Follow the ‘More’ link to read all about two new animated series coming to Nicktoons, Leader Dog and Tortellini Western. Each is said to have a retro, 2D look and is created by a small team of animators at Animation Collective using Macromedia Flash.

I should add that when you go to the Animation Collective website you can see previews of shows entitled Earth Dog and Spaghetti Western, rather than Leader Dog and Tortellini Western.

From the Animation Flash Newsletter:

NICKTOONS SERVES UP TRADITIONAL STYLE TOONS LEADER DOG &
TORTELLINI WESTERN.

Nicktoons, Nickelodeon’s new 24-hour animation channel, will premiere
Animation Collective’s two new original series LEADER DOG and
TORTELLINI WESTERN. The first LEADER DOG episode premieres at 8:00 pm
April 18, 2004 while TORTELLINI WESTERN episodes will debut later in
the season. LEADER DOG tells the story of a junkyard dog, plucked
from the pound to lead an advanced civilization on a distant planet.
An homage to spaghetti westerns, TORTELLINI WESTERN follows the wild
west adventures of a recently arrived immigrant family.

The shows have a retro-2D style feel, hearkening back to something
more old-fashioned – the classic cartoons of the creator’s
childhood,” said Animation Collective ceo Larry Schwarz. “We really
wanted to create something totally original, yet familiar – the kind
of shows we grew up with and watched on Saturday mornings. We wanted
to tell funny stories with memorable characters -the kind that will
become classics.”

Like Loony Toons and other classics, both new series work on two
levels, according to Schwarz. Action packed with slapstick,
over-the-top, cartoon comedy, they appeal to kids. Older viewers will
also be able to appreciate the wry inside jokes and pop culture
references, he said.

If Animation Collective’s cartoons have a traditional feel, it’s
partly because the studio is organized like the old-fashioned small
and highly creative studios like those of Hanna-Barbera (THE
FLINTSTONES) and Jay Ward (ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE), according to
Schwarz. While most studios send work overseas to save money, LEADER
DOG and TORTELLINI WESTERN, like all of Animation Collective’s shows,
are created and animated via Flash completely in-house by the company
in a walk-up loft studio in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. The
company’s animators even lend their voices for several of the main
characters.

“By doing it all here, we’re able to create something very special.
We’re involved in the entire creative and production process and are
able to create something with a unique signature.” Schwarz added.

Nicktoons will air 13 short format episodes of each show. Each LEADER
DOG episode is three minutes, while each TORTELLINI WESTERN runs two
minutes.

Schwarz continued, “THE SIMPSONS, SOUTH PARK and even MICKEY MOUSE
all started out as shorts. We hope that LEADER DOG and TORTELLINI
WESTERN will have that kind of impact and one day maybe even inspire
the next generation of animators.”

Directed by Sergei Aniskov, LEADER DOG features inhabits of the
planet Zmed arriving on Earth for excitement but all they encounter
is a mangy junkyard dog on the run from the pound guards. He is
beamed back to Zmed and hailed as a hero. Now Leader’s rocking the
place doggie-style and Zmed will never be the same.

Directed by Sean Lahey, TORTELLINI WESTERN is an operatic comedy
about one family’s adventures in a new world. When the pasta famine
hit the small Sicilian village of Vallelunga, customers stopped
coming to the Ruggiero family restaurant. So Pop packed his family up
and moved to Palermo, Montana in America.

Year-old Animation Collective (www.animationcollective.com) creates
Flash-based animation for television, the Internet, home video and
feature films. Animation Collective produces programming on a work
for hire basis and develops and produces original proprietary
properties. THE INCREDIBLE CRASH DUMMIES, a series of interstitials
produced by Animation Collective and 4Kids Ent. are running on the
FOX BOX on Saturday mornings. PRINCESS NATASHA SECRET AGENT and KUNG
FU ACADEMY, two original Animation Collective series are featured in
the KOL section of AOL.