Art of: Cluckie The Vampire Chicken

You can read the full story of Cluckies birth, and view all the artwork over at our Freakish Kid website by clicking on this link: WWW.FREAKISHKID.COM

The first incarnation of Cluckie happened over a decade ago, it was a very different beast from what it is today. Firstly, it started as a single one minute film, just a super short movie with a one gag payoff. It was also called Cluckie the Vampire Cock (something that was immediately changed when it was pitched to the Nickelodeon network). It stayed as a quick sketch on paper and a brief outline for many years.

The original idea had Cluckie stalking the hens of the farm he occupies, springing from the shadows and hunting for blood. When he was about to get his grub and quench his bloodlust the sun started to rise – he is instantly caught in a massive dilemma, crow the sun or run for cover (the sun kills vampires). But he could not ignore his primal instinct and so as he rushes out and leaps on his perch, inhales and crows he ignites into a shower of fire.

We decided to expand a little on his character and add a few more gags to the film. It started the same with him prowling through the coup yard, searching for his food. We designed the hens to come from different nations to add a choice of menu for him – does he want Italian? Chinese? British? or Spanish?. The rest of the story stayed pretty much the same with the explosion at the end staying as the final gag. We produced a storyboard for the pitch and went to see Nickelodeon.