Hans Tseng moved from Taiwan to Southern California when he was five years old and is now a background and character designer on Bee and PuppyCat - although, in his words, “tends to be all over the place” on the show and even designed the logo! Tseng also has a web comic, “Directions of Destiny,” and likes videos games a lot — and has drawn for video games too. You definitely want to read his interview - especially if you want to find out where a Sailor Moon reference snuck into the background. In addition to his website, you can find Hans on Tumblr and Twitter.
How did you learn to draw?
My dad was into drawing as a hobby so he got me started young, maybe when I was three or four years old, and my mom has been supportive of me keeping up with it my whole life. I grew up watching Ghibli movies and Sailor Moon so I remember drawing those a lot when I was young. (note: that’s Hans’ self portrait above)
Did you always want to work in animation?
Actually, for most of my life I was more into the idea of working in comics or games, but generally I figure as long as I’m working in a style I enjoy I’ll be happy working wherever!
How did you get involved in Bee and PuppyCat?
I first met Natasha through her roommate at the time, my friend Amanda Thomas (the background painter for the first pilot episode). After the first season was greenlit I was referred to do backgrounds by Efrain (Efrain Farias, the current art director and color stylist).
What do you do on the series?
I do some things here and there! I worked on the logo for the series, and initially I was just doing background designs, with some background paints and color keys with Efrain, but from episode 3 I’ve taken on the full background paints as well.
I also worked together with Natasha on the character designs for Deckard, Cass, Cardamon, and the base design for Bee which is used as a template to design her costumes.
Efrain, Natasha and I also make notes, drawovers and references for the animators. For example, one of the things the animators needed was an updated Puppycat model sheet that showed a wider range of expressions and movement so they can better interpret the drawings in the storyboards, so Natasha asked me to help with that. Some other things they often need are rough mockup animations for certain sequences and effects as well.
When you’re working on the series are there any comic books or animated series/characters that influence you?
I’m really into the work of anime director Kunihiko Ikuhara like Sailor Moon, Utena, and Penguindrum, so I think some of that shows through. I’m also really big into Nintendo games so influences also tend to seep through from Mario RPGs, Animal Crossing, and Pokémon.
As you began working on the new episodes what sort of art did Natasha share with you to get the show the way she wanted it to look?
When work for the new season was barely beginning, she actually made a big inspiration folder full of art from various Japanese artists and old anime that had the kind of feel she wanted for Bee and PuppyCat.
How did you come up with the design for the Bee and PuppyCat logo?
It’s a mix of me using various magical girl anime and Kirby logos for inspiration, and also Natasha really pushing for something similar to the title screen logo of the first Sonic the Hedgehog game.
When you are working on something do you just jump right in?
Sometimes I think about what I’m going to do a lot before I draw anything, but other times I just start slapping shapes down and hoping that something interesting comes out of it!
Is there anything you might have hidden in the backgrounds of Bee and PuppyCat?
There’s a black cat figurine on Bee’s shelf with a gold crest on its forehead… but it’s star-shaped… we call her… Starna…
Are you working on anything else besides Bee and PuppyCat right now?
I used to work on mobile social games, but currently I’m at Cartoon Network with Efrain as their other color stylist on Steven Universe. When I get a chance I also try to work on this really old webcomic I started back in high school called “Directions of Destiny,” which I hope to relaunch soon!
What’s your favorite video game?
Can I pick more than one?? My first favorite video game was Super Mario RPG, and I’m also really into the Fire Emblem games (my top two are Radiant Dawn and Awakening), and a lot of RPGs from the ’90s like Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy VIII, some Harvest Moon games, and Breath of Fire III.
