Van Partible (born Efrem Giovanni Bravo Partible; December 13, 1971) is a Filipino-born American animator, storyboard artist, director, writer and

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

best known for creating the animated television series ''

Johnny Bravo ''Johnny Bravo'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Van Partible for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It is the second of the network's Cartoon Cartoons, which aired f ...

''.

Early life and education

Partible was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital city, capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is Cities of the Philippines#Independent cities, highly urbanize ...

but moved to the

United States 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 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

when he was nine months old. He grew up in

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area ...

with an avid love of drawing. Despite growing up copying artwork from collections of old comic books, it was not until college that Partible decided to pursue a career in animation. Partible attended

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit and Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near P ...

where he began work on a senior thesis project titled ''Mess O' Blues'' (1993). Initially a film about three

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

impersonators, the short time to produce the

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

influenced Partible to shorten it to one.

Career

''Johnny Bravo''

Upon graduation in 1993, Partible was 22 and did not have the extensive experience and portfolio that studios were looking for, and for a while worked in a daycare program for a local elementary school. ''Mess O' Blues'' was shown by Partible's animation professor, Dan McLaughlin, to a friend working for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. The studio loved the film and asked Partible to do a pitch for a seven-minute cartoon based on it – what would become ''

''. The short was produced for Cartoon Network's new animation showcase titled '' World Premiere Toons''. Partible initially roomed with

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 Cha ...

(creator of ''

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 T ...

'', ''

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' (also known as ''Foster's Home'', or simply ''Foster's'' for short) is an American animated television series created by Craig McCracken for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios a ...

'', and '' Wander Over Yonder''),

Paul Rudish Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

(a designer on that series) and

Genndy Tartakovsky Gennady Borisovich Tartakovsky (russian: Геннадий Борисович Тартаковский, born ), commonly known as Tartakovsky (), is a Russian-American animator, director, producer, screenwriter, voice actor, storyboard artist, ...

(creator of ''

Dexter's Laboratory ''Dexter's Laboratory'' is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. It follows Dexter, a short, enthusiastic boy-genius with a h ...

'', '' Samurai Jack'', and '' Star Wars: Clone Wars''). The only two cartoonists who worked at Hanna-Barbera fresh out of college were Partible and

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series ''Family Guy'' (since 1999) and '' The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creato ...

(creator of ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ...

'', ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...

'', and '' The Cleveland Show''). Partible changed his character from ''Mess O' Blues'' around so that "he would be more of this '50's iconic

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

-looking character that talked like Elvis". Partible picked voice actor

Jeff Bennett Jeffrey Glenn Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor who voiced Johnny Bravo in the eponymous television series, Dexter's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', Brooklyn in '' Gargoyles'' and Kowalski in the ''Penguins of Madagascar' ...

to play Johnny Bravo solely based on his young, hyped Elvis impression. The short premiered on ''World Premiere Toons'' on March 26, 1995, and involved Johnny trying to score with a zookeeper girl by capturing a runaway gorilla. Partible, with a small team of animators, animated the short themselves in-house at Hanna-Barbera using digital ink and paint (the latter shorts and first three seasons of the series would instead use the traditional ink and paint and film camera). Two more shorts on the program followed (''Jungle Boy in "Mr. Monkeyman"'', and ''Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women''), and the shorts were so popular that Cartoon Network commissioned a first season of series based around Johnny Bravo, consisting of 13 episodes. The crew of the first season of ''Johnny Bravo'' consisted of several writers, animators, and directors from ''World Premiere Toons'', including MacFarlane, Butch Hartman,

Steve Marmel Steven L. Marmel (born December 17, 1964) is an American television writer, producer, and stand-up comedian who has worked on many animated television series, including ''The Fairly OddParents'', ''I Am Weasel'', '' Danny Phantom'', '' Family G ...

, and John McIntyre. Veteran cartoonist and animation legend

Joseph Barbera Joseph Roland Barbera ( ; ; March 24, 1911 – December 18, 2006) was an American animator, director, producer, storyboard artist, and cartoon artist who co-founded the animation studio and production company Hanna-Barbera. Born to Italian i ...

was also a creative consultant for the first season of the series. The series premiered on July 14, 1997, and three additional seasons followed. Partible was fired following the first season amid the Warner Bros. takeover of Turner Broadcasting; he returned to produce " A Johnny Bravo Christmas" and its fourth season.

Other work

Partible was a guest in a ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast to the origi ...

'' episode, " President's Day Nightmare", which premiered February 20, 1995; the episode also featured

, Eugene Mattos, Dian Parkinson,

and Pat Ventura. Partible created a short called “ The Phabulizers “ for Disney Channel as a part of a short series called ''

Shorty McShorts' Shorts ''Shorty McShorts' Shorts'' was an American animated anthology series, which consisted of 4-/5-minute shorts. It aired from July 28, 2006, to May 25, 2007. Summary The host of the show is Shorty McShorts. His name is often shortened to "Shorty" o ...

''. He has produced original materials for

Film Roman Film Roman, LLC is an American independent animation studio currently based in Woodland Hills, California and formerly in Burbank. It was previously owned by Starz Inc., which is now a division of Lionsgate, and later by Waterman Entertainme ...

Walt Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney Ge ...

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

and for NBC's '' Medium'', for which he was the animation producer for the premiere of the third season. Partible served as an executive producer for Cartoon Network Asia's original programming from 2007 to 2012. Partible also worked on a video game titled ''Dancers of War'' alongside Scott Eaton (''

Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic ...

'', ''

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

'') and

Vince Clarke Vincent John Martin (born 3 July 1960), known professionally as Vince Clarke, is an English synth-pop musician and songwriter. Clarke has been the main composer and musician of the band Erasure since its inception in 1985, and was previously ...

(of

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

, Yaz), although the project ended after the Kickstarter campaign was unsuccessful. He currently teaches animation workshops at Loyola Marymount University, works as a director at Surfer Jack Productions in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, California, and is directing the '' Pete the Cat'' series for

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, based on the children's books by James Dean.

References

External links

Official website
*
A Cartoon Network promo – Meet the Cartoonist: Van Partible
{{DEFAULTSORT:Partible, Van 1971 births American animators American television writers American male television writers American television directors American television producers American animated film directors American animated film producers American cartoonists American voice directors American writers of Filipino descent Filipino emigrants to the United States Living people People from Manila Cartoon Network Studios people Hanna-Barbera people