James Jinkins (born August 8, 1953) is an American

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 ...

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 children's author. He is best known as the creator of the animated '' Doug''

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

which was later the basis for a

feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

. Jinkins also created ''

PB&J Otter ''PB&J Otter'' is an American animated musical television series. It premiered on Disney Channel's preschool block (Playhouse Disney) on March 15, 1998. A total of 65 episodes were produced during the course of its three-season run, with the fina ...

'', as well as several other shows produced by his two companies,

Jumbo Pictures The Walt Disney Company has owned and operated several animation studios since the company's founding on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio; the current Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, Cal ...

and

Cartoon Pizza Cartoon Pizza is an American animation studio located in Nashville, Tennessee. It was co-founded by Jim Jinkins and David Campbell as the successor to Jinkins' former company, Jumbo Pictures. A hallmark of both Jumbo Pictures and Cartoon Pizza ha ...

Background and career

Jinkins was born in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, and lived there during his childhood. His experiences growing up in Richmond would serve as an inspiration for the fictional town of Bluffington, Virginia, in the series ''Doug''. Jinkins was also an actor on the old Nickelodeon series '' Pinwheel'' and ''Hocus Focus'', and a graphic designer on ''By the Way'' and ''Video Comics''. After his first tenure with Nickelodeon, he went to work for

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

, becoming the graphics director for their show ''

Square One Television ''Square One Television'' (sometimes referred to as ''Square One'' or ''Square One TV'') is an American children's television program produced by the Children's Television Workshop (now known as Sesame Workshop) to teach mathematics and abstr ...

''. Later, Jinkins worked in advertising, creating television commercials and promotions featuring a young boy and a dog, who would become the main characters of his major creation, ''Doug''. Jinkins had developed Doug Funnie through doodles during the early days of his career. Doug and his dog Porkchop first appeared in Jinkins' book ''Doug Got a New Pair of Shoes'', which led to his creating an animated pilot titled ''Doug Can't Dance''. He sold the ''Doug'' pilot to

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 ...

. The pilot tested higher than any other pilot for the network at the time. Jinkins established

in 1990 to produce ''Doug'' for Nickelodeon. ''Doug'' went on to become one of Nickelodeon's most popular and successful series. Jinkins has also served as executive producer and voice director for ''Doug'' as well as writing only two episodes. Jinkins also created a TV show for Nick Jr., ''

Allegra's Window ''Allegra's Window'' is an American children's television series that aired on Nickelodeon through its Nick Jr. block from October 24, 1994, to December 8, 1996, with reruns being shown until February 5, 1999; it was later shown on Noggin from F ...

''. ''Doug''s success was noticed by

Disney 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 ...

executives. In 1996, Jinkins sold Jumbo Pictures to Disney. Disney then developed ''Disney's Doug'' (originally ''Brand Spanking New! Doug'') as part of their "

One Saturday Morning ABC Kids (originally titled Disney's One Saturday Morning until 2002) was an American Saturday morning children's programming block that aired on ABC from September 13, 1997 to August 27, 2011. It featured a mixture of animated and live-actio ...

" lineup. Jinkins and his team at Jumbo Pictures have produced the ''

'' and '' 101 Dalmatians: The Series'' animated series and feature film ''

Doug's 1st Movie ''Doug's 1st Movie'' is a 1999 American animated comedy film based on the Disney-produced episodes of the animated television series '' Doug''. The film was directed by Maurice Joyce, and stars the regular television cast of Tom McHugh, Fred New ...

'' for Disney. Jinkins has also founded an independent company,

, which produced shows such as ''

JoJo's Circus ''JoJo's Circus'' is a stop-motion animated television series created by Jim Jinkins, David Ray Campbell, David Campbell, Lisa Jinkins, and Eric Weiner and produced by the Canada-based Cuppa Coffee Studios and Cartoon Pizza. The series was writte ...

'', ''

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

'', ''

Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up Stanley's Dinosaur Round-Up is a 2005 American animated Western television film based on the Playhouse Disney television series '' Stanley''. It was directed by Jeff Buckland and produced by Cartoon Pizza. The film is notable for being the final f ...

'', ''HoopDogz'', and ''

Pinky Dinky Doo ''Pinky Dinky Doo'' is an animated children's television series created by Jim Jinkins. It was produced and co-owned by Jinkins' Cartoon Pizza and Sesame Workshop. The series was made in association with Discovery Kids Latin America, and the Canad ...

''. As of 2017, Jinkins was living in

Brunswick, Georgia Brunswick () is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-largest urban area on the Georgia coastline after Sa ...

where he ran a workshop.

Jinkins on ''Doug''

References

External links

*
Cartoon Pizza
1953 births Animators from Virginia American television directors American animated film directors American animated film producers American television writers American male television writers Nickelodeon people Showrunners Living people Lipscomb University alumni Ohio State University alumni Artists from Richmond, Virginia American voice directors Screenwriters from Virginia Doug (TV series) Television producers from Virginia Disney people {{US-animator-stub