William Robert Davis, aka Bill Davis (born May 1949 in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed b ...

) is an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

animation director An animation director is either the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or television, and animated segment for a live action film or television show, or the animator in charge of co ...

and designer,

graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. He was the

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

Sierra On-Line Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, ...

and

Rocket Science Games Rocket Science Games was a video game developer and publisher that created games for consoles and personal computers from 1993 to 1997. The company released '' Loadstar: The Legend of Tully Bodine'', '' Cadillacs and Dinosaurs: The Second Cata ...

during the 1990s. Davis is the founder and creative director of Mother Productions, a

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

firm which creates animation,

motion graphic Motion graphics (sometimes mograph) are pieces of animation or digital footage which create the illusion of motion or rotation, and are usually combined with audio for use in multimedia projects. Motion graphics are usually displayed via electr ...

s, logos and other graphic designs for on-air and online purposes.

History

Davis attended the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

, where he graduated in 1971 with a BFA degree and high honors. Davis was a lead graphic designer for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

and received an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Achievement in Graphic Design and Title Sequences for his animated title and segue films on ''NBC, The First 50 Years: A Closer Look'' in 1978. He created over 200 "More to Come" on-air slides for ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' was an American late-night talk show hosted by Johnny Carson on NBC, the third iteration of the ''Tonight Show'' franchise. The show debuted on October 1, 1962, and aired its final episode on May 22, ...

'', and he designed the logo for ''

The Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amateur talent contest franchised by Sony Pictures Television to many countries. It was broadcast on NBC's daytime schedule from June 14, 1976, through July 21, 1978, and in first-run syndication from 1976 to 1 ...

''. Later, Davis worked as an animation director and designer for Kurtz & Friends, and was vice-president of development and creative director for computer games companies

and

Personal life

Davis lives in California with his wife, Betty Tikker Davis.

Games

References

External links

Bill Davis
on Myspace *
Mother Productions

Billy-Bob's Drive-In Portfolio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Bill 1949 births 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists American animated film directors American graphic designers American illustrators American male painters American video game directors American video game producers Animators from California Artists from Los Angeles Creative directors Emmy Award winners Living people Sierra On-Line employees Video game artists 20th-century American male artists