Joseph David Murray (born May 3, 1961) is an American animator, writer, illustrator, producer, director, and voice actor, best known as the creator of
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 ...
's ''
Rocko's Modern Life
''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric steer ...
'' and
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
's ''
Camp Lazlo
''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey that goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout-like summer camp in Pimpleback M ...
'', and is now the creator of
PBS Kids
PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...
' ''
Let's Go Luna!
''Let's Go Luna!'' is an educational animated children's television series created by Joe Murray for PBS Kids. Murray formerly worked on the Nickelodeon animated series ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and Cartoon Network animated series '' Camp Lazlo'' ...
''. Born in
San Jose,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
USA
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, Murray was interested in a career in the arts when he was three. He credits his high school art teacher Mark Briggs with teaching him a lot about art. Murray was a political cartoonist for a newspaper, often targeting then-President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
. As a young adult Murray was hired as a designer at an agency, where he invested his earnings from the production company into independent
animated films
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
. In 1981 at age 20, he founded his independent illustration production company called Joe Murray Studios while he was still in college.
Later in 1992, Murray created his first animated short film in
color
Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...
called ''My Dog Zero'', after which he decided to develop a television series titled ''Rocko's Modern Life'' for
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 ...
. After pitching it to Nickelodeon, the company decided to create the concept. While creating the series, Murray hired comedian and actor
Carlos Alazraqui
Carlos Jaime Alazraqui (born July 20, 1962) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, impressionist, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Deputy James Garcia on ''Reno 911!'' and for his voice acting roles. His extensive ...
to supply the voice for the character of Rocko. The series premiered on Nickelodeon on September 18, 1993, and ended on November 24, 1996, completing four seasons and 52 episodes. After ''Rocko's Modern Life'', in 2004, Murray wanted to create another television series, this time for
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
. He created his second series ''Camp Lazlo'' as a pilot, where he served as the producer of that pilot. After Cartoon Network decided to create the show, Murray brought fellow ''Rocko'' cast members Carlos Alazraqui,
Tom Kenny
Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in ''R ...
(who, post-''Rocko'', became known as the voice of
SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...
) and
Mr. Lawrence
Douglas Lawrence Osowski, known professionally as Mr. Lawrence, is an American voice actor, writer, animator, storyboard artist, director, and comedian. He is best known for his work as a writer and voice actor for the Nicktoons ''Rocko's Mode ...
to voice the main characters Lazlo (Alazraqui), Scoutmaster Lumpus (Kenny) and Edward (Lawrence). The series first aired in 2005, and ended production in 2008, with five seasons and 65 episodes.
Murray is the winner of two
Primetime Emmy Awards
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
for ''Camp Lazlo'' (Outstanding Special Class – Short-Format Animated Programs) and Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or More) for the TV film ''
Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo?''. Murray set up the website KaboingTV, dedicated to streaming original animation, for which Murray contributed a short series entitled ''Frog in a Suit''.
In 2017 he created ''
Let's Go Luna!
''Let's Go Luna!'' is an educational animated children's television series created by Joe Murray for PBS Kids. Murray formerly worked on the Nickelodeon animated series ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and Cartoon Network animated series '' Camp Lazlo'' ...
'', which premiered on November 21, 2018 on PBS Kids, and as of 2021, has aired two seasons.
Murray is also a writer and illustrator, and is the author of the book ''Creating Animated Cartoons with Character'', which features animators about their careers in animated cartoons.
Murray took inspiration for his work from
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 25, 1972) was an American animator, inventor, film director and producer, and studio founder and owner. Born in Kraków, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became ...
,
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 ...
,
Tex Avery
Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, animation director, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American a ...
,
Bob Clampett
Robert Emerson Clampett Sr. (May 8, 1913 – May 2, 1984) was an American animator, director, producer and puppeteer. He was best known for his work on the '' Looney Tunes'' animated series from Warner Bros. as well as the television shows '' ...
,
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...
