Bullseye Art was a New York City-based art collective that pioneered art and animation on the web. Founded in 1995 by Josh Kimberg, Nick Cogan and Ryan Edwards,[1] the company gained fame for creating unique and offbeat interactive cartoons made using Macromedia Flash.

Bullseye Art became well known for its humour with such cartoons as Porkchops, which portrayed a talking donkey in surrealistic situations, and Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob, about a band of rapping muffin-headed girls.[2][3] A dragon named Hooptie-Goo often appeared as a mascot during the opening or closing credits. Other multi-episode cartoons included Internet – The Animated Series, Rat Chicken, Space Dog, Makin' Moves and The Rhino and Nutmeg Show.[4]

The company was commissioned to do several high-profile cartoon segments, the most notable of which was the opening titles for The Rosie O'Donnell Show, for which they were nominated for two Emmy Awards.[5] The animated opening was the first work of Flash Animation to appear on television.[6] They also created the music videos First Tube and You Enjoy Myself for the rock band Phish.[7]

Bullseye Art maintained a free entertainment portal featuring many of the first community features now standard on the internet. Revenue was driven by licensing their cartoons to third-party sites (Atom Films, Shockwave.com, HBO's Volume.com,[1] Razorfish) and from commercial animation (Icebox.com, Kenny the Shark). Bullseye Art shut its doors in 2003, and the founders started a production company named Raw Power. During this period (2003–2004), most of the cartoons were unavailable.

In 2005, Josh Kimberg launched the cartoons under the new name Magic Butter.[8] While initially a pay site, MagicButter.com eventually became free, displaying all of the old content along with new cartoons, T-shirts for sale, and free downloads such as MP3s, desktop wallpapers, and icons until it shut down.

References

  • Blair, Jayson (June 25, 2001). "TECHNOLOGY; Online Animators Redraw Game Plans". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
  • Olsen, Stefanie (May 25, 2001). "Flash graphics land prime time on TV". CNET News. CNET Networks. Retrieved 2010-12-11.

Footnotes

  1. 1 2 "Bullseye Art & Volume.com Announce Partnership" (Press release). Business Wire. December 6, 2000. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  2. ↑ Limpert, Ann (Jun 16, 2000). "Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob". EW.com. Retrieved 2023-03-26.
  3. ↑ Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob Archived December 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine, Magicbutter.com
  4. ↑ The Rhino and Nutmeg Show Archived September 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Daytime Emmy Awards - Outstanding Achievement in Main Title Design, IMDb, May 12, 2001. "Nominees: The Rosie O'Donnell Show: Mark Schneider (title designer), Josh Kimberg (title designer), Nick Cogan (title designer)".
  6. ↑ "Bullseye Art Creates First-ever Macromedia Flash Animation for National TV and the Internet" (Press release). Business Wire. Oct 25, 2000. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
  7. ↑ Mockingbird Foundation. The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books, 2004. (page 79) ISBN 978-0-87930-799-8
  8. ↑ "Magic Butter". KTVMi.com. KTV Media International Inc. Retrieved 2010-12-11.
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