompson, Lynda Barry and Chris Ware. My animation influences come mainly from 1970s’ TV and the National Film Board of Canada: I’ve always had more of an independent spirit when it comes to art and animation.”
Looking back at his acclaimed venture featuring Pharrell Williams in LEGO form, Baker says he absolutely loved the music. “There are 13 sequences in this film and 11 of them have songs, some of them original to the film, but getting to create visuals to Stevie Wonder, Jay Z, No Doubt, Justin Timberlake, Pusha T, Kendrick Lamar, and of course Pharrel and Chad Hugo’s music, was a blast! And, as always, getting to work with talented artists all over the world made for a very complex and satisfying experience. I like the juggling quality of directing animation and this kept me real busy.”
Although he doesn’t have any new LEGO projects lined up in the immediate future, Baker says he would love to return to the opportunities and creative possibilities that world offers him. “I really want to make a musical LEGO film that is a cavalcade of show tunes like a Broadway-Fantasia in LEGO,” he notes.
When asked to comment about today’s unpredictable world of animation, Baker says he’s hopeful that things will improve. “When I studied animation at CalArts in the early ’80s, there weren’t a lot of jobs yet, unpredictably, that all changed by the end of the decade, so I’m hoping something we don’t see coming happens and I’m still hoping to be a part of it. I’m not too scared of AI as a creator, I’m more scared of producers and studio execs thinking it can replace artists and not just be another useful tool for artists. I’m scared of execs anyway but that’s another story!”
So, what does he think is the secret to survival in animation in 2025? “Keep drawing is always my mantra for artists who want to or do work in animation,” Baker offers. “You have to create art that interests you so that when someone does ask you make ‘commercial’ art, you’re ready. Just keep drawing everybody!
You can enjoy Howard Baker’s serialized adventures of Lotta Rhinoceros and The Beauties at tapas.io/series/The-Beauties. For more info, visit howardebaker.com