,
UPA,
Jay Ward
Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bul ...
,
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
,
Ub Iwerks
Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentious ...
and
Paul Terry.
Career
Early career
Born and raised in
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
,
[Bio]
," ''Joe Murray Studio'' Joe Murray said that he developed an interest in working as an artist as a career when he was three years old. According to Murray, his
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
teacher told his mother that he was the only student who drew zippers on pants and breasts on women. Murray credits his
Leland High School art teacher Mark Briggs for teaching him "so much about my art."
[Lisa (Kiczuk) Trainor interviews Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life]
" ''The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ'' At age 16, he became a full-time artist.
Taking the position of
political cartoonist
An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...
for a newspaper in San Jose, his cartoons often targeted then-President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
. On his website, in a 2007 entry he said that he admired Carter's post-presidential work.
As a young adult, he was hired as a designer at an agency. Murray invested his earnings from the company into independent animated films. At age 20, Murray founded his independent illustration company, Joe Murray Studios, (or Joe Murray Productions), in 1981 while still in university. His early attempts at animation date back to 1986 when he joined
De Anza College
De Anza College is a public community college in Cupertino, California. It is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, which also administers Foothill College in nearby Los Altos Hills, California. The college is named after the ...
. Murray created several short animated films, his most successful was made in 1987, which was a two-minute animated short titled "The Chore," which focused on a harried husband who uses his cat as a novel solution while not wanting to do a chore for his wife. He drew the scenes on typing paper and shot the scenes with 16 mm film. For creating "The Chore" Murray earned the Merit Student Academy Award two years later in 1989.
In 1988, he did 2 network IDs for
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
, and left in 1991 in hopes of starting his own projects. One of the MTV ID's Murray created involved the future ''Rocko's Modern Life'' character
Heffer Wolfe
Heffer Steer-Wolfe" ''Nickelodeon'' is a fictional character on the animated television series ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and the comic book series of the same name. Tom Kenny provided the voice of the anthropomorphic steer.
Conception and developmen ...
; the ID featured Heffer being pushed out of a building with the MTV logo branded onto his buttocks.
''My Dog Zero''
''My Dog Zero'', released in 1992, was Murray's third independent film and first color film. Murray said that ''My Dog Zero'' was his "most gratifying" artistic project to date because of his own "stubbornness" in resolving the obstacles and issues involved in the production, such as lack of funding and lack of resources. With a grant he employed twelve people, mostly university students, to cel-paint the film. According to Murray, when he finished the film, several distributors refused to air it. He appeared at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco with a copy of the film and persuaded the staff to air the film with the scheduled films. According to Murray, ''My Dog Zero'' received "good response".
To fund the film, Murray initially tried to pre-sell the television show rights to ''My Dog Zero'' but instead created a separate television series called ''
Rocko's Modern Life
''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric steer ...
''.
''Rocko's Modern Life''
Murray created and was the executive producer for the animated series ''Rocko's Modern Life'', which aired on Nickelodeon from 1993 to 1996. He voiced the character
Ralph Bighead in the episodes "I Have No Son" and "Wacky Delly", and a
caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
version of himself in "Short Story".
Originally, the character
Rocko
Rocko Rama is the main protagonist of the animated television series '' Rocko's Modern Life'', the Netflix special Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling, and the comic book series of the same name. Carlos Alazraqui provided the voice of the anthropo ...
appeared in an unpublished comic book titled ''Travis''. Murray tried selling the comic book in the late 1980s, but was never successful of getting it in production. Murray wanted funding for ''My Dog Zero'', so he wanted Nickelodeon to pre-buy television rights for the series. Murray presented a pencil test to
Nickelodeon Studios
Nickelodeon Studios was a production studio and theme park attraction run by the television network Nickelodeon at Universal Studios Florida.
Opening on June 7, 1990, as ''The First World Headquarters for Kids'', the studio attracted young tour ...
