Ed Benedict’s character designs are simply wonderful. They are so disnticnvtive, and funny and alive. He has great command of combining angular/curvy designs without going too far in either direction. He even does thick and thin line work at the pencil/sketch stage! Holy crud, what a madman!
Much of his work laid the foundation for the look of many Hanna Barbera’s most famous characters. You can still see the impact of his design all over Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Yet he is relatively unknown outside of the industry, and tends to get discarded in favor of character designers from Disney. I would love to see a book completely devoted to the wonderful work of Ed Benedict, with tons of interviews because the guy sounds so curmudgeonly! I’d pay top dollar, I tells ya!
The following interview conducted by John K appeared in a laser disk version release of the Flintstones.
Here’s an appreciation of Ed Benedict by John K that appeared in Animation Blast Magazine…