Why the cast of DOUG has literal colors for skin tone?

Say what you will about what's the better original 1991 Nicktoon but compared to RUGRATS & THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW, DOUG had beaten the two in the timeslot on that fateful August 11 1991.

But regardless, Both the Nickelodeon and Disney series have this one thing in common, They have a cast of human characters with literal colors for skin tone.

What's also amazing to find that even after Jim Jenkins changed Networks for DOUG, he refused to allow digital ink and paint tools to be used on the show. With his argument being that Colored pixels and hexadecimals codes for color aren't as aesthetic as actual acrylic paint.

That’s some real commitment to the old school.

This is not blood. This is a dollop of Red Acrylic Paint on a canvas.

In fact, I think the only time DOUG ever used digital ink and paint was for color correction if the camera frame exposures wasn't to Jim's liking such as in the movie but at the very least, DOUG only had true digital colors for his cels on the 1995 FRUIT ROLLUPS commercial alongside ROCKO, REN, STIMPY, etc.

Anyway, enough talking about a show refusing to use computers for ink and paint even when switching animation studios.

Why do the cast of DOUG have literal colors for Skin tone?

It's a matter of both budget and style.

While DOUG certainly can afford to have more flesh-toned characters, 

I think the whole budget thing is more to do with childhood than with actual show budget.

Have you ever wanted to color a drawing you've just done a line drawing of, only to find you're severely lacking in the right colors for skin tone?

That's how Jim Jenkins felt when drawing the first ever drawings of DOUG FUNNIE back in 1966

Is it just me, or does this Prototype of DOUG FUNNIE look like Bart Simpson in his nerd phase long before THE SIMPSONS was just a twinkle in Matt Groening's eye?

I've been there. I loved to draw my characters even if they were limited in construction but I also remember being frusturated with missing one critical color for skin tone:

TAN or MAIZE.

Often when we want markers or crayons, it's often our parents who buy these for us but our parents love to cheap out. Maybe that's why we are always stick with these 6 or 8 packs of Crayola markers or crayons instead of the full set of 24 colors.

If it were paints, we could mix the colors together but your stockpile of that mixed paint is limited.

but that didn't stop me from doing cels like these

That brown stuff on Butch is actually coffee thrown at him.

So what did us kid do to combat this issue? We just substitute the missing color of the skin for something similar.

I remember using yellow markers for my characters skin tones but nowadays, that's not advisable due to many things.

One of them being the trademark color of the characters from THE SIMPSONS.

Like I said, the budget for an episode of DOUG, both Nickelodeon and Disney, is much higher and more expensive than a childhood's worth of drawings so the use of literal colors for skin tone is pretty much a style over budget.

And that style can be used to describe a character's personality.

Skeeter for example is described as blue and by far is the only character to be referred to as such on screen. He's portrayed as good natured and a bit kooky which fits his overall personality.

But at heart, he's also a great voice artist as well as a genius if several episodes are any indication.

Roger Klotz has green skin... to which, HAHA, it fits his personality too:

Lean, Mean, and green.

But the reality is that Roger is not entirely mean. He's just misunderstood and jealous of how the others in Bluffington have a better life than he does.

maybe that's why he targets DOUG all the time as his teasing fodder. He's just jealous of DOUG's natural gifts of the arts and friendship too. And that's also why he likes to pick on DOUG too. 

He desperately wants to be DOUG's best friend.

"Admit it Roger. You want DOUG to be the very best friend he'll ever be. That blushing of yours can't escape from your green cheek bones."

Of course, once Roger becomes rich in the Disney series, he becomes a straight-up narcissist.

"My catchphrase should have been SMELL YA LATER instead of JOEYCOOKAMONGA."

No Roger, that's not your catchphrase. Stop trying to steal from Gary Oak.

But even being a rich narcissist is not enough to protect him from his worst fear ever:

VICE PRINCIPAL LAMAR BONE.

              

"That's right. No rich jackass, unless it's the Bluff's, can escape my wrath."

"WHY BONE OF ALL JACKASSES!!! NOOOOO!!!!"

Yes, even a rich narcissist can't escape the wrath of his old nemesis, especially the kind of person that would do anything to put him behind bars.

Speaking about jail bars, I heard a rumor from Billy West that Roger Klotz is in jail.

For what? Embezzlement?

"You're damn right it's embezzlement! Plus TAX FRAUD!!!

