Even for a series loaded with generational talents, it was mainly elements of the visual, narrative and writing design that defined the show and helped turn it into one of the most quietly genre-pushing animated series of the 90s. First of all was the invention of Squigglevision, a loop-based animation style masterminded by Tom Snyder. “In this method, the animator loosely traced the outline of each cartoon image several times and when these separate images ran together as a loop, the image would appear to be vibrating,” says Annette. Lacking the budget for traditional animation, this method allowed the image to possess the illusion of motion, much like the microscopic movements that happen in our eyes, without animating a metric ton of finicky animation frames. Similar to “Jittercam”, the antonym of Steadicam, the “boiled lines” effect also helps create a documentary-esque vibe, as if the characters are being filmed with a handheld camera.
Annette, Tom and their team found their animation style through Autodesk Animator, a clunky painting program developed in 1989 for the MS-DOS, which the team had previously been using for its original intention: creating educational math videos. In 1995, traditional 2D animation did not know its future was going take place on computers, but the team behind Katz stuck to what they knew best and set forth whilst smash hits like Toy Story illustrated the massive budgetary differences between the two studios.