Kaz (born Kazimieras Gediminas Prapuolenis; July 31, 1959) is an American

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 ...

, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and

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 ...

. In the 1980s, after attending New York City's

School of the Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

, he was a frequent contributor to the comic anthologies ''

RAW Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'' and ''

Weirdo Weirdo may refer to: * An eccentric * ''Weirdo'' (comics), an alternative comics anthology published by Last Gasp * "Weirdo" (song), a single by the Charlatans UK off their album ''Between 10th and 11th'' * ''Weirdos'' (film), a 2016 Canadian d ...

''. Since 1992, he has drawn '' Underworld'', an adult-themed syndicated

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

that appears in many alternative weeklies.

Career

Kaz's comics and drawings have appeared in many alternative and mainstream publications including ''

Details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

'', '' The New Yorker'', '' Nickelodeon Magazine'', '' The Village Voice'', ''

East Village Eye The ''East Village Eye'' was a cultural magazine, published by editor-in-chief Leonard Abrams, in circulation from May, 1979 until January, 1987. Based in the East Village section of New York City, the publication covered a range of locally focus ...

'', '' Swank'', ''

'', ''Eclipse'', ''N.Y. Rocker'', '' New York Press'', '' Screw'' and ''Bridal Guide''. He has continued to contribute to comics anthologies such as '' Zero Zero''. Kaz has also worked on several animated television shows including '' SpongeBob SquarePants'', ''

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 '' Phineas and Ferb''. He was co-executive producer of '' Get Blake!''. Kaz joined ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' as a storyboard director and writer in 2001 during the production of the series' third season. The series went on hiatus after production began on '' The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie''. Shortly before production on

the fourth season ''The Fourth Season'' is the fourth album by the Australian progressive metal band Vanishing Point. Track listing # "Embodiment" - 4:06 # "The Tyranny Of Distance" - 5:25 # "Surrender" - 4:09 # "Hope Among The Heartless" - 5:13 # "Gaia - Th ...

began in 2004, Kaz was invited by his colleague and the series' newly appointed showrunner, Paul Tibbitt, to work on an episode for the fourth season but he was never contacted by Tibbitt again and joined ''

'' after leaving ''SpongeBob''. After ''Phineas and Ferb'' ended production, Kaz returned to ''SpongeBob'' in 2015 as a writer. With Derek Drymon, Kaz co-wrote and storyboarded the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

for ''Diggs Tailwagger'', which was ultimately not picked up. In September 2006, Kaz left ''Camp Lazlo'' to work on another pilot for a

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 ...

show, ''Zoot Rumpus'', based on a character from ''Underworld''. With Mr. Lawrence, he wrote the episode '' SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout'' and is currently working on the ''SpongeBob'' spinoff ''

Kamp Koral ''Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years'' (also known simply as ''Kamp Koral'') is an American computer-animated television series created by Stephen Hillenburg and developed by Luke Brookshier, Marc Ceccarelli, Andrew Goodman, Kaz, Mr. Lawrence ...

''. Kaz will write the screenplay for the Sandy Cheeks spinoff film, '' Saving Bikini Bottom,'' which Tom Stern will also write the film with him.

Personal life

Kaz lives in Hollywood, California, with his wife Linda Marotta.

Filmography

Television

Film

Bibliography

References

External links

* *
Kaz Prapuolenis: You don’t have to live an intense life, Interviews with exceptional minds, Eximia
{{Authority control 1959 births Living people American animators American comic strip cartoonists American people of Lithuanian descent The New Yorker cartoonists Artists from Hoboken, New Jersey People from Hollywood, Los Angeles School of Visual Arts alumni Underground cartoonists American television writers American male television writers American storyboard artists Primetime Emmy Award winners Screenwriters from New Jersey Screenwriters from California