Does Bruce Timms Work Influence Animation?

Bruce Timm was a character designer and producer for Batman the Animated Series (1992). The
designs he created for the show have since become some of the most well recognised in animation.
He has a blocky, angular, sharp and, jagged style for male characters, but has a curved, delicate style
for the female characters. He tends to exaggerate certain parts of characters such as Batmans chin
and, The Jokers overly jagged facial features. It seems that only the male characters get majorly
defining features like squared off jaws and massive pectorals, almost like a walking Dorito.

Fig. 1. Batman the Animated Series

(1992)
Bruce Timms versions of Batman and the Joker from Batman the Animated Series. Batman is very
squared off and angular, whereas the Joker has a similar body style but with a few jagged areas,
especially around his face.

Fig.2. Batgirl and Jean Grey (No Date)

Drawings of Batgirl and Jean Grey by Bruce Timm showing his distinct style of illustrating female
characters. They are can be curvy, and have a rather ideal body type. They tend to be portrayed as
strong character in his work though.
Women on the other hand tend to have an ideal and sexist way of being drawn where they have
big hips, and small waists. His illustrations of women have been described as cute and coquettish,
curvy and charming. (Jim Steranko, 2013 p.11) Like with most comic book related women, his work
is somewhat controversial. His style, while heavily influenced by comics, is a culmination of what he

has worked on over the years. Starting out with the company Filmation, he moved to work for Don
Bluth for a small period as well as other companies before ending up at Warner Bros. During this
time he learnt what worked well for animation, especially when creating entire series ready for
release later that year. He was taught how to exaggerate and simplify, learning these techniques
among others is what allowed him to truly develop his style into what it is today.

Bruce Timm has been quite influential over that last couple of decades especially in the world of
superheroes. This starts with his work on Batman the Animated series, where he was a character
creator. He has shaped how Batman has been seen in the last couple of decades, especially
compared to other intellectual properties. The easiest comparison would be Batman the Animated
Series to Spiderman the Animated Series (1994) where Batman the Animated Series has, arguably,
stood the test of time much better than Spiderman the Animated series released at a similar time.

Fig. 3. Spiderman the Animated series

(1994)
This is Spiderman as he is depicted in Spiderman the animated series. Its easy to see a few
similarities between the character designs of Spiderman and Batman, mainly in the body shape,
though he doesnt have the squared jaw.
Obviously all of these are based on comic books, mainly DC at that, this is because most of Timms
influences are comic book artists themselves from Ditko to Mike Mignola to Kevin Nowlan to Marc
Hampel (Eric Nolen-Weathington, 2012 p.12). With influences like these its easy to see why Timms
work lends itself to comics so well, it helps that he also did few bits of inking here and there for
various comic book artists. He has a deep understanding of what effort goes into the comic book
process from writing to the art, and by comparing to his knowledge from his work on He-man and
the Masters of the Universe (1983), you can undoubtedly acknowledge he has grown as an artist and
an animator. He evidently loves his work and even goes as far as to joke about him being paid for
doing something he loves so much as a crime. (Jim Steranko, 2013)

An obvious example in how Bruce Timm is still relevant is seen in Beware the Batman (2013). This
newest series of Batman is done in CGI but still maintains the style of Bruce Timm from the original
animated series that started back in the 1992.

Fig. 4. Beware the Batman (2013)

An image from Beware the Batman, in this show Batman is very similar looking to how Bruce Timm
portrayed him, but with a couple of differences. This Batman isnt as big and bulky as Timms looking
much more slender, he also isnt as Square either this helps differ it from the previous designs.
It falls into the same category of the other Batman designs shown over the years by mimicking
designs previous but still adding its own flair to feel new. Obviously because this Batman and the
1992 show was such a huge success its easy to see why DC would want this style for all of their
future superhero animations to keep their work recognisable. The work however doesn't have to be
superhero in nature it can have any background but it is most visible in the superhero genre. Most
obviously in the continuing Batman series' that followed like Batman Beyond (1999), which was
Bruce Timms work, The Batman (2004) and Batman the Brave and the Bold (2008) both of these
shows were not worked on by Bruce Timm but still show essence of his work. This doesn't mean that
his influence is just limited to Batman, but it is mostly visible within the DC animated universe, with
shows like Teen Titans (2003), Young Justice (2010), and Green Lantern the animated series (2011).
Timm has also had a hand in overseeing some of DCs animated features but not a very heavy hand
in it.

Influence isnt just limited to the DC inspired series. Bruce Timms angular style can be seen in
cartoons like Gargoyles (1994), Hellboy: Sword of Storms (2006), and The Avengers: Earths Mightiest
Heroes (2010). Gargoyles is a heavily gothic inspired series, which helps in relating to Bruce Timms
style which, in itself, was set in a Gothic styled city. The similarities are most strong in comparing the
main characters, Batman and Goliath. These characters have the same body shape, being big, bulky
and, angular. They also have very similar jaw lines in how squared off they are. If we look at the
female character Demona they have an extremely similar body type to Bruce Timms stencil like
design of women, like Poison Ivy or Batgirl. Greg Weisman, the creator of Gargoyles, says that
Batman the Animated Series was one of his influences for the show so much so that he employed
some of the crew that worked on Batman to work on Gargoyles (Christopher Erickson, 2007).

Fig. 5. Goliath Gargoyles (1994)

Goliath and Demona from Gargoyles are depicted here, Goliath seems to be very similar in how
Batman looks barring his monstrous looks hes angular and square-like in style similar to Timm.

