'George Liquor's Fishing Show'.
Jim Smith was an American animator, best known as one of the main co-creators, character, background and lay-out designers behind 'The Ren & Stimpy Show' (1991-1995). He also co-wrote the show's catchy theme song. Smith was particularly renowned for his moody artwork and drawings of muscular men. Later he also worked on the TV show 'Samurai Jack'. As a comic artist, Smith was most notable for his contributions to the 'Spümcø Comic Book' (1995). Jim Smith should not be confused with British children's book illustrator Jim Smith (b. 1975, of 'Barry Loser' fame).
Early life and career
James Carl Jobb was born in 1954 in Lubbock, Texas and later adopted the pseudonym "Jim Smith". Among his main graphic influences were Miguel Covarrubias, Frank Frazetta, Chuck Jones, Jack Kirby and Mad Magazine. Smith especially admired Frazetta, whose artwork he first stumbled upon around 1973-1974, when he read Robert Howard's 'Conan the Barbarian' paperbacks. On his blog, Smith recalled spending "countless hours slavishly copying and studying every fold of skin, even trying to duplicate the colors with prismacolor pencils. I never aspired to paint but the drawing skill in Frank's work gave me a foundation for life-drawing, which brings up a related point: when drawing a live model, concentrate on drawing exactly what you see and resist the urge to get creative and caricature. The time you have with the model is limited so use it to study and draw what you see - later when there is no model, you can go hog wild, taking whatever liberties using the information implanted during the drawing of the real thing." Smith particularly loved Frazetta's "unmatched mastery of anatomy. The skin colors, and textures are natural and Frank always created a strong, eye-catching composition. There are bluish-green accents in the skin colors which do appear in real skin, and the figures always look as if they had been in the sun."
Smith also enjoyed rock music and played guitar in the band The Screamin' Lederhosen. His stage names were "Jiminy Jelly-Roel Smith" or "Jiminy Jelly Roll Smith". The other two band members were Chris Reccardi and Scott Huml.
Crag, a character from 'The Ripping Friends'.
Early animation career
In 1986, Smith worked for Ralph Bakshi's TV animation studio, where he met John Kricfalusi. Kricfalusi was impressed how Smith could draw construction, composition and perspective. They also shared a love for classic animation. Smith and Kricaflusi worked on the animated sequences in the 'Harlem Shuffle' music video by The Rolling Stones (1986) and produced 'Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures' (1987), a show based on Paul Terry's cartoon character Mighty Mouse. When the series was cancelled, Kricfalusi, Smith, Lynne Naylor and Bob Camp founded their own TV animation studio, Spümcø (1989). One of their early projects was 'The New Beany and Cecil Show' (1988), a reboot of Bob Clampett's 'Time for Beany/Beany & Cecil'. However, their show was canceled after only four episodes. Smith provided lay-outs for the animated opening credits of two nowadays forgotten live-action films, 'Troop Beverly Hills' (1989) and 'McGee and Me!' (1989) and also worked in the story department for Bakshi's final feature film 'Cool World' (1992). He was also a storyboard artist for 'The Real Ghost Busters', Bruce Timm's 'Batman: The Animated Series' and lay-out artist and model designer for 'Tiny Toon Adventures' (1989-1992) at Warner Brothers' Animation.
Caricature of Ralph Bakshi by Jim Smith, painted by Simone Dupuis.
