I am a lifelong lover of art, animation, movies, comic books, adventure and fantasy stories. I am originally from Michigan, USA, and, as a kid I spent many hours in front of the TV watching some of my favorite cartoons: 'Bugs Bunny', 'The Flintstones', 'The Super Friends', 'Spiderman', etc. I loved going to the movie theater too see films like 'Star Wars', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and 'E.T. The Extra terrestrial'. When I was 18 years old I decided to enroll in an art school in California called 'California Institute of the Arts'. It was one of the only schools (at that time) that taught classes in character animation and the instructors were former Disney animators. It was a perfect for me at the time. After spending three years at the school I decided it was time to try to get a job in the animation world and instead of working at Disney studios - which was my dream - I ended up getting jobs in the television animation business where I took various assignments as a character designer, storyboard artist, background designer, writer and director. After working all over Hollywood for about 10 years I finally got a chance to pitch my own animated show ideas. One of them actually was well-received by Nickelodeon and they actually bought it! Yes, they bought ONE episode but it was enough to get me in the door. That one episode was an idea I had called 'The Fairly Oddparents'. Needless to say, my career would never be the same from that day...
I spent 20 years working at Nickelodeon where I produced not only 'The Fairly Oddparents', (where I served as Executive producer, writer, director, voice director and theme song writer) but I was also fortunate enough to be able to create and sell my second show: 'Danny Phantom' where I was also the Executive Producer, writer, director and theme song writer of that show as well. I also did the same for my next two Nickelodeon shows, 'Tuff Puppy' & 'Bunsen is a Beast!'. I know everything about creating, developing and pitching shows to large studios. I love social media and have large followings on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and You Tube and am also an author, having written the books 'Vision Possible' and 'Mad Hustle: How to pitch and sell shows in Hollywood!" You can listen to my 'Mad Hustle Podcast' wherever you get your podcasts as well.
Teaching
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Cartoon Characters and Their Universe: Create Another World
Build your own cartoon narrative filled with endearing characters using a combination of analogue and digital tools
A course by Butch Hartman, Cartoon Artist