Indemnification Dog

Before my stint at The Ink Tank, Brian produced a few animated scenes for a national commercial.

These were quick, 3 to 4 second shots.  One feature a "Warner Bros." style dog.   It was more of classic MGM dog, but that was fine -it was what the agency wanted.  After the usual back and forth the design was approved.

A couple weeks later, the pencil test long approved, the film goes to camera and transfer.  The next day, Brian gets called into the agency.  There's a problem.

A big problem.

The dog is off model, in a bad way.  Seems a production artist felt the design could be improved by adding gold spikes to the dog's collar.

Of course, it had been long decided that would be too close to Tom & Jerry dog.

The agency screamed that the studio must "indemnify" the client against any possible infringement.  Dictionaries were consulted and the character was rechristened "Indemnification Dog".

I saw the clip a few years later and would never confuse the two.  The commercial dog was a completely different color, for one.  The line work and shapes were all different too.

There are several lessons to be learned here. 1)  Check all your art -don't trust production artists. 2) If you are the production artist -stick with the model book.  Chances are there are decisions made beyond the scope of your knowledge. 3) Get indemnified.