Stijn Streuvels
Belgian writer (1871-1969)
John Kricfalusi, a Canadian illustrator and former animator, is best known as the creator of the influential animated TV series ‘The Ren & Stimpy Show.’ He was heavily involved in the show’s production during its first two seasons, providing the voice of Ren Höek. Kricfalusi has had a long and diverse career in the animation industry, but has also faced controversies in recent years.
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About the John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi, known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated television series The Ren & Stimpy Show, which was highly influential on televised animation during the 1990s. From 1989 to 1992, he was heavily involved with the first two seasons of the show in virtually every aspect of its production, including providing the voice of Ren Hoek and other characters. In 2009, he won the Inkpot Award.
Born in Quebec, Kricfalusi spent his early childhood in Germany and Belgium before returning to Canada at age seven. He acquired his skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s. His main influence is Bob Clampett. After moving to Los Angeles in 1978, he collaborated with Ralph Bakshi and worked for Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, and DIC Entertainment on various shows. In 1989, Kricfalusi co-founded the animation studio Spumco, with which he remained until its dissolution in 2005.
Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from Ren & Stimpy due to creative differences and his failure to meet production deadlines; the show continued for three additional seasons without his involvement. Following this, he directed and produced animated television commercials and music videos for entertainers such as Bjork and Tenacious D. In the late 1990s, he created the first cartoons made exclusively for the Internet: The Goddamn George Liquor Program and Weekend Pussy Hunt. He returned to television with The Ripping Friends and the adult animation spin-off Ren & Stimpy “Adult Party Cartoon”. Since 2006, Kricfalusi has maintained a personal blog dedicated to cartoons and animation. There, he popularized the term “CalArts style”, a pejorative which was later used by others to criticize a widespread 2010s cartoon aesthetic.
In 2018, Kricfalusi was accused by two former Spumco artists of grooming and sexually abusing them in the late 1990s, when they were teenagers. Kricfalusi released an apology for his behavior, blaming his mental health and “poor impulse control”. He has since declared his withdrawal from the professional animation industry.
Frequently Asked Questions
John Kricfalusi is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated television series ‘The Ren & Stimpy Show’, which was highly influential on televised animation during the 1990s.
From 1989 to 1992, John Kricfalusi was heavily involved with the first two seasons of ‘The Ren & Stimpy Show’ in virtually every aspect of its production, including providing the voice of Ren Höek and other characters.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1978, John Kricfalusi collaborated with Ralph Bakshi and worked for Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, and DIC Entertainment on various shows. In 1989, he co-founded the animation studio Spümcø, with which he remained until its dissolution in 2005.
In 2018, John Kricfalusi was accused by two former Spümcø artists of grooming and sexually abusing them in the late 1990s, when they were teenagers. Kricfalusi released an apology for his behavior, blaming his mental health and ,poor impulse control,, and has since declared his withdrawal from the professional animation industry.
In 2009, John Kricfalusi won the Inkpot Award, which is a prize given out at the San Diego Comic-Con International to honor lifetime contributions to the worlds of comics, science fiction/fantasy, movies, animation, and fandom.
John Kricfalusi was born in Quebec, Canada, and spent his early childhood in Germany and Belgium before returning to Canada at the age of seven.
John Kricfalusi acquired his animation skills largely by copying cartoons from newspapers and comic books as a child, and by studying cartoons and their production systems from the 1940s and 1950s. His main influence was Bob Clampett.
28 Quotes by John Kricfalusi
- 1.
The storyboard department doesn’t talk to the layout department, which doesn’t talk to the writing department. They’re all jealous of each other.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 2.
Kids cannot follow stories. They don’t know what the hell is going on in a cartoon. They like to see funny visual things happening.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 3.
Cartoonists are untrained artists, while illustrators are more trained.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 4.
The generic Canadian style of illustration is different from the generic American style.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 5.
I find it very hard to sit down and create an idea or especially a new character on command. Usually my characters evolve by accident out of some story context.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 6.
One guy records the voices, another guy times the storyboard, another guy times the sheets, one guy is the story editor. All these jobs should be covered by the director.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 7.
There’s tons of people with talent; it’s the system that’s all screwed up.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 8.
I’ll let you in on a secret: I can’t stand Jay Ward. I hate being compared to Rocky and Bullwinkle. It’s just a different style of humor.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 9.
George Liquor is really the richest character I have. I’m amazed there aren’t 365 episodes about him on TV already.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 10.
My intended audience was everybody. I just want to make cartoons for human beings.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 11.
I don t think cartoons are only for kids, but I think kids will love anything as long as it’s visually interesting.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 12.
My style is very strong poses and expressions.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 13.
If you’re a kid wanting to be a cartoonist today, and you’re looking at Family Guy, you don’t have to aim very high.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 14.
In old movies, the cinematography is a thousand times better than anything today. Writing, a thousand times better.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 15.
I influenced the BG style by not being able to draw perspective. The BG artists developed cool graphic painting styles to make my bad backgrounds look like they were that way on purpose.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 16.
Open a magazine from the 1930s and ’40s and look at the illustrations in it. There’s nobody alive that could touch the way they could draw back then.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 17.
You can draw Family Guy when you’re 10 years old. You don’t have to get any better than that to become a professional cartoonist. The standards are extremely low.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 18.
Joe Barbera’s s always complaining that he can’t get humor into cartoons anymore. Just do it. You’ve got your money. Why do they let the networks run their lives?
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 19.
Schools are really bad now. Schools are not only bad in reading, writing and arithmetic, they’re worse in cultural aspects, like in music and art. They don’t teach you anything.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 20.
Most cartoons are those colors. They have been for 35 years.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 21.
The only character I ever remember actually creating in a flash of inspiration was George Liquor. God planted that in my head in an instant.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 22.
To make something look real and alive, nothing can be symmetrical because nothing in real life is symmetrical. You have to make it look organic.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 23.
All artists get better with age. The more you draw, the better you’re going to get.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 24.
As soon as I found out how compartmentalized the industry was, I realized, Well, no wonder the cartoons are so bad.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 25.
Not very many people can draw who are illustrators today.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 26.
From 20 years of experience hiring artists out of the schools, I know-they get worse every year. They’re absolutely ridiculously retarded now.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 27.
Mel Blanc has been gone for 30 years, even though he’s still around.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator
- 28.
You buy any book on color theory today, and it’s just complete poppycock. Everybody comes out of school painting pink, purple and green. The whole damn cartoon industry has pink purple and green on their mind.
John KricfalusiCanadian animator