Mark "Thurop" Ashton Van Orman (born April 26, 1976) 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 g ...

, animator, voice actor, television writer, producer and director best known for being the creator of

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, ...

's ''

The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack ''The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack'' (also known as ''The Misadventures of Flapjack'', or simply ''Flapjack'') is an American animated television series created by Thurop Van Orman for Cartoon Network. It premiered in the United States on ...

'', in which he voices the title character.

Life and career

Van Orman was born and raised in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia B ...

. Van Orman worked for the video game company Zantaro before going on to study character animation at the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. He was the storyboard artist and co-writer for ''

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 ...

'', ''

The Powerpuff Girls ''The Powerpuff Girls'' is an American superhero animated television series created by animator Craig McCracken and produced by Hanna-Barbera (later Cartoon Network Studios) for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Telev ...

'', and '' The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''. He was also the supervising producer for ''

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

'' and served as one for ''

Sanjay and Craig ''Sanjay and Craig'' is an American animated sitcom created by Jim Dirschberger, Jay Howell, and Andreas Trolf for Nickelodeon. Produced by Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, the series revolves around Sanjay, voiced by Maulik Pancholy, and his bes ...

'' only in its first season. Thurop is also somewhat known for responding to much of his fans'

fan art Fan art or fanart is artwork created by fans of a work of fiction and derived from a series character or other aspect of that work. They are usually done by amateur artists, semi-professionals or professionals. As fan labor, fan art refers t ...

through the website

DeviantArt DeviantArt (historically stylized as deviantART) is an American online art community that features artwork, videography and photography, launched on August 7, 2000 by Angelo Sotira, Scott Jarkoff, and Matthew Stephens among others. DeviantArt, ...

. He is the director of '' The Angry Birds Movie 2''. Van Orman has a brother named Jonny, from whom he took inspiration to start his animation career at

for ''Flapjack''. He has been married to Sherri Van Orman since 1999 and has two children: a daughter named Blossom and a younger daughter named Hazel.

Upcoming films

He is currently working on his stop motion film project titled ''Black Forest'', as well as provided concept art for the film adaptation of ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...

.'' He has also announced via Twitter that he will be writing a film about Vikings.

Inspirations

His work took inspiration from

Gary Larson Gary Larson (born August 14, 1950) is an American cartoonist, environmentalist, and former musician. He is the creator of ''The Far Side'', a single-panel cartoon series that was syndicated internationally to more than 1,900 newspapers for fif ...

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

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' ...

Craig McCracken Craig McCracken (born March 31, 1971) is an American animator, writer, producer, director, storyboard artist, and designer known for creating the Cartoon Network's ''The Powerpuff Girls'' and '' Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'', Disney Chann ...

E. H. Shepard Ernest Howard Shepard OBE MC (10 December 1879 – 24 March 1976) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is known especially for illustrations of the anthropomorphic animal and soft toy characters in ''The Wind in the Willows'' and ''Win ...

Richard Scarry Richard McClure Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his ''Best Ever'' book series that take ...

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. He became most widely known for his book '' Where the Wild Things Are'', first published in 1963.Turan, Kenneth (October 16, 20 ...

Mercer Mayer Mercer Mayer (born December 30, 1943) is an American children's author and illustrator. He has published over 300 books, using a wide range of illustrative styles. Mayer is best known for his '' Little Critter'' and '' Little Monster'' series o ...

Ronald Searle Ronald William Fordham Searle, CBE, RDI (3 March 1920 – 30 December 2011) was an English artist and satirical cartoonist, comics artist, sculptor, medal designer and illustrator. He is perhaps best remembered as the creator of St Trinian's S ...

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

Sergio Aragonés Sergio Aragonés Domenech ( , ; born September 6, 1937) is a Spanish/Mexican cartoonist and writer best known for his contributions to '' Mad'' magazine and creating the comic book '' Groo the Wanderer''. Among his peers and fans, Aragonés is ...

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of ...

, and his brother Jonny.

Filmography

Film

Television

Voice roles

References

External links

*
Thurop Van Orman
on

1976 births Living people American animators California Institute of the Arts alumni Cartoon Network Studios people Nickelodeon Animation Studio people American male voice actors Showrunners American people of Dutch descent American television writers American male television writers American television directors American animated film directors American animated film producers American male screenwriters American storyboard artists Sony Pictures Animation people {{US-animator-stub