, which afterwards became interested in buying and airing the show. After deciding that ''My Dog Zero'' would not work as a television series, Murray combed through his sketchbooks, developed the ''Rocko's Modern Life'' concept and submitted it to Nickelodeon, believing that the concept would likely be rejected. According to Murray, around three or four months later he had "forgotten about" the concept and was working on ''My Dog Zero'' when
Linda Simensky
Linda Simensky is a production manager of various works of animation. Simensky served as an executive for Nickelodeon Furniss, Maureen. (February 5, 2008)240 ''Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics'' ''Indiana University Press''. Archived at Google B ...
informed Murray that Nickelodeon wanted a pilot episode. Murray said that he was glad that he would get funding for ''My Dog Zero''.
In 1992, two months prior to the production of season 1 of ''Rocko's Modern Life'', Murray's first wife,
[June 16, 2008]
" ''Joe Murray Studio''. Retrieved April 25, 2010. Diane, committed suicide. Murray had blamed the show being taken as the reason for his wife's suicide.
[October 17, 2010]
" Joe Murray Studio. Retrieved October 26, 2010. "I often directly blamed my wife's suicide in 1992 on Rocko getting picked up (it happened as we were preparing to start production of the series)." and "I, at times, do the same with Lazlo. Again, another positive in my life, and yet I went through a painful divorce in the middle of it." Murray felt that he had emotional and physical "unresolved issues" when he moved to Los Angeles. He describes the experience as like participating in "marathon with my pants around my ankles". Murray initially believed that he would create one season, move back to the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
and "clean up the loose ends I had left hanging". To his surprise Nickelodeon approved new seasons.
After season 3 he decided to hand the project to the late
Stephen Hillenburg
Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (August 21, 1961 – November 26, 2018) was an American animator, writer, producer, director, and marine science educator. He is known for creating the Nickelodeon animated television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants' ...
, who did most work for season 4 and created ''
SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...
'' shortly after that; Murray continued to manage the cartoon.
Murray said that he would completely leave the production after season 4. Murray said that he encouraged the network to continue production. Nickelodeon decided to cancel the series. Murray described all 52 episodes as "top notch" and that, in his view, the quality of a television show may decline as production continues "when you are dealing with volume".
Post-''Rocko's Modern Life''
After completing 52 episodes of ''Rocko's Modern Life'', Murray took a break from the animation business and produced two children's books and illustrated two others:
[Children's Books]
," ''Joe Murray Studio'' ''Who Asked the Moon to Dinner?'' (1999),
" ''Smallfellow Press''[Paintings Gallery One]
," ''Joe Murray'' ''The Enormous Mister Schmupsle: An ABC Adventure'' (2003),
" ''Smallfellow Press'' ''Hugville'' (written by Court Crandall) (2005),
[Hugville]
" ''Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential economi ...
'' and ''Funny Cryptograms'' (written by Shawn Kennedy).
Murray was working on a web-based cartoon named ''The Family Pop'', which was produced in Flash and was in the middle of negotiations for this cartoon just prior to the onset of ''Camp Lazlo''.
On September 30, 2008, Murray added a new feature to his website, The Tin Box, where Murray posts some of his independent work. The first work posted was "Where's Poppa", a short episode of ''The Family Pop''.
''Camp Lazlo''
Murray decided to return to television cartooning, this time selling his work to
Cartoon Network Studios
Cartoon Network Studios is an American animation studio owned by the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. The studio is the production arm of Cartoon Network, and started operating on ...
. In 2005, he produced a pilot for the cartoon ''
Camp Lazlo
''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey that goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout-like summer camp in Pimpleback M ...
'', which was picked up for a 13-episode first season and ran for five seasons, with production ending in November 2007.
On September 8, 2007, the TV movie ''
Where's Lazlo?'' won an
Emmy
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 Animated Program (For an Hour or More).
[Emmy winner for 2007 – http://www.emmys.tv/awards/2007pt/nominations.php?action=search_db] During the production of ''Camp Lazlo'', Murray underwent a divorce.
