Bill Wray
| William Wray | |
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Wray speaking on a Ren & Stimpy panel in April 2016
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| Born | William York Wray March 24, 1956 Fort Meade, Maryland, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Animator Cartoonist Landscape painter |
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Notable works
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The Ren & Stimpy Show Urban Landscape series |
William York "Bill" Wray (b. March 24, 1956) is an American cartoonist, animator and painter widely known for his contributions to Mad and The Ren & Stimpy Show as well as his current focus on regional landscape painting — under the names Bill Wray for his animated work and William Wray for his paintings.
With urban landscapes, cartoon elements, and superheroes as frequent subjects, Wray is noted for a tightly cropped and abstract painting style. The Huffington Post said he "has a brisk, bold style that gives his city scenes a jolt of painterly drama."Southwest Art Magazine called him "a chronicler of the fading urban remains of a bygone era."
Wray was the son of a lieutenant colonel in Army intelligence, and his family moved frequently, living in Germany, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Wray often read comic books and watched animated cartoons. In 2009, Wray said "I was always drawing because I was lonely.”
At age 10, his family settled Costa Mesa, California. Wray would later attend and drop out of Orange Coast College — to animate professionally during the day and study art privately weekends and nights with a retired Disney animator. He subsequently animated for Disney, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation.
In 1985, Wray moved to New York, doing comic book work for Marvel and DC Comics, while studying at New York's Art Students League. A phone call from John Kricfalusi sent him back West in the early 1990s to work on The Ren & Stimpy Show,Samurai Jack, The Mighty B! and other shows.
His long-run Monroe series appeared in more than 100 issues of Mad, and he has also co-created Dark Horse Comics Hellboy Junior with Mike Mignola based on the Hellboy character. His cartoon influences include Hank Ketcham, Harvey Kurtzman, Erich Sokol and Wally Wood.
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Wikipedia