For many people, cartoons embody their childhood memories. Characters like the Monkey King and the Black Cat Sherrif accompanied many of us through our formative years. (CNTV)

Back in the 1970s making an animation required skilled and meticulous handiwork.

The artists would first sketch the figures and then draw the background separately on white paper. These images were then copied to tracing paper and colored in. By overlapping the sheets of tracing paper, a complete image was created.

However the famous "Calabash Brothers" were cut-out, rather than painted. Their heads and body parts were all cut from pieces of cardboard and then pinned together, thus creating the three dimensional image as seen on TV.

Another classic Chinese cartoon, "Black Cat Sherrif", won over audiences with its interesting storylines. And the Sherrif has become one of the most memorable characters in Chinese animation history.

For many people, cartoons embody their childhood memories. Characters like the Monkey King and the Black Cat Sherrif accompanied many of us through our formative years. (CNTV)

Qian Jianping said, "First the director had a few sketches of the Sherrif. They were all reviewed by the team and we narrowed them down to five or six including the one with a hat-- not like the final image-- but with a helmet. And then we had some consultations with children and the image of the Sherrif was finally selected."