Post-''Camp Lazlo''
Once production finished for ''Camp Lazlo'', and the final episodes were delivered, Murray developed a new television series. While he is working out details about production and distribution, he has started work on his next independent film project, ''Fish Head'',
and publishing ''Creating Animated Cartoons with Character'', a book on creating and producing an animated TV series,
and working on producing a new short series, entitled ''Frog in a Suit'' for his web network; KaboingTV.
Murray also worked on the hour-long ''Rocko'' TV special ''
Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling,'' which premiered on Netflix August 9, 2019.
KaboingTV
Murray is currently planning to develop KaboingTV, a web network entirely dedicated to cartoons. On April 20, 2010, Murray launched a donation drive on
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
to fund the project, he required $16,800 by June 5 to reach the total funding amount for his project; otherwise, it would be cancelled. The project surpassed the amount of funding needed, and Murray is currently developing the next ''Frog in a Suit'' episodes. KaboingTV premiered in March 11, 2011.
''Let's Go Luna!''
Murray worked on the PBS animated series ''
Let's Go Luna!
''Let's Go Luna!'' is an educational animated children's television series created by Joe Murray for PBS Kids. Murray formerly worked on the Nickelodeon animated series ''Rocko's Modern Life'' and Cartoon Network animated series '' Camp Lazlo'' ...
'', which aired from November 2018 to November 2022.
Character creation process
On his personal website, Murray describes his character creation process as "sometimes like playing
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
".
* He starts with the personality. He shapes the conditions that make the character "tick", the character's imperfections, and the appeal. He asks himself, "Why would I want to tell stories about them?".
* If he is working with an
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
series or book with varying animals, he chooses an animal that, in his eyes, match the created personality. According to Murray, this resulted in a social
caricature
A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, a ...
in ''Rocko's Modern Life''.
[Q & A with Joe Murray]
," ''Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
Pressroom''
* If he is working with an anthropomorphic series or book using one animal, he alters the specific character design to match the personality.
* Murray likes to vary eyeballs by size and color. He also varies nostrils. Murray believes that inconsistencies "make it more interesting".
* Murray then selects colors that, in his view, "feels right". He believes that yellow and bright colors "match a mood". If a character is "negative", he will pick a color that, in his opinion, matches the character.
* If he has to teach a crew of artists how to draw the character, he creates a model sheet for the character.
Murray explains that one of the interesting aspects of character creation is the evolution of the personalities over time. In a one-time movie, the characters will have a static personality, but for a television series, the characters will change from season to season, developing new relationships, and even changing from mere background characters into a main character.
Filmography
Television
Film/Special
Internet
Books
Written and illustrated
* ''Who Asked the Moon to Dinner?'' (December 31, 1999)
(Published in English and
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
)
* ''The Enormous Mr. Schmupsle!'' (August 2003)
* ''Crafting a Cartoon''
(September 12, 2008)
* ''Creating Animated Cartoons with Character'' (August 24, 2010)
Illustrated
* ''Funny Cryptograms'' (May 28, 2003)
* ''Hugville'' (December 27, 2005)
Independent films
* "The Chore"
* '"My Dog Zero" (1992) (Murray's third independent film
)
* "The Affair" (2002)
* "Fishing"
* "Fish Head" (in production)
References
External links
*
Joe Murray's Blog*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Joe
American animated film directors
American animated film producers
Living people
20th-century American artists
21st-century American writers
21st-century American artists
Artists from Los Angeles
Animators from California
American bloggers
American cartoonists
American filmmakers
American male voice actors
American storyboard artists
American television directors
American television writers
Artists from San Jose, California
Nickelodeon people
Cartoon Network Studios people
Leland High School (San Jose, California) alumni
American male television writers
Primetime Emmy Award winners
Showrunners
Television producers from California
Writers from Los Angeles
Writers from San Jose, California
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
Screenwriters from California
1961 births
American male bloggers