Aaron Augenblick (born December 28, 1975) is an American animator,

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, and producer. He is the founder of

Augenblick Studios Augenblick Studios is an independent animation studio founded in 1999 by Aaron Augenblick, and located in Brooklyn, New York City. The company has created a wide array of animated shorts for television, film, and the Internet, with a target audie ...

, known for his work on '' Ugly Americans'', ''

Superjail! ''Superjail!'' is an American adult animated television series produced by Williams Street. It follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on television on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on Septembe ...

'', ''

Wonder Showzen ''Wonder Showzen'' is an American adult sketch comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR. Described as a children's television series for adults, the show's format ...

'', and ''

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the '' Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the G ...

''.

Early life and education

Augenblick grew up in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

, and studied at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

(SVA) in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. While at college, Augenblick created two animated short films entitled "The Midnight Carnival" (screened at Slamdance Festival 2000) and "The Wire". These films received two ASIFA Awards and the SVA Dusty Award for outstanding achievement in Animation. On October 20, 1996, "The Wire" was screened on the Cartoon Network as part of the ''

ToonHeads ''ToonHeads'' is an American animation anthology series consisting of Hanna-Barbera, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros., and ''Popeye'' cartoon shorts, with background information and trivia, prominently about animators and voice actors of the shor ...

'' special: ''A Night of Independent Animation''.

Career

He began his professional career working at

MTV Animation MTV Animation is the animation department of the television network MTV. History In 1991, MTV debuted its first full-length animated series, ''Liquid Television'', which helped launch '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' and ''Æon Flux''. MTV establis ...

on such television shows as ''

Daria ''Daria'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It focuses on the title character, Daria Morgendorffer, an intelligent, cynical high ...

'', ''

Cartoon Sushi ''Cartoon Sushi'' is an adult-animation showcase program that aired on MTV from 1997 to 1998. It was developed by Eric Calderon and produced by Nick Litwinko, and was the successor to Liquid Television. The title screen opening was illustrated by ...

'' and '' Downtown''. In 1999, Augenblick founded

, an animation production facility located in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to animation, Augenblick has written and illustrated the

Xeric Award The Xeric Foundation is a private, nonprofit corporation based in Northampton, Massachusetts, which for twenty years awarded self-publishing grants to comic book creators, as well as qualified charitable and nonprofit organizations. The Xeric Fou ...

-winning "Tales of the Great Unspoken". From 2004 to 2005, Augenblick was the animation director for two seasons of ''

'', a cult favorite for MTV. Augenblick Studios garnered widespread notoriety for their spot-on parodies of classic cartoons, leading to Augenblick being named as one of the rising stars of animation by ''

Animation Magazine ''Animation Magazine'' is an American print magazine and website covering the animation industry and education, as well as visual effects. The print magazine is published 10 times a year in the United States. History and profile ''Animation Maga ...

''. In 2006, Augenblick wrote and directed ''

'', a faux-documentary which examined the scandalous private lives of iconic cartoon characters from the past. The ten episodes series was originally created for Comedy Central's broadband channel Motherload and was later released as a 22-minute short film. ''Golden Age'' was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and played in numerous festivals throughout the world. Augenblick Studios created the first season of ''

'' in 2008, an animated series for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as dult swim'' and often abbreviated as s'') is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programmed by its in-house ...

on the Cartoon Network. Augenblick was the show's executive producer and animation director. From 2010 to 2012, Augenblick served as the supervising producer and animation director for Comedy Central's horror-comedy series '' Ugly Americans''. The 2011

Ottawa International Animation Festival The Ottawa International Animation Festival is an annual animated film and media festival that takes place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The OIAF was founded in 1975, with the first festival held from August 10 to 15 in 1976. Initially organized by ...

screened a retrospective of Augenblick's work. In 2015, he directed animated shows "

Golan the Insatiable ''Golan the Insatiable'' is an American animated television series that originally aired on Fox on November 23, 2013 along with '' Lucas Bros. Moving Co.''; it officially premiered on January 11, 2014. It was created by Josh Miller and developed ...

" for

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and "The Jellies" for Golf Wang. Augenblick served as an executive producer and director for Adult Swim's adaptation of ''

The Jellies ''The Jellies!'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Tyler, the Creator and Lionel Boyce for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block Adult Swim. The show was revamped from a series of the same name which was previously feature ...

'' in 2017.

References

External links

Augenblick Studios official web site
*
Augenblick Studios article on AWN

Aaron Augenblick interview on The Reeler

God v. Devil v. ‘Drunky’ In New R-Rated Animated Feature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Augenblick, Aaron Living people Animators from New York (state) American comics artists American animated film directors American animated film producers American television directors American television producers People from Brooklyn Artists from Wilmington, Delaware School of Visual Arts alumni 1975 births