Graham Annable (born June 1, 1970) is a Canadian

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

. He is the creator of ''Grickle'', published by

Alternative Comics Alternative comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream superhero comics which ...

, and one of the founders of the ''Hickee'' humor anthology (also published by Alternative Comics). Annable has created works for the television, film, video game, and comic book industries.

Life and career

Annable was born in Sault Ste. Marie,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. After graduating from

Sheridan College Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (formerly Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology) is a public polytechnic institute of technology located in the west-Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada. Founded in ...

in Oakville, Ontario, where he was classically trained as an animator, Annable ended up at

LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game brand licensing, licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as ...

. He worked there for ten years, starting in 1994 on '' Full Throttle'' and ultimately as a lead animator on the cancelled '' Sam & Max: Freelance Police''. In addition, Annable has done illustration and cartoon work for (among others)

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, produ ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

, and

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. His self-produced short animated films are also popular among

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

watchers. Annable was employed as creative director at

Telltale Games Telltale Incorporated (trade name: Telltale Games) was an American video game developer based in San Rafael, California. The company was founded in July 2004 by former LucasArts developers Kevin Bruner, Dan Connors and Troy Molander, following ...

during their first year, and has continued working closely with them, later designing '' Puzzle Agent'', amongst other titles. He moved to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

to work as a story artist on ''

Coraline ''Coraline'' () is a dark fantasy horror children's novella by British author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman started writing ''Coraline'' in 1990, and it was published in 2002 by Bloomsbury and HarperCollins. It was awarded the 2003 Hugo Award for Best ...

''. He co-directed

Laika Laika (russian: link=no, Лайка; – 3 November 1957) was a Soviet space dog who was one of the first animals in space and the first to orbit the Earth. A stray mongrel from the streets of Moscow, she flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecra ...

's 3D stop-motion/CGI animated feature film ''

The Boxtrolls ''The Boxtrolls'' is a 2014 American stop-motion animated fantasy comedy film directed by Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi (in their feature directorial debuts) loosely based on the 2005 novel ''Here Be Monsters!'' by Alan Snow. It is produc ...

'' (2014) which was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Animated Feature The Academy Award for Best Animated Feature is given each year for animated films. An animated feature is defined by the Academy as a film with a running time of more than 40 minutes in which characters' performances are created using a frame-by- ...

Published work

Graham Annable, Stumptown Comics Festival 2007-cropped

*''Grickle'' (Alternative Comics, 2001, ) *''Further Grickle'' (Alternative Comics, 2003, ) *''Hickee'' (contributor) (Alternative Comics, 2003, ) *''Hickee'' volume 2, #2 (contributor) (Alternative Comics, 2004, ) *''Stickleback'' 2005 (Alternative Comics, 2005, ) *''Project: Superior'' (contributor) (AdHouse Books, 2005, ) *''Hickee'' volume 3, #4 (contributor) (Alternative Comics, 2008, ) *''Flight Volume Five: Evidence'' (contributor) (Villard Books, 2008, ) *'' Nelson Tethers: Puzzle Agent'' (designer) (Telltale Games, 2010) *''The Book of Grickle'' (Diamond Books, 2010, ) *'' Puzzle Agent 2'' (designer) (Telltale Games, 2011) *''Peter & Ernesto: A Tale of Two Sloths'' (First Second, 2018, ) *''Peter & Ernesto: The Lost Sloths'' (First Second, 2019, ) *''Peter & Ernesto: Sloths in the Night'' (First Second, 2020, )

Filmography

* ''

A Goofy Movie ''A Goofy Movie'' is a 1995 American animated musical comedy-adventure film produced by Disney MovieToons and Walt Disney Television Animation. Directed by Kevin Lima, the film is based on The Disney Afternoon television series '' Goof Tro ...

'' (1995) clean up artist: Phoenix Animation Toronto * ''

'' (2009) storyboard artist * ''

ParaNorman ''ParaNorman'' is a 2012 American stop-motion animated comedy horror film directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler (the latter's feature directorial debut), and written by Butler. Produced by Laika, the film stars the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, J ...

'' (2012) storyboard artist * ''

'' (2014) director * ''

Kubo and the Two Strings ''Kubo and the Two Strings'' is a 2016 American stop-motion animated action fantasy film produced by Laika. It is directed by Travis Knight (in his feature directorial debut) with a screenplay by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler from a story by Sh ...

'' (2016) storyboard artist * '' Missing Link'' (2019) additional story artist

Awards

* 2002

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

nominee for Best New Talent.Harvey Awards Nominations 2002
* 2015

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominee for ''The Boxtrolls''.

Notes

References

* ''Comic Shop News'', April 2001
Flight Comics

External links

* *
Grickle Channel on YouTube
Alternative cartoonists Canadian animators Canadian animated film directors Canadian television directors Canadian comics artists Artists from Ontario Artists from Portland, Oregon People from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario 1970 births Laika (company) people Living people Canadian storyboard artists Sheridan College animation program alumni Canadian expatriates in the United States {{animator-stub