When Renegaade Animation Inc. decided two years ago to change its business from producing animated commercials to cartoon television shows, it faced a long and expensive journey. The eight-year-old Burbank company spent thousands of dollars and a year of its time developing a series. It took another year and more money to pitch the show to the Cartoon Network and other likely outlets. And after all that, the proposed show is still in development. Six months ago, Renegade started developing another cartoon, this one for the Web. “Elmo Aardvark Outer Space Detective” launches in March, and several of the 90-second episodes are already finished. Renegade is hoping the Web cartoon will gain a big enough following to lead to a television series. That’s becoming an increasingly popular path for L.A.’s many small animation producers, who are launching Web cartoons not so much because they expect to make much money off the Internet, but because they hope their online creations will attract the notice of networks and studios. “A lot of (network) decisions are made from relationships (and cartoons) that have worked in the past,” said Renegade Executive Producer Ashley Postlewaite. “There’s a ton of material out there, and it’s hard to get noticed. The networks are generally unwilling to take a chance.” Launching something on the Web will provide a good test of whether it’s a viable show. For independent animation producers like Renegade that face competition from in-house network and studio animation departments and tightened programming budgets, the Web offers a potentially cheap way of telling whether a cartoon is capable of generating an audience. “It’s an extension to getting a commitment for a movie or television show, that’s the reason they’re all in (the Internet),” said Sarah Baisley, editor of Animation magazine, which tracks the industry. While animators are flocking to the Internet, they remain limited in what they can do by the medium itself. Episodes are short to minimize download times and movements are much simpler than they are on television. But a program called Flash, created by San Francisco-based Macromedia Inc., makes it easier to produce animated shows even for download by computers with fairly slow modems, further fueling interest in the Web by animation producers. One of the best known independent animators, North Hollywood-based Film Roman Inc., producer of “The Simpsons” and “King of the Hill,” is staking an important part of its future on its Internet venture, Level13.net, a Web site offering visitors 13 different animation channels that feature three- to five-minute cartoons ranging from the childish to the erotic. “This gives us more ways to get (our cartoons distributed),” said William Shpall, president of Level13.net and chief operating officer of Film Roman. “Our ultimate goal is to exploit (our characters) in as many places as we can.” Based on tracking the company does on the site, it has the beginnings of a loyal audience, Shpall said. Film Roman, which three years ago was on top of the animation world thanks in large part to “The Simpsons,” has seen tough times in the last year, like most other independent animators. The company raised $33 million in an initial public offering in 1996, but has since seen revenues decline. For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, it reported a net loss of $2.5 million (29 cents a share), compared with a loss of $2 million (23 cents) for the like period a year earlier. Revenue was $3.6 million vs. $5.3 million. The animation industry has shriveled over the past few years as major studios bought up animation houses and left many independents, including Film Roman, locked out. That has forced the company to search for other markets, such as direct-to-video films and the Internet. Both Film Roman and Renegade are hoping that with the evolution of the Internet, Level13 and Renegadecartoons.com will become profitable on their own. Level13 has begun running advertisements on the site, and there is an e-commerce component for sales of Film Roman cartoon character products. Renegade has yet to sell any advertising for its site, but may add sponsors if its shows take off. “Above all, we want to really build what we hope to be an animation destination on the Internet,” Shpall said. But both companies will have to fight for that space. The field for Internet animation is becoming increasingly crowded, with well-funded startups like Icebox.com and Stan Lee Media putting big money into online cartoon ventures. AtomFilms of Seattle and the Cartoon Network Online have also bought up a number of new online series for their own sites. “It’s definitely the flavor of the month,” Postlewaite said. “There’s going to eventually be a shakeout.” For now, Renegade is hoping “Elmo Aardvark” will attract a fan base. The character does have a history; it made appearances in cartoons in the 1950s, including on such popular programs as “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,” and has appeared on animation fan sites, but was never fully developed. Renegade is working with Will Ryan, whose family owns the rights to the Elmo Aardvark character.