How We Made The Club Penguin Avatar

I'm actually really glad that the "lazy" route of no shadows for the clothing was taken, since it made the clothes pop more instead of muddying up the aesthetic

For what it's worth, the paper doll's empty-minded/depressed look is the funniest and most iconic thing you could've made

Hey Chris as a kid in the 2000s with autism, Club Penguin really helped me learn how to socialise especially online. One thing I rememeber talking about for hours with my friends on the playground were penguin designs and new clothing that would be added periodicallty. Knowing your the guy behind so much of what made club penguin so memorable and charming. You basically made my childhood I doubt you'll see this but, thank you so much for what you did for this game waddle on.

I Never noticed that clothes never casted shadows onto themselves but it really added to the art style can’t lie

It's kinda funny to hear you lament the early "no art style" art style, because I know myself and several other people are very nostalgic for the early scrappier art style. Especially to my Elementary school eyes, it looked amazing and I remember struggling to try and recapture the same aesthetic in my own artwork

This makes a lot more sense as to why items with "special" animations (such as the miner's helmet or instruments) would only perform that special animation when every other clothing item was unequipped! That would mean every single other article of clothing would have to be rendered for these additional special animations. It was something I always wondered as a child, but I never realized how much effort went into creating a clothing item.

It's so cool that you get to hear from us now as adults!! But then again, it feels like you always respected your audience, no matter how young we were. I really like how you talk about us players when we were kids-- you knew that our joy was just as big as any adult's.

I grew up in Kelowna, BC and I remember seeing club penguin artists at the children's fairs there! The fact that your design was so influential that artists in 2014 could still sketch it up in seconds is super cool!

I remember I used to draw over the paper doll penguin drawing you made to make my own clothing items. I've never really thought the original paper doll design you created for the penguin was goofy. I actually saw it as a blank canvas for creative ideas.

I can't believe club penguin can legally drink in some countries now

Oh maaaan, you dont know how much this penguin and all of your works meant to my childhood, i still remember how this game allowed me to learn ANOTHER LANGUAGE, im from chile, latin america, i did not know a single word of english, until one day in a new years eve, the club penguin team that translated the game did not (i dont know if purposelly or not) translate the words on the title of the event "coins for change", and that made me want to investigate what it could mean, so i started translating word for word whatever i saw in club penguin, nightclub, pizza, whatever word id see plastered around the map, i would go and translate, that allowed me to start learning, and i know my english has yet a lot of improvement to do, but this has allowed me to meet thousands of wonderful people, is a talent that has allowed me to grow and also impress people, you dont know how much easier school became for me thanks to your artwork of a penguin and what it brought to my life. Also one of my most well regarded childhood memory is to me that once my grandma, a 64 year old woman back then who didnt knew nothing about club penguin, internet or anything at all, and that we didnt also had that much money, and here in chile we didnt also had much stuff arriving, i saw the first official product of the game like when i was 15 years old and i had started playing when i was 6 or 7, anyways, my grandma would always hear that i talked about penguins and stuff, and one day she was working on a market sale (like a latin market, a full street full of normal people with products from their farms, selling vegetables, fruits, used clothes, and whatever), she was a salesman for a communications brand (TV, internet, phone and that) and stopped to get a rest from delivering her number on paper to get new deals, and saw a pack of penguin cards that she found beautiful for me cause she knew i loved penguins, turns out it was an official pack of cards of the game, it had the codes and card jitsu cards, i was so amazed cause me and my mom, had looked on a retail stores, club penguin was nowhere to be found and somehow my grandma had it found on accident, i was given a cool guitar, clothes and stuff thanks to the code, i know its dumb but i remember being so happy and i couldnt believe my grandma had brought that to me out of nowhere. I used to sell puffle drawings on paper to my friends also on like 2nd grade so feel free to strike me for violations of intellectual property lol 😂 Sorry for the long ahh post, i thought you mightve liked to hear how much your work meant to me, club penguin raised me and taught me lots of things and allowed me to live many kinds of things you couldnt imagine a single penguin drawing and game can make, anyways, thank u for the memory ride, i have no words to describe the amount of happiness and joy all u people gave to a full generation, i cannot fathom to imagine how many stories like mine there has to be around the world, and it was all thanks to a couple people with inmense amounts of talent and a dedication to their work, cheers ❤

What a fascinating video! It's crazy to think the transition from Swift 3D to 3D Studio Max involved you rebuilding everything from scratch pixel-perfect, but still it "only" took 1.5 weeks, and probably freed up so much time for future designers. I guess it goes to show what seems like an insurmountable ordeal can actually be the right thing to do!

The penguin puppet drawing is literally the best and most iconic Club Penguin drawing ever! That drawing will live in my heart rent free forever!

The paper doll was always so funny to me with its unreadable expression. I love how uncanny it looks when you wear the more modern and detailed items. But I like it for that reason. It's the only part of Club Penguin's original artstyle that stuck around all the way through.

The paper doll is incredible and hearing the lore on it makes it even better

the penguin model and paper doll are arguably some of the biggest icons of my childhood! can't believe that iconic 2d penguin was whipped up in 15 minutes, i thought it was the cutest and the art style was so fun! your work lives on forever in the hearts of many

The iconic dance being made up mostly of already made frames makes so much sense the more I think about it, thank you for bringing joy to so many!

Dude I am glad the paper-doll penguin is so lumpy looking cuz I always thought that it looked like an old family dog; where it looks kinda wistful and kinda dumb, AND the short arms definitely make it cuter. This game was one of the best parts of my childhood. Love your channel, keep up the good work!

I, a member of the original target audience of Club Penguin, am now as old as you were when you began working on the game. This is definitely a new kind of reminiscing about the past.

I cannot understate how much Club Penguin impacted my childhood. Some of my strongest memories are going to the supermarket and buying a membership card, printing out the night of the living sled paper puppets, and just sitting in a corner and listening to the soundtrack. Its so cool seeing the behind the scenes, and i’m so thankful that you guys kept all of these “artifacts”. Thank you, from all of us.