We hope you have all seen and loved the new Doozy Father’s Day ecard, Honky Tonk Hamburger (see that sassy burger boy in the picture? That’s the feller). Well we owe this card in part to the really warm people at North Shore Dish, and through them, to the immensely cute couple running The Little Depot Diner in Peabody, Massachusetts.
It all started when we wrote the script and drew a sketch for our card, as we are wont to do:
See that big blank blue background space? Well we had to fill it with a background from an actual diner. We’ve always felt animation gets really funny when you mix it with photos. So we went to scour the internet photo sites for the perfect American diner, a wall with pies, muffins, shake mixers, etc. We found nothing. Zilch. Zip. Every shot was taken from a bad angle or there just weren’t any.
Finally we happened upon the truly delightful blog about restaurants on the North Shore of Massachusetts, North Shore Dish. They had a feature on diners and in that blog we found our perfect wall from a real, homey, American diner: The Little Depot Diner in Peabody.
We sent them a note asking for permission to use their photo, and they responded, somewhat shocked that in this day when people just grab photos willy nilly, someone had asked nicely. They were kind enough to let us put their picture of the back wall of the Little Depot Diner in our card.
The way the photo fits into the fun, warm, delightful feeling of the card says a lot about the charm and personality of The Little Depot Diner and its owners, Ross and Alicia Scanlon. They are a young couple fulfilling their dream of owning and cooking in their very own diner. If you are on the north shore of Mass., go stop in and try their take on the old diner favorites. Here are their specials.
Here’s a still from the finished cardtoon. Click on it to watch the whole animation.
We love making cards with personality. We are truly grateful to have found the Little Depot and North Shore Dish and for their addition to our favorite new Father’s Day eCard!