Wednesday, June 13, 2007

OUR FOUNDER

This is the man. JON McCLENAHAN is responsible for giving so many animators their first break and truly believing in them. He taught me the value of hard work, and how you could accomplish any animation task with the proper planning and execution. The nose to the grindstone approach enabled Jon and Startoons to compete with the growing competition of overseas studios and keep more home grown animation penciled by the hands of local animators. Thanks buddy. My 9+ years at Startoons were filled with ups and downs, but whenever I look back, all I remember are the good times.

6 comments:

Goldskeleton said...

Yes, not only is Jon the tallest animator I've ever met he is also one of the best; I learned more from working with him at StarToons than I did from anyone else in the business, and that's saying a lot.
Having tried to run my own studio for three years, I have a newfound respect for what he accomplished with that little brick building in Homewood.
We weren't always a happy family, and there were certainly a lot of stressful times. But I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
Alas, since they turned the old StarToons building into an Asian restuarant, I guess there's no going back (except for dinner). My old office is now table 12.
Cheers Jon.

K.B. said...

I really value my time at Startoons. I owe John Mcclenahan a huge debt of gratitude for taking a chance on me. I learned a ton from him and from the others at the studio as well.Those were good times, back when i was a young hopefull instead of the grizzled old jaded pro that i have become.

Jon said...

Gads. What a freaking awful picture. I remember sitting for that one. It was a little like when Uncle Rico got his ID photo taken in Napoleon Dynamite.

Unknown said...

Hey, it's not so bad... That's just the way those "professional" pictures look. It was probably the only studious one I had - You'll see better in the future.

RonToon said...

Mmmmm. You sure got a perty mouth there boy ; )

Jon said...

That does it Fleischer. I'm comin' after ya!