And he ain't getting out of Augusta Correctional Centre PDQ!!!"

Anyway, back to the cast of DOUG.

Then there's the purple skinned characters..... like Beebe Bluff.

The personality of the purple toned characters is mixed.

On one hand, you have Purple Characters acting all high and mighty like they own the goddamn place like Beebe's father Bill Bluff

"I have all the money I have in the state of Virginia.

 Nobody can surpass my net worth. "

While others are condescending and friendly all around.

Like Doug's neighbor Bud Dink

"Did you know that my last name is an acronym for DOUBLE INCOME, NO KIDS?"

And sometimes, that corresponding skin tone often doesn't match up to the expected personality for each character depending on who you look at.

For example, Chalky Studebaker has green skin but he's not mean like Roger is. 

In fact, according to the DOUG WIKI, Chalky outright detests Roger.

Chalky is actually friendly but his excuse for his Green skin tone is that he's overly competitive and he admits that he's not perfect, especially with his brother involved.

And then there's Connie. The bodacious, thicc, and friendly motivator for Doug and friends all around. But why green for her skin?

"Just to balance out my friendly demeanor. And it's not because I was purple like I was in Season 1."

And then there are characters who have the same skin tone as an Oompa Loompa.

Like Boomer here. The guy who's big on talk, short on Brains.

Also a fan of Star Trek.... THE ORIGINAL SERIES that is.

Uh oh, looks like Boomer has pissed off someone who thinks Picard is better than Kirk.

Other orange Characters include Lamar Bone.

"I make Principal Skinner look soft by comparison."

But don't think Mr. Bone is a CHAD just because he enforces so many strict rules in the BLUFFINTON SCHOOL BOARD, all while having his voice sound like DON KNOTTS.....

Yes, Lamar Bone is as strict are Barney Fife in THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.

"You better listen to my orange skinned friend above me or you'll be up for an ass kicking PDQ!!!"

As for characters like Patti Mayonnaise,

Ned Cauphee,

Percy Femur,

Actor Ronald Wisenheimer.... and former Mayor Bob White, 

Cynthia, aka FLUKE,

And most importantly, DOUG FUNNIE himself,

They remain the only characters with a realistic Skin Tone.

DOUG wouldn't be the only show on earth that has characters with literal colors for skin tone.

How do you explain characters like:

Marceline the Vampire,

Princess Bubblegum

Flame Princess

Huntress Wizard

All from Adventure Time,

as well as...

Ed from ED, EDD, N EDDY

Shego from KIM POSSIBLE

the main cast from REBOOT

the gems from STEVEN UNIVERSE

and all the others out there.

Notice I didn't mention or show image examples from shows like My Little Pony, or Big City Greens.

My Little Pony is not my cup of tea. Plus, I have a friend who has a dislike of Bronies.

I also don't like Big City Greens due to the art style and the excuse some certain executives have for giving it a film while giving the axe to The Ghost and Molly Mcgee.

And thus ends my blogpost about the cast of DOUG and their skin tones.

Many of my screenshots, barring a few exceptions, are from the Nickelodeon version which has a better reception and is much easier for me to get my own screenshots due to actually owning the AMAZON DVD for the entire 52 episodes of that particular version.

The Disney Version, while easy to find via DISNEY+, it's not as popular when compared to it's predecessor , that and I prefer to have screenshots without the ABC or Toon Disney network bug which a lot of the screenshots on the internet have but DISNEY+ like all other streaming services gives my screenshots black screens whenever I use PRINT SCREEN due to copyright protection algorithms used on all streaming apps.

It's either I get my screenshots via pointing my iPhone 15 pro at my ASUS monitor or having access to the clean prints of the entire 65 episode series on Archive.org without watermarks or VHS/DVR Artifacts.

Until then, I'm sticking to my Nickelodeon Series DVD and VLC Player for my screenshots.

Update as of August 18 2024:

FINALLY!!! Paramount+ made it to Canadian PS5 consoles.......

I don't know how it is for other Canadian regions but since 2021, Vancouverite owners were unable to get Paramount+ on their PS5's despite it being available on their smartphones since Day 1.

Well that has changed for the greater good but as usual, I'm sticking to my Nick Series DVD for all my Screen captures of DOUG. For the Disney version, INTERNET ARCHIVE it is.....

That is if the prints are clean without any network bugs or artifact compression.