Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Happy Birthday Jim Smith!

 It's time to celebrate the man who made you laugh and cry growing up!
Jim of course drew some of the funniest and most emotional scenes in the original Spumco Ren and Stimpy Show. Above is an animation drawing by David Feiss from layouts and storyboards drawn by Jim.

 Here are some more unforgettable scenes Jim drew.
 He also designed the manly rugged backgrounds in many of the cartoons.
 Here's Bill Wray's tasty painting of Jim's layout.

 Here are some of my favorite Jim drawings and presentation art that really show his unique qualities...

 the Predator Broods
I usually give Jim the most moody scenes in cartoons because being the heavy brooding type himself, he feels the depths of human torment more than anyone and is only too happy to have his audience plumb the depths with him. That's the Predator up there waiting for life to evolve. It's a long wait and thus his brooding despair.
 War is Hell
Jim really feels the Hell that our fighting men go through to protect their buddies and our freedoms because it's just like what cartoonists go through.

GEORGE LIQUOR'S DEN
Here are some moody scenes from a pitch for the George Liquor Show we made to Fox long ago, while waiting for life to evolve.

Wouldn't you love to live in this manly musty den of stuffed denizens of the forest?


the RIPPING FRIENDS
 Jim was the top Ripping Friends artist. His drawings were so manly and strong that all our cleanup artists had a hell of a time keeping the guts of his roughs.





Jim, master of serious
 Jim has many talents but the one that I find the most original and unique is his ability to make really serious drawings and moods look funny. The character Crag is a very serious leader and authority figure and you can't just draw him with normal cartoony techniques.
 I had a hell of a time trying to get our overseas studios to use drawings like these. They never believed we actually wanted anything to look this manly so they kept watering the drawings down or just throwing them out completely. They kept telling me they were "off-model" and thought they were doing us a favor!


Bonus Rendered Art

I love Jim's rendering style too. Here are a couple treats from some development we did on a movie pitch for Reel FX.


Own Jim's Sketchbooks and Drawings!

You could probably nab this genuine original Ren and Stimpy sketch or others if you pleaded with the birthday boy yourself. Or you can buy one of his thrilling sketchbooks if you contact him at his blog or maybe even on Facebook.






Send the man who gave your childhood meaning some birthday love in a comment on his blog:


HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE CARTOONIST AND PAL, JIM!
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