Bullseye Art was a New York City based art collective that pioneered art and animation on the web. Founded in 1995 by Josh Kimberg, Nick Cogan and Ryan Edwards, the company gained fame for its creation of unique and offbeat

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

s made using Macromedia Flash. Bullseye Art became well known for its humour with such cartoons as ''Porkchops'', which portrayed a talking donkey in surrealistic situations, and ''Miss Muffy and the Muff Mob'', about a band of rapping muffin-headed girls. A dragon named Hooptie-Goo often appeared as a mascot during the opening or closing credits. Other multi-episode cartoons included ''Internet – The Animated Series, Rat Chicken, Space Dog, Makin' Moves'' and ''The Rhino and Nutmeg Show''. The company was commissioned to do several high-profile cartoon segments, the most notable of which was the opening titles for The Rosie O'Donnell Show, for which they were nominated for two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

. The animated opening was the first work of Flash Animation to appear on television. They also created the music videos '' First Tube'' and '' You Enjoy Myself'' for the rock band

Phish Phish is an American rock band formed in Burlington, Vermont, in 1983. The band is known for musical improvisation, extended jams, blending of genres, and a dedicated fan base. The band consists of guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon ...

. Mockingbird Foundation. ''The Phish Companion: A Guide to the Band and Their Music''. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books, 2004.
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Bullseye Art maintained a free entertainment portal featuring many of the first community features that are now standard on the internet. Revenue was driven by licensing their cartoons to third party sites ( Atom Films, Shockwave.com,

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's Volume.com,

Razorfish Razorfish may refer to: Species Fish A common name used for three unrelated groups of fishes: * The genera ''Aeoliscus'', and ''Centriscus'', also known as shrimpfishes, in the family Centriscidae * The genus ''Xyrichtys'' of the family Labridae * ...

) and from commercial animation ( Icebox.com, Kenny the Shark). Bullseye Art shut its doors in 2003 and the founders started a production company named Raw Power. During this period (2003–2004), the majority of the cartoons were unavailable. In 2005, Josh Kimberg launched the cartoons under the new name Magic Butter. While initially a pay site, MagicButter.com eventually became free, displaying all of the old content along with new cartoons, T-shirts for sale, and free downloads such as MP3s, desktop wallpapers, and icons until it shut down.

References

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Footnotes

External links

Magic Butter website

Magic Butter website
(Archive)
Bullseye Art website
(Archive) {{Animation industry in the United States American animation studios Websites about animation Underground culture Companies based in New York City Defunct companies based in New York City Web portals