
But for some reason this episode captured his imagination. He was a storyboarding director at the time, which meant he was responsible for supervising other board artists, rarely working directly on boards himself. This drawing was from the episode "A Friendly Game." Early 2010. Many tributes came from Tucker’s former students at Virginia’s Longwood University, where he began teaching graphic and animation design in 2015. Others have taken to social media to share their memories of the artist. I’m so lucky I got to work with him for so many years. A killer work ethic, passionately into it. I’ll always remember him at his drawing board, arms blackened to the elbows with graphite, eraser shavings everywhere, bringing my characters to life. In an Instagram post, Hey Arnold! creator Craig Bartlett paid tribute to his colleague:Ī great friend, a master draftsman, a tireless practical joker, a brilliant storyteller, the first one I reached out to when I began Hey Arnold! because he was the best board guy I had ever met. Most recently, he was working as a storyboard revisionist on the upcoming Bob’s Burgers feature. Other credits include Family Guy and its spin-off feature Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, Comedy Central’s Drawn Together, Nickelodeon’s The Fairly Oddparents, and Klasky Csupo’s Duckman. As he told Animation Magazine in 2015, “The advantage of letting animators be the driving force behind the show is that you put art at the center of the show, and quite often something spectacular arises.” On several of these shows, Tucker benefited from a new tendency to let the storyboard team take charge of the writing. In 2011, he was one of the recipients of an Annie Award for best music in a television production on Spongebob Squarepants.

Later, he was supervising storyboard director for dozens of episodes of Spongebob Squarepants (writing six of them), and a storyboard artist on 2004’s Spongebob Squarepants The Movie. He picked up his sole feature directorial credit on 2002’s Hey Arnold!: The Movie. Tucker worked as a layout artist on Rugrats (on which he also boarded), and when Hey Arnold! launched in 1996, he was promoted to storyboard director and later supervising director.
CANT TUCK TUCKER SERIES
In the early 1990s, he bounced around on a variety of series including The Ren & Stimpy Show, Duckman, 2 Stupid Dogs, and The Simpsons, before settling down for the long haul at Nickelodeon - the studio with which he would become most closely associated. From there, Tucker to transitioned to television. He attended the communication arts program at Virginia Commonwealth University while moonlighting at Candy Apple, the state’s only animation studio at the time.Ī post shared by Craig Bartlett stint at Filmation led directly to his employment at Disney, where he worked as a breakdown animator and inbetweener on The Little Mermaid. Watching cartoons with his father as a boy, he developed a keen interest in animation, which was encouraged by his schoolteachers. Tucker was born William Osborne Tucker III in Lynchburg, Virginia on August 20, 1961. After quickly fulfilling his goal of working at Disney, he made his mark on some of the most popular and influential animated series of recent decades, including The Simpsons, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Family Guy, and of course Spongebob and Hey Arnold!. (Credit: Longwood University)Īcross more than three decades, Tucker worked in many roles in the industry, including layout, storyboard, writing, and directing. His death was announced by his family on Facebook. He did not explain why Tucker was not suspended until Sunday beyond saying interim measures were previously in place but circumstances had changed.Veteran animation artist Tuck Tucker, best known for his close involvement with Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants and Hey Arnold!, died on December 22. Haller said an external investigation that concluded July 25 led to the scheduling of the formal hearing.

Dantonio will be an on-field assistant for Michigan State who will wear a headset either on the sidelines or up in a booth.

Secondary coach Harlon Barnett will serve as the acting head coach with Mark Dantonio - one of the most successful head coaches in program history - returning to the Spartans as an associate head coach, Michigan State athletic director Alan Haller announced Sunday. Rather, the investigation will continue as scheduled before the university makes a decision on his future leading the Spartans program. Tucker is on leave without pay pending the outcome of the MSU's investigation with his future leading the Spartans now in doubt.Įrroneous reports Sunday initially stated that Tucker was fired by Michigan State. Mel Tucker has been suspended as the active coach of Michigan State football less than 24 hours after it was revealed he is the subject of an MSU investigation into allegations of sexual harassment, the university announced Sunday.
