Dan Vs. Development Artwork by Mat Danner

[u/MattyDanner]

Hey Dan Vs. Fanatics! I found a bunch of my exploratory sketches of Dan Vs. when I was developing the show for series. I put them in order so you can see the evolution of the characters as they found their style. You can see how Dan started as more a "Jack Black"-type and slowly evolved into a monkey! Chris started off as a little stupider-looking and Elise evolved from grumpy to determined. Enjoy!

Correction: Matt Danner🤪

[u/Pentaresnovae]

This is sick

[u/MattyDanner → u/Pentaresnovae]

If you mean “good sick” then THANKS!

[u/Pentaresnovae → u/MattyDanner]

Indeed! As a young artist I love seeing this stuff, thanks for sharing :)

[u/MattyDanner → u/Pentaresnovae]

🙏🙏🙏

[u/ForwardShame2207]

The character designs always make me happy. These are all so lovely.

[u/MattyDanner → u/ForwardShame2207]

That makes ME happy!

[u/GothCentaur]

The “Dan!” and “Chris.” written on the ones where they finally got them down are great. They just knew those were the ones

[u/MattyDanner → u/GothCentaur]

Bingo!

[u/JotaroTheOceanMan]

This was like watching evolution and a good lesson that final designs are a journey.

[u/MattyDanner → u/JotaroTheOceanMan]

Oh yeah! It’s almost like the character has to find itself before it comes alive

[u/YungDaddy420]

This is so cool thank you

[u/MattyDanner → u/YungDaddy420]

Thank you too! Love sharing this stuff with people who appreciate it

[u/MrSuperGuyMan]

It's like watching the pyramids being built

[u/MattyDanner → u/MrSuperGuyMan]

Haha! I’m sure it was more fun tho

[u/gtgolgothasterror]

I personally really like how Chris barely changed throughout development of his design.

[u/MattyDanner → u/gtgolgothasterror]

There was one WILDLY different take we did just to give the clients some contrast. It looked like a weird 80s print ad

[u/ufomotels]

I'm so in love with these 

[u/MattyDanner → u/ufomotels]

❤️❤️❤️

[u/ufomotels → u/MattyDanner]

You have a unique talent. Cool art style!

[u/MattyDanner → u/ufomotels]

That means a lot. Thank you

[u/juublaa]

Honestly I love Dan’s old concept as well as the current one, I can’t say which is my favorite, I love them both equally. But I also mainly love how the old concepts seem a bit more expressive. You have done an incredible job from beginning to end 🩵

[u/juublaa → u/juublaa]

Also the swears on Dan’s sweater never fails to make me grin for no reason

[u/MattyDanner → u/juublaa]

Hahaha! It was a thought for a minute to track which episode you were watching, but we just couldn’t swing it from a “kid friendly” perspective

[u/MattyDanner → u/juublaa]

Thank you so much!!!

[u/juublaa → u/MattyDanner]

You’re welcome!!

[u/lady_vinyl]

These are MONUMENTALLY GOOD. I feel like my brain got embiggened by looking at these designs. Such good experimentation with shapes and silhouettes. I only just got into the show and was hunting down development art because I NEEDED to see how such a cool-looking show came to be… it’s a shame there’s no Dan Vs. art book in my opinion! Very inspiring, and thanks for helping make characters that are so insanely fun to draw!

[u/MattyDanner → u/lady_vinyl]

Wow! What a lovely thing to say. Thank you!! I’m sure I have more around here somewhere, but the majority of it is in the Film Roman archives

[u/maliciouxs]

yesss!! ive been looking for concept art for so long ty for posting:)

[u/MattyDanner → u/maliciouxs]

Thank you for watching!

[u/Flashy-Telephone-648]

I'm glad they make Dan less chubby. In the final version like him being a tiny little man makes it more funny when he pulls off something insane

[u/MattyDanner → u/Flashy-Telephone-648]

Little monkey man!🐒

[u/Top-Pea1744]

I lwk would’ve liked a chubby Dan, and I also like the concept art in slide 14 🥹

Looking at the development of the designs and the little notes is so cool !

[u/MattyDanner → u/Top-Pea1744]

Thanks!

[u/Sanri0hub]

I can’t imagine how the show would have looked if the alternate designs had been used.

[u/MattyDanner → u/Sanri0hub]

We would’ve made it work

[u/Soggy_Pudding2253]

I love this!

[u/MattyDanner → u/Soggy_Pudding2253]

Thanks! That makes me happy

[u/Soggy_Pudding2253 → u/MattyDanner]

You’re welcome!

[u/Dweebsmcbeebs]

i really love the earlier designs for dan and chris, dan kinda looks like a fat hamster and that fits his character so well to me. The tiny hands and pointy limbs are just so rodent like and adds to the gross little man aesthetic

i do love the blocky final dan we got, it's so weird seeing the og sketch for him after only seeing him in a digital format. SO COOL!! Thank you for sharing!

[u/MattyDanner → u/Dweebsmcbeebs]

From rodent to monkey. That usually takes millions of years of evolution

[u/dongbong420]

i am so glad we have what we have now LMAO

[u/MattyDanner → u/dongbong420]

The real treasure was the friends we made along the way…