How do you create playful, high-energy character voices? Classic cartoons provide decades of ideas, techiques, and inspiration we can learn from…
Today, I use my favourite place for playing with voices (driving in my van) to explore a technique I use all the time as a voice coach and performer: borrowing existing voices and learning from them.
This is part of a 21-day character voice challenge I’m doing alongside the Puro Casting Archetypes Challenge (https://www.purocasting.com/the-acting-habit/the-21-day-self-tape-challenge)…
Today’s archetype is the Herald: the character who bursts into the story and kicks everything into action.
Instead of trying to “invent” a voice from scratch, I often start by drawing inspiration from existing voices — in this case a couple of classic cartoon/puppet Hanna-Barbera and Muppet-style voices — and then reshape them into something new, usable, and uniquely mine.
If you’re an actor, voice performer, curious about how to develop character voices, and you’re interested in going deeper into voice and character work… Join the Voice Lab Online waitlist here: https://sendfox.com/alexowenhill
00:00 Why the car is perfect for voice work
01:29 Using non-human / cartoon-influenced voices
01:57 What I mean by “stealing”/borrowing voices (not impressions)
02:26 Choosing cartoon references
03:37 Listening, copying, and playing with vocal music
06:22 Applying borrowed qualities to the script
07:12 Testing takes (and why they felt rough)
09:06 When to stop, rest, and leave the voice alone
Source videos for the voices I’m playing with:
Top Cat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbjisLd5i4U
Rizzo the Rat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyBZYFypM6s
#voiceacting #charactervoice #voicecoach #actingprocess #cartoonvoices #voicework #characterdesign #archetypes #nonhumancharacters #vocalplay #performancetraining #actingtools
