Mark Gravas (born 29 September 1966) is an Australian 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 * ''Di ...

and producer. He is the creator/director of ''

Yakkity Yak ''Yakkity Yak'' is a Flash animated television series produced by the Vancouver-based animation studio Studio B Productions and Kapow Pictures. It was created by Mark Gravas and aired on Teletoon in Canada and on Nickelodeon in Australia from ...

'' (2002/2003), an Australian/Canadian co-production. Mark co-owns Sydney based media production company Kapow Pictures with his partner Sandra Walters. Mark Gravas directed the 2005 animated film ''Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie'', He also designed and directed the 2006 Cartoon Network production of ''

Casper's Scare School ''Casper's Scare School'' (also known as ''Casper's Scare School: The Movie'') is a 2006 computer animated television film based on the Harvey Comics cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost. The film premiered on Cartoon Network on October 2 ...

''. Gravas also co-owns the creative company

Kapow Pictures Kapow may refer to: * Kapow Records, an American record label * Kapow!, an American rock band led by Toshi Yano * ''Kapow!'', a programming block on Canadian TV channel Teletoon * ''Ka-Pow!'', an animated web spin-off of ''Happy Tree Friends'' ...

, based in Sydney, Australia.

Life and career

Mark has lived in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

for most of his life. He left school at the end of year 10 and studied fine art, and later graphic design at Randwick Tafe. He traveled to London in his 20s and worked at various animation studios. He met his partner Sandra Walters in London. He directed a short film for Nickelodeon Ego from Mars in 1999 and also worked with Bradley Trevor Grieve BTG on Agent Green. He went on to create and direct the short film

Show and Tell Show and tell (sometimes called show and share or sharing time) is the practice of showing something to an audience and describing it to them, usually a toy or other children's-oriented item. In the United Kingdom, North America, New Zealand and ...

in 2001 which won an

AACTA Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

for best animated short in 2002. Mark created, designed and directed

a 52 x 11 mins children's TV series for

MTV Networks International Paramount International Networks (PIN) is the international division of Paramount Global. The division oversees the production, broadcasting and promotion of key Paramount's brands outside of the United States. These brands include Paramount Net ...

in 2003. He designed and directed Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie in 2005 and

in 2006. He co-created (and designed and directed)

CJ the DJ ''CJ the DJ'' is an animated television series and sitcom created first broadcast on ABC3. The show was created by Stu Connolly and Mark Gravas. Fifty-two episodes were produced for the first season. Two episodes are often broadcast together, cr ...

with Stu Connolly, a 52 x 11 mins children's TV series shown on ABC 3 in 2009. Mark has also designed and directed music videos including Everyone Seems to be Out to Get You selected for

Annecy Animation Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

and

Tickle Tickling is the act of touching a part of a body in a way that causes involuntary twitching movements or laughter. The word evolved from the Middle English ''tikelen'', perhaps frequentative of ''ticken'', to touch lightly. In 1897, psychol ...

shown at

Pictoplasma {{primarysources, date=October 2009 Pictoplasma is an organisation dedicated to the art of character design Character design may refer to: *Characterisation, the process of conveying information about characters *Character creation, the process of ...

Berlin 2013.

References

External links

* *Kapow Picture

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gravas, Mark Living people Australian animators Australian illustrators Australian television directors Australian film directors Australian animated film directors Australian voice directors 1966 births