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Lynne Naylor

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Lynne Naylor
Born
Lynne Rae Naylor

(1953-11-07) November 7, 1953 (age 70)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Other namesLynn Naylor
Lynne Naylor-Reccardi
EducationSheridan College
Occupations
Years active1981–present
Known for
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1994; died 2019)​
[1][2]
Children1
Websitelynive.com

Lynne Rae Naylor (born November 7, 1953) is a Canadian animator, artist, designer, director, and producer for television. She is best known for co-creating DreamWorks' The Mighty Ones, co-founding the animation studio Spümcø with John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, and Jim Smith, and co-developing The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon. She also worked on Batman: The Animated Series, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Wander Over Yonder.[3]

Career

[edit]

Naylor attended Sheridan College.[4] During her time at Sheridan College in the 1970s, she started dating John Kricfalusi and when Kricfalusi was expelled, she followed him to Hollywood.[5] Kricfalusi was a rebellious student who openly questioned the ability and competence of his professors, saying that none of the academics knew anything about animation, a stance that made him popular with his fellow students, all the more so as it was true, but led directly to his expulsion.[5] In 1981, she worked on Kricfalusi's first short film, Ted Bakes One.[6] In 1985, she went with Kricfalusi to Taiwan to supervise the revived version by the Hanna-Barbera studio of The Jetsons which was being drawn in Taiwan by the Cuckoo's Nest to save money.[7] It was a standard practice in American animation to subcontract out the laborious and time-consuming task of drawing a cartoon frame by frame to Asian animation studios, whose cartoonists were paid lower wages than American cartoonists as a cost-saving measure. However, the Hanna-Barbera studio had doubts about the competence of the poorly paid Taiwanese animators and sent out Western animators such as Kricfalusi and Naylor to supervise their work.[7]

After Kricfalusi was fired in Taiwan for his practice of redrawing already finished cartoons, she followed him back to Hollywood.[8] In 1986, Ralph Bakshi was hired to direct a music video for the Rolling Stones song "Harlem Shuffle".[5] Bakshi in turn assigned Kricfalusi to direct the animated portions of the video for "Harlem Shuffle", and he in turn assigned Nalyor to do the design and much of the drawings for the video.[5] Naylor drew the buxom Afro-American girl featured in the video.[5] The cartoon for "Harlem Shuffle" featured a black girl in Harlem being avidly pursued by two tomcats, both of which display stereotypical behavior commonly associated with sexually aggressive black men.[5] The success of the "Harlem Shuffle" video led to Bakshi becoming interested in doing animated films again, and he decided to direct an animated sex comedy set in the 1960s titled Bobby's Girl.[6] Both Kricfalusi and Naylor were heavily involved in the drawings for Bobby's Girl, but the film was aborted in early 1987 when the Tri-Star studio decided not to cut its funding for the film.[9] In 1987, Bakshi won the contract to draw Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures for the CBS network, and made Kricfalusi one of his directors.[10] Naylor was assigned by him to work as one of his cartoonists.[11]

She co-founded Spümcø along with her then-boyfriend John Kricfalusi, Jim Smith and Bob Camp in 1989.[4][12][13][14][15] She was involved in the development of Ren & Stimpy.[4][12][15] Kricfaulsi based the character of Ren on himself and Stimpy on Naylor.[16] About Kricfalusi's admission in the documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story that he based Stimpy on Naylor, the American critic Gary Kramer wrote: "Stimpy seems to love Ren no matter how much he is slapped around and abused. Their codependent relationship is obviously steeped in painful truth."[17] In 1989, the Spümcø studio was commissioned by the producer Vanessa Coffey to do a pilot episode for what was then known Ren Höek & Stimpy.[18] Coffey stated if the pilot did well, she would commission a TV series.[19] Starting in December 1989, Naylor was heavily involved in drawing the pilot Big House Blues .[20] In the Big House Blues, Kricfalusi drew the "wild" scenes, Camp drew the comedic scenes, Smith drew the "manly" scenes and Naylor drew the "cute" scenes.[21] The success of Big House Blues, which was shown as a short film at various film festivals in 1990, led to a TV series being commissioned in September 1990.[22] Naylor played a key role in streamlining and simplifying the design of Ren and Stimpy from how the characters were shown in the Big House Blues to how they were portrayed in the TV show as the original design took too much time to draw in frame by frame.[23] Kricfalusi has expressed criticism of the simplified design of the characters that Naylor established as a degradation of quality.[19]

