"Well, shave my legs and call me grandpa" or, Where it all began

My very first influence (with pretty much every aspect of my life... worryingly) was Ren and Stimpy.

I was introduced to Ren and Stimpy at the tender age of about four. Yes, that's right; four. My dad used to let me watch it with him when I couldn't sleep at night. Half of me thinks "Jeez dad what are you doing letting a four year old watch this show!?" and the other half thinks "Good job, pa!" Ren and Stimpy pretty much set the standard for most of my animations. The humour is dark and down right bizzare but every strange and insane thing that happens is perfectly normal and acceptable in the universe in which it takes place.

The expressiveness of the characters is something I draw inspiration from every time I sit down to create something new. The way the show's creator, John Kricfalusi, pays his own twisted homage to the famous Hannah-Barbera cartoons of the 1940's has always inspired me. The biggest influence on my own work, however, has to be the use of sound in the show. Random unrelated sounds, a duck quacking over the character blinking for example, that add so much more of the humour and depth to Ren and Stimpy's universe are something in my own work I can track back to the show directly.





From then on out I was instantly hooked by cartoons that had an extra level of dark absurdity to them. Cow and Chicken, Dexters Labratory and the shorts of 'What a Cartoon' on Cartoon Network all did their part in influencing me and the work I have created.






Ren and Stimpy. Created by John Kricfalusi and Spumco for Nickelodeon
What a Cartoon! created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network.