Original world development

Character creation · Book · Entertainment · DreamWorks series

Archibald’s Next Big Thing

A character that began in Victor’s sketchbook became a children’s book with Tony Hale, then a DreamWorks animated series.

The origin

From sketchbook oddball to animated world.

Archibald started as a character Victor kept drawing in 2009, named after his great-grand uncle. He was strange in the right way: open-hearted, curious, and always ready to wander into the next thing.

What began as a private sketchbook rhythm became a larger story when Victor and Tony Hale shaped Archibald into a children’s book, released in 2015.

A few years later, DreamWorks Animation adapted the world into an animated series. The first episode released on Netflix, and the show has since found a new home on Peacock TV.

The path

A small character had to hold a big emotional engine.

01 / Sketchbook

A character kept showing up.

Archibald began as a strange, open-hearted figure Victor kept drawing in 2009, named after his great-grand uncle.

02 / Book

The idea found a story.

Victor and Tony Hale shaped the character into a children’s book, giving Archibald a world, a voice, and a reason to wander.

03 / Screen

The world got bigger.

DreamWorks Animation adapted the book into an animated series that first released on Netflix and later became available on Peacock TV.

From the archive

Original development material · 2009 onward

The receipts of a world becoming real.

These are not retrospective recreations. They are working pages: the repeated silhouettes, half-formed relationships, side characters, and stray story ideas that accumulated before Archibald had a book spine or a screen credit.

01 / Character discovery

A private sketchbook rhythm, drawn until it started to feel like a world.

Early sketchbook drawing of Archibald beneath a hand-lettered nameplate — 01 / Original sketchbook

Early drawing of Archibald meeting a long-necked creature — 02 / Original sketchbook

Early character study of Archibald beside a creature — 03 / Original sketchbook

Sketchbook scene of Archibald sliding through an imagined landscape — 04 / Original sketchbook

Early Archibald story drawing with a scarf and rounded creature — 05 / Original sketchbook

Early Archibald dialogue and character exploration — 06 / Original sketchbook

Early vertical character drawing from the Archibald sketchbook — 07 / Original sketchbook

Early sketchbook scene with Archibald and two supporting characters — 08 / Original sketchbook

Tall supporting-character study from the early Archibald world — 09 / Original sketchbook

Early action drawing of Archibald confronting a dragon — 10 / Original sketchbook

Sketchbook character roster for The Adventures of Archibald — 11 / Original sketchbook

Additional hand-drawn character ideas from the Archibald sketchbook — 12 / Original sketchbook

02 / The first visual world

Early story frames tested whether the character could carry something larger.

Early Archibald's Next Big Thing title frame with Archibald inside an egg — An early title and visual premise.

Early Archibald story frame with characters gathered inside a wooden room — Exploring story, scale, and an ensemble around the central character.

Early colorful Archibald ensemble gathered outside a red house — The world moving from pencil into color.

The book

Before the series, there was a book with a very odd little hero.

In 2015, Archibald's Next Big Thing became a children's book created with Tony Hale and Tony Biaggne, with illustration by Misty Manley and Victor Huckabee. The book gave the sketchbook character a public world: classrooms, nerves, friendship, tiny bees, and the small bravery of stepping into whatever comes next.

The physical book matters because it was the bridge from private character exploration into a story world other people could enter. It proved Archibald could hold emotion, humor, and a visual language long before the animated series arrived.

Archibald's Next Big Thing children's book on a wooden table — Archibald's Next Big Thing, released in 2015

Interior spread from Archibald's Next Big Thing showing a classroom scene — Interior spread: classroom nerves and a very Archibald kind of courage.

Interior spread from Archibald's Next Big Thing with colorful characters and a jump rope — The book introduced the visual rhythm and emotional grammar that later had room to expand.

Interior spread from Archibald's Next Big Thing showing Archibald at a chalkboard — A little character built to feel nervous, curious, and brave all at once.

Close-up detail of Archibald on the cover of Archibald's Next Big Thing — The tiniest details helped make the oddness feel friendly.

Conan O'Brien holding Archibald's Next Big Thing on television — The book found its way into a few wonderfully surreal places.

Launch event photo with Tony Hale holding Archibald's Next Big Thing — Launch-day proof that the little guy had a world around him.

Archibald's Next Big Thing book held close to the camera — The published book gave Archibald a real object in people's hands.

03 / Into production

Years after the first drawing, Archibald arrived at DreamWorks Animation.

The distance between a sketchbook page and a studio wall is the whole case study in two photographs.

Victor Huckabee and Tony Hale visiting DreamWorks Animation

Reception & recognition

The world connected beyond the page.

The independent book became the source for a multi-season DreamWorks series. Along the way, reviewers singled out the visual craft, families embraced its generous point of view, and the animated production earned industry recognition.

Book reception · Visual design

“Really stellar illustrations, graphics and typography.”

Mommy Shorts, archived by Politics & Prose

Family reception · Common Sense Selection

“This sweet series is an endearing pick for watching together as a family.”

Common Sense Media

Industry recognition · 2021

An Annie Award nomination for storyboarding.

“Baritone Tea Part 1” was nominated for Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Media Production, recognizing DreamWorks storyboard artist Ben McLaughlin.48th Annie Awards

The DreamWorks series

A character world built to move, perform, and keep expanding.

The animated adaptation opened Archibald’s world into music, performance, new environments, and a much larger ensemble while keeping the strange silhouette and generous spirit at its center.

Teaser trailer featuring Tony Hale

Streaming page for Archibald’s Next Big Thing — Streaming series page

Archibald animated series still with a character singing on stage — Music and performance

Archibald animated series still with the main character ensemble — Character ensemble

Archibald animated series still showing an interior environment — Animated environment

Archibald animated series still in a large colorful environment — Big strange places

The creative shift

The world grew without losing the weird little center.

Where it began

A sketchbook character

A funny little figure with a name, a feeling, and a point of view, appearing again and again before there was a larger plan.

What it became

A story world

A book and animated series built around curiosity, optimism, friendship, and the thrill of whatever strange thing comes next.

What had to hold

A character has to carry more than a design.

Archibald needed to work as a drawing, a book character, an emotional idea, and eventually the center of a larger animated world. The shape mattered, but so did the personality: the curiosity, the kindness, the oddness, and the sense that every new problem might become an adventure.

01
Character origin
02
Name and point of view
03
Book storytelling
04
Visual worldbuilding
05
Animated adaptation
06
Long-form IP development

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