Naylor was famed at the Spümcø studio for her drawings of "sexy girls" as her fellow Spümcø cartoonist and future husband Chris Reccardi praised her ability to "exude pure sensuality and innocence at the same time" in her drawings of female characters.[19] Ren & Stimpy was criticized for violence with adult,[24] bathroom,[24] dark and sexual humor that TV scarcely uses; it received critical acclaim[14] and inspired more innovative satirical cartoons such as Beavis and Butt-Head,[25][26] Rocko's Modern Life, South Park, Family Guy, and SpongeBob SquarePants.[27]

During the production of the episode Stimpy's Big Day, Naylor's relationship with Kricfalusi experienced serious strains as she accused him of not doing enough to meet the deadline for the premiere set for 11 August 1991.[28] David Koenigsberg of the Spümcø studio recalled: "She was building up with all this tension because she felt the deadlines much more oppressively than John did."[28] Koenigsberg recalled that the other animators would laugh and joke while working, but Naylor "was like the uptight librarian reminding everyone 'we have to go back to work now'. She was serious, it was not a joke. I remember talking to her one day about how we should laugh at this, and she really couldn't".[28] In March 1991, Nayor broke up with Kricfalusi and left The Ren & Stimpy Show.[29] Naylor had completed the layout drawings for Stimpy's Big Day at the time she left the show.[28] Kricfalusi spread rumors that Naylor "was just the girlfriend" who had done nothing for The Ren & Stimpy Show in an attempt to deprive her of employment in the animation industry.[28] On 18 May 1993, Kricfaulsi's lawyer sent a letter to the Nickelodeon network threatening to sue if Chris Reccardi was credited as the co-director for The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen.[30] Jim Ballantine stated that the letter was due to jealousy as Reccardi was dating Naylor.[30] Ballantine stated: "Since Chris was in a serious relationship with Lynne Naylor, anything having to do with Chris made John extra nuts."[31]

She also produced and directed the film Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus. Her biggest roles in character designs were for The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, and more. Naylor and Sunil Hall created the DreamWorks series The Mighty Ones for Hulu and Peacock[32] in 2020.[33]

She co-created the failed Nickelodeon pilot The Modifyers with her late husband Chris Reccardi in 2007.[2]

Filmography

[edit]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role
1982 The Smurfs Christmas Special Layout Artist
1990 Roller Coaster Rabbit Story
1992 The Kingdom Chums: Original Top Ten Layout Artist
1993 Nick and Noel Model Designer
1998 Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus Director, Art Director, & Producer
2009 Monsters vs. Aliens Additional Character Designer
The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Character Designer
2018 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Storyboard Artist
2019 The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part Visual Development Artist
Lucky Character Designer
2020 Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story Herself

Television

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Heathcliff & the Catillac Cats Assistant Character Designer N/A
Snorks Layout Artist
1985 The Jetsons Layout Artist & Character Designer
1987 Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures Layout Artist
1988 The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil Character Designer & Layout Artist
1990–1996 The Ren & Stimpy Show Developer
Voice Actress ("Big House Blues")
Animator (1990; 1992)
Layout Artist (1990–1991; 1994)
Big-Shot (1991)
Character Designer (1991–1992)
Background Designer ("Ren's Retirement")
Director (1994)
Writer (1994)
Storyboard Artist (1994)
Story (1994) 		Mom
1992 Tiny Toon Adventures Character Layout Artist N/A
1992–1993 Batman: The Animated Series Character Designer
1993 Animaniacs Model Designer
1995 The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show Art Director
1995–1996 The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat Writer (1995)
Character Designer (uncredited) (1995)
Layout Artist (uncredited) (1995–1996)
Background Artist (uncredited) (1995–1996)
Director (1995)
1996 What A Cartoon! Additional Layout Artist ("Buy One, Get One Free")
1998–2001 The Powerpuff Girls Modeler, Storyboard Artist
Writer ("The Headsucker's Moxy/Equal Fights")
1998–1999 Cow and Chicken Storyboard Artist
I Am Weasel
2001 The Cartoon Cartoon Show Background Artist, Clean-Up Artist, Layout Artist, Modeling, & Art Director ("IMP Inc.")
2001 The Ripping Friends Layout Artist (Uncredited)
2001–2004; 2017 Samurai Jack Character Designer
2003 Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" Animator, Designer, & Layout Artist
2003–2005 Star Wars: Clone Wars Character Designer
2004-2005 Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
2004–2006 Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! Art Director
Character Designer ("The Stranded Seven")
2005 My Life as a Teenage Robot Character Designer
2008–2009 The Mighty B! Storyboard Artist ("Season 1")
2008–2010 Chowder Art Director
& Story writer ("The Garden")
2010 Breaking the Mold: The Re-Making of Mighty Mouse Herself & Special Thanks
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Character Designer
2010–2013 Fish Hooks Production Designer (Seasons 1-2)
2014 Wander Over Yonder Character Designer ("The Bounty/The Ball")
2015–2016 SpongeBob SquarePants Storyboard Artist ("Season 9")[a]
2020–2022 The Mighty Ones Co-creator
Executive Producer (Seasons 1-2)
Story (Seasons 1-3)
Storyboard Artist ("Naked Mole Wrath")
Creative Consultant (Seasons 3-4)[b]

