Glen Murakami

Glen Murakami is an American animator, animation director, and producer of Japanese descent. He is best known for his work on Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

Animation

Murakami originally wanted to be a comic book artist. His friend from junior high and high school, Keith Weesner, got a job working on Batman: The Animated Series as a background artist and informed Murakami when they were hiring artists at Warner Bros.[1] Murakami was given a storyboard test, which he failed. But seeing his drawing talent, he was hired anyway.[2]

Working closely with Bruce Timm, Murakami worked as a character designer and storyboard artist from 1991 to 1993.[3] From 1995 to 1999, Murakami worked as Art Director on Superman: The Animated Series and The New Batman/Superman Adventures.[3]

Batman Beyond

Murakami was promoted to producer for Batman Beyond and won an Emmy Award in 2001 for his work on the series.[3] In addition to producing, he also was credited for story on the movie, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker.

Teen Titans

In 2002, after a decade working on shows produced by his friend and mentor Bruce Timm, Murakami produced his first series without Timm, the Teen Titans.

In addition to producing, he was also character designer on the series. Murakami approached the show with an unusual design style, setting them apart from the rest of DC Comics animated programing. The show's style was dubbed Murakanime or "Americanime".

The popular series ran for five seasons, 65 episodes, and concluded with the movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo in 2006.

Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien

Following Teen Titans, Murakami teamed up with late writer Dwayne McDuffie to develop a series for Cartoon Network's Ben 10 franchise. Murakami served as Executive Producer on Ben 10: Alien Force, which ran for three seasons and 46 episodes.

Immediately following Alien Force, Murakami and McDuffie developed the follow-up series, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

Beware the Batman

In 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that Murakami would be executive producer on its upcoming computer-animated television series Beware the Batman.[4]

Comics

Murakami illustrated the Star Wars comic Death Star Pirates - originally published in issues #16 through #20 of the Star Wars kids magazine in 1998 and later collected in Star Wars Tales Volume 2 by Dark Horse Comics.

He also drew a cover for Teen Titans Go!, and wrote and drew for stories in Batman Adventures and Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories, winning an Eisner Award for his work in the Batman Adventures Holiday Special.

Awards

Influences

Murakami's influences include Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, John Byrne, Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, and Dave Stevens.[2]

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.