Craig McCracken

Craig McCracken

40

McCracken on January 11, 2012
Born (1971-03-31) March 31, 1971
Charleroi, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation Director, writer, cartoonist, producer
Years active 1990–present
Known for The Powerpuff Girls, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Wander Over Yonder
Spouse(s) Lauren Faust (m. 2004)

Craig McCracken (born March 31, 1971) is an American animator, director and producer. He is best known for creating the Emmy-winning animated series The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends for Cartoon Network, as well as writing and storyboarding for Oscar's Oasis and Dexter's Laboratory in Kids' WB. His newest series, Wander Over Yonder, premiered on Disney Channel on August 16, 2013. He has been married to fellow animator Lauren Faust since 2004.[1]

Personal life

McCracken got involved in drawing at an early age. After he graduated from California High School in Whittier, California, he attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), where he honed his animation skills and met his classmate Genndy Tartakovsky, with whom he would occasionally collaborate throughout his career. During his first year, he created a series of short cartoons featuring a character named No Neck Joe, which were picked up by Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. While at CalArts, he also created a short entitled Whoopass Stew!, which would later become the basis for The Powerpuff Girls. Craig's wife Faust took maternity leave in mid-2016 to take care of her newborn daughter.[2]

Career

In 1993, McCracken was tapped by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons to be an art director on the Turner Broadcasting System series 2 Stupid Dogs, where he would also work with Tartakovsky. While McCracken was at Hanna-Barbera, studio president Fred Seibert began a new project: an animation incubator consisting of 48 new cartoons running approximately seven minutes each. Dubbed What a Cartoon!, it motivated McCracken to further develop his Whoopass Girls! creation, renaming it The Powerpuff Girls in the process. His new pilot, "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumkins", premiered on February 20, 1995, on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toon-In, and a second short, "Crime 101", followed on January 28, 1996. The first short to be picked up by the network was Tartakovsky's Dexter's Laboratory, which McCracken would contribute to in early seasons. McCracken's Powerpuff was the fourth cartoon to be greenlit a full series, which premiered on November 18, 1998. The show soon became a hit and has won both Emmy[3] and Annie[4] awards. In 2002 McCracken directed The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a prequel to his series. McCracken left The Powerpuff Girls after four seasons, focusing on his next project, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. It premiered with the 90-minute television special "House of Bloo's" on August 13, 2004, on Cartoon Network. He developed the series with wife Lauren Faust. The show ran for six seasons, all directed by McCracken, and concluded on May 3, 2009. It also won Emmy[5] and Annie[6] awards.

In April 2008, he became executive producer of a new Cartoon Network showcase project called The Cartoonstitute. After 15 years of employment, he resigned from Cartoon Network and created Wander Over Yonder for Disney Television Animation and the Disney Channel in 2013.

Filmography

Films
Year Title Role
1992 Whoopass Stew! Creator, Director, Writer, and Animator
1997 No Neck Joe Creator, Writer, and Director (made in 1990, Copyright date 1996)
1999 Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip Writer
2002 The Powerpuff Girls Movie Creator, Story, Writer, Director, Executive producer, Storyboard artist, and Character designer
2009 The Powerpuff Girls Rule!!! Writer, Director, Executive producer, Story editor, Storyboard artist, and Character designer
Television
Year Title Role
1993–1995 2 Stupid Dogs Art director and Storyboard artist
1995 Space Ghost Coast to Coast Himself, (Episode: "President's Day Nightmare")
1995–1997 What a Cartoon! Writer, Director, and Art director
1995–1996 Dumb and Dumber Character designer
1996–2003 Dexter's Laboratory Director, Art director, Model designer, and Storyboard artist
1998–2005 The Powerpuff Girls Creator, Story, Executive producer, Writer, Storyboard artist, Recording Director, and Director (1998-2002; 2008)
2004–2009 Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Creator, Executive producer, Developer, Story, Writer, Storyboard artist, Director, and Story editor
2007 Diggs Tailwagger: Galactic Rover Executive creative consultant
2007 Enter Mode 5 Executive creative consultant
2007–2010 Chowder Writer and Storyboard artist (Episode: "The Birthday Suits")
2008 Uncle Grandpa Executive producer (Episode: "Pilot")
2009 Regular Show Executive producer (Episode: "Pilot")
2010 My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Special thanks, and Costume designer for the Wonderbolts uniforms[7]
2013–2016 Wander Over Yonder[8] Creator, writer, storyboard artist (2013), director (2013), and Executive producer (Also additional voices)

References

  1. ↑ "Lauren Faust's Twitter". Retrieved December 29, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Episode 18: Lauren Faust", Nick Animation Podcast, September 9, 2016, retrieved September 12, 2016, My daughter's only three months old, so I'm still on my leave, so I'm... just... usually... all day, taking care of the baby. I kinda love it.
  3. ↑ "The Powerpuff Girls | Emmys.com". Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  4. ↑ "29th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2001)". Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends | Emmys.com". Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  6. ↑ "34th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2006)". Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Lauren Faust". Twitter.
  8. ↑ "Disney's 2012–13 TV Schedule Presented to Advertisers". Retrieved March 13, 2012.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/23/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.