Awards and nominations

[edit]
List of awards nominations.
Award Year[c] Category Work(s) Episode Fellow Nominees Results
Primetime Emmy Awards 1994 Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less)[34][35] The Ren & Stimpy Show Ren's Retirement Bob Camp, Jim Gomez, Ron Hauge, Bill Wray, Vanessa Coffey, & Jim Ballantine Nominated
Annie Awards 2002 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production[36][37] Samurai Jack Jack and the Warrior Woman N/A Won
2004 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production[38][39] Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends House of Bloo's Nominated

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Information comes from the opening credits of each episode she worked on.
  2. ^ Information comes from the end credits of each episode from those seasons.
  3. ^ Year in which awards ceremony was held.

Books

[edit]
  • Komorowski, Thad (2017). Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. BearManor Media.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Harris M. Lentz (6 November 2020). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2019. McFarland. pp. 341–342. ISBN 9781476679785. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b Amidi, Amid (2 May 2019). "Chris Reccardi, Leading Animation Industry Artist, Dies At 54". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  3. ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0623292/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm [unreliable source?]
  4. ^ a b c Thad Komorowski (2013). Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593932343.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Komorowski 2017, p. 3.
  6. ^ a b Komorowski 2017, p. 3-4.
  7. ^ a b Komorowski 2017, p. 5.
  8. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 6.
  9. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 4.
  10. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 10-11.
  11. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 19.
  12. ^ a b Cerone, Daniel (28 September 1992). "'Ren & Stimpy' and Its Creator: A Parting of Ways : Animation: John Kricfalusi fought with Nickelodeon over deadlines, finances and the ribald nature of his cartoon". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  13. ^ "So, What Happened to Cartoons Anyway?". Wild Cartoon Kingdom. June 1993. pp. 20–21.
  14. ^ a b Kanfer, Stefan (13 April 1992). "Loonier Toon Tales". Time. Archived from the original on 30 November 2008. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  15. ^ a b Wheeler W. Dixon (2001). Collected Interviews: Voices from Twentieth-century Cinema. SIU Press, 2001. p. 88. ISBN 978-0809324071.
  16. ^ Schager, Nick (14 August 2020). "'Ren & Stimpy's' Dark, Pedophilic Past Is Exposed". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  17. ^ Kramer, Gary (13 August 2020). "New "Ren & Stimpy" doc perpetuates the problematic myth of the cult cartoon's bad-boy genius". Salon. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  18. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 57.
  19. ^ a b c Komorowski 2017, p. 86.
  20. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 57-58.
  21. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 58.
  22. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 68.
  23. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 85-86.
  24. ^ a b "Letters to the Editor archive". Parents Television Council. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
  25. ^ Daniel Cerone (17 October 1993), "New Kings of TV's Toon Town", Los Angeles Times
  26. ^ Ted Cox (31 August 2005). "TV's Turning Points: A New Book Looks at Pivotal Moments in TV History". Daily Herald. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  27. ^ Michael Barrier (11 December 2004). "SpongeBath". Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  28. ^ a b c d e Komorowski 2017, p. 87.
  29. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 85-87.
  30. ^ a b Komorowski 2017, p. 235.
  31. ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 235-236.
  32. ^ Davis, Victoria (1 July 2021). "Lynne Naylor and Sunil Hall Talk 'The Mighty Ones' Season 2". Animation World Network. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  33. ^ Zahed, Ramin (6 November 2020). "Backyard Buddies: Sunil Hall & Lynne Naylor-Reccardi Introduce 'The Mighty Ones'". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  34. ^ "Outstanding Short Format Animated Program Nominees / Winners 1994". EmmyAwards.org. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  35. ^ "Ren & Stimpy's Nomination for the 46th Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or Less) - 1994". EmmyAwards.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  36. ^ "30th Annual Annie Awards Legacy". AnnieAwards.org. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  37. ^ Martin, Denise (5 January 2003). "'Lilo' leads Annie noms with 10". Variety. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  38. ^ "32nd Annie Awards". AnnieAwards.org. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  39. ^ International Animated Film Society. "Legacy: 32nd Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2004)". AnnieAwards.org. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
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