Fig. 6. Demona Gargoyles (1994)

Demona has the curvature and proportions also used by Timm in his way of drawing female
characters.
The grounds for this is because they have a similar setting of a dark city, as well as translating very
easily over to comic books, this style assists with gaining momentum of fans since it was already
made popular by Bruce Timm its easily recognisable. The idea of it also translating well into comics,
while making sense with Batman the Animated Series, seems like it would be more of a marketing
ploy with Gargoyles though Weisman has proceeded to create comics of the show. It is unknown
whether this is because of Bruce Timms background or for other reasons. Bruce Timm has also
stated that he dislikes Gargoyles Yeah, that whole premise of Gargoyles was kind of namby-pamby
anyway, with all that Celtic fantasy crap (Emru Townsend, 1999). This demonstrates that even
though someone has been influenced by your work they arent necessarily going to like it.

Not all animation is the same though it doesnt just have to be a traditional 2D style, it can be 3D, it
doesnt even have to be on the television it can be in a game. This is what a couple of relatively new

game developers have said. They have drawn influences from a number of artists including Bruce
Timm (Andrew Clouther, 2013). This is stated in an interview for their Kickstarter campaign, a
website where the public can fund your idea, for their game Comic Conquest (no date).

Fig.7. Comic
Conquest (no date)
This promotional art for the game Comic Conquest. The female designs seem to have the most
influence from Timms style, as seen by the character on the rightmost side having similar
proportions to those designed by Timm.
While the game doesnt look like it will ever see the light of day its quite easy to see the inspiration
theyve drawn from Bruce Timms work. While the facial features may not be replicas of Timms
work the line art in itself certainly seems to mirror that of his work, and definitely draws something
from his work. The way its done seems to be to draw in a wave of nostalgia from those that know
and recognise his work.

On the other side of the spectrum this could also show that Bruce Timm could have possibly put the
style of superheroes into a rut, as many of the designs can be seen as being very similar to Bruce
Timms original concepts. This can be seen in, at the very least, DCs immobility to design very little
outside of this on the animated side of things. Even when the animation and design is based on
another artist's work it still pays this homage to Timms work as seen in Justice League War (2014).
Overall though I feel Timm has certainly given more to the medium with his style than broken it. A
quick google search would show many new, budding artists trying their hand at his style while
combining it with their favourite show or game. As for mainstream media outside of DCs main
animation, Timm has come back a couple of times to do work for the anniversaries of Batman and
Superman in the form of shorts. Elsewhere his influence can at least be seen, mainly in superhero
works, but its assuredly there. Not even necessarily in the realm of traditional animation it can be
seen in games and 3D works. His work is always one that draws a crowd and echoes through the
medium of animation, maybe not as loudly as it originally did but undoubtedly audible, which is sure
to be heard for years to come.

Books

Nolan-Weathington, E. (ed.) (2012) Modern Masters Volume Three: Bruce Timm. 5th ed. Canada:
Twomorrows Publishing.

Steranko, J. (2013) Naughty and Nice the Good Girl Art of Bruce Timm Big Pocket Edition. 2nd ed.
Santa Cruz: Flesk Publications.

Websites

Clouther, A. (2013) Kickstarter Interview: Comic ConQuest: Rise of the Hoarder will have you step in
the role youve always fantasized about [Online]. [Accessed 17 May 2015]. Available at:
<http://www.gamezone.com/originals/kickstarter-interview-comic-conquest-rise-of-the-hoarderwill-have-you-step-in-the-role-you-ve-always-fantasized-about>

Erickson, C. (2007) A Fanboy's First Visit to a Con [Online]. [Accessed 17 May 2015]. Available at:
<http://www.comics101.com/guestlecturer/?mode=project&action=view&project=Guest%20Lectur
er&chapter=51>

Townsend, E. (1999) Bruce Timm & Glen Murakami [Online]. [Accessed 17 May 2015]. Available at:
<http://5x5media.com/eye/inte/btimm.php>

DVD

Figure 1. Batman the Animated Series (1992) Directed by K. Altieri, B. Kirkland, F. Paur, D. Riba, D.
Sebast, B. Timm, E. Randomski, K. Butterworth [DVD]. USA:Warner Home Studio,

Images

Figure 2. Batgirl and Jean Grey (no date) [Online] [Accessed 7 July 2015] Available at
<http://observationdeck.kinja.com/why-does-bruce-timm-get-a-free-pass-1677402481>

Figure 3. Spiderman the Animated Series (1994) [Online] [Accessed 7 July 2015] Available at
<http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/spider-man-animated-series-cast-745604>

Figure 4. Beware the Batman (2013) [Online] [Accessed 7 July 2015] Available at
<http://www.comicvine.com/batman/4005-1699/forums/beware-the-batman-broken-clips-andimages-1485561/>

Figure 5. Gargoyles (1994) [Online] [Accessed 9 July 2015] Available at

<http://www.dvdizzy.com/gargoyles-season1.html>

Figure 6. Gargoyles (1994) [Online] [Accessed 9 July 2015] Available at

<http://www.animatedheroes.com/gargoyles.html>

Figure 7. Comic Conquest (2013) [Online] [Accessed 17 May 2015]. Available at:
<http://www.gamezone.com/originals/kickstarter-interview-comic-conquest-rise-of-the-hoarderwill-have-you-step-in-the-role-you-ve-always-fantasized-about>