Ren & Stimpy
At Spümcø ,Jim Smith, John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp and Lynne Naylor became the main animation staff for the TV series 'The Ren & Stimpy Show' (1991-1995), broadcast on Nickelodeon. The show quickly gained a cult following thanks to its strange atmosphere, icky gross-out comedy, expressive animation and disturbing mental breakdowns of characters. Smith was an all-round artist on the show, coming up with story ideas, drawing storyboards, designing characters, backgrounds and lay-outs. In a blogpost, dated: 8 October 2013, John Kricfalusi said that he usually gave the moody scenes to Smith: (...) "Because being the heavy brooding type himself, he feels the depths of human torment more than anyone and is only too happy to have his audience plumb the depths with him." Smith also specialized in designing rugged, very muscular characters like Powdered Toast Man and the Fire Chief. Kricfalusi: "Jim has many talents but the one that I find the most original and unique is his ability to make really serious drawings and moods look funny." He additionally praised him for having a "totally own unique style that isn't part of a school. There aren't many artists like that, and that's what makes him so valuable to the cartoons I like to make. He has many talents no one else (including me) has and I rely on him to do all the hard stuff. He's a master of composition and solidity." Interviewed for Pop Culture Magazine (October 1996), Kricfalusi credited Smith for coming up with the plot of the episode 'Space Madness' and almost single-handedly doing another episode, 'Untamed World'.
'Ren & Stimpy' concept art by Jim Smith for the episode 'Big House Blues'.
In the very first 'Ren & Stimpy' episode, 'Big House Blues', Ren and Stimpy attend a party in the dog pound. Kricfalusi asked Jim Smith, production assistant Scott Huml and animator Chris Reccardi to write some background music, since they played in the band The Screaming Lederhosen together. Kricfalusi liked their catchy, spicy blues rock instrumental well enough to make it the official theme music of the entire show. That way, they wouldn't be forced to write "some dumb and corny sing-along-song, like most other children's cartoon series at the time". Smith, Huml and Reccardi's instrumental, officially named 'Dog Pound Hop', was used for the opening credits, while another tune, 'Big House Blues', ended up as the closing credits. On both recordings, Smith plays guitar.
'Jimmy the Turtle Food Collector' from the first Spümco Comic Book (Marvel Comics, 1995).
Spümcø
Smith remained involved with John Kricfalusi's animation studio Spümcø, contributing character designs and lay-outs to all of their projects, including the music video 'I Miss You' (1997) for Björk, Kricfalusi's unfinished web series 'Weekend Pussy Hunt' (2000) and the badly received and prematurely canceled TV series 'The Ripping Friends' (2001-2002) and 'The Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon' (2003). In 2011, he also provided lay-outs for Kricfalusi's guest-animated couch gag in Matt Groening's 'The Simpsons' episode 'Bart Stops to Smell the Roosevelts'.
Between 1995 and 1997, Smith was one of the artists involved in the 'Spümcø Comic Book' series, published by Marvel Comics (one issue) and then Dark Horse (three issues). In the first Marvel-published issue, Smith provided the core of the pencil artwork for the 63-page lead story in which Jimmy the Idiot Boy goes insect-hunting to feed his turtle, resulting in melodramatic, gory and ultra-violent man-versus-insect action. For the first two Dark Horse issues of the 'Spümcø Comic Book', Smith drew the two-parter story 'George Liquor's Fishing Show', in which the ultraconservative George Liquor goes on a fishing trip and gets into a fight with a very brutal mouth bass fish. His stories were inked by Shane Glines. The pencil artists of the other stories were Mike Fontanelli and Vincent Waller. In 2013, the full run of the series (one issue at Marvel, three at Dark Horse) was reprinted in one single volume in IDW's Yoe Books line, completed with a previously unpublished story.
Storyboard for 'Samurai Jack'.
Later animation career
In later years, Smith also worked as a character designer on Genddy Tartakovsky's animated TV series 'Samurai Jack' (2001-2004). He provided storyboards for the animated film 'Ice Age' (2002), Dreamworks' film 'Monsters vs. Aliens' (2006) and reboots of classic Hanna-Barbera characters 'Tom & Jerry', 'Scooby-Doo' and 'The Flintstones' and, for Warner Bros. Animation, on 'The Looney Tunes Show'.
Final years and death
In 2005, Asylum Press released two sketchbooks by Smith, 'Deadly Are The Naked' and 'Naked and the Dead'. In 2007, Smith released the 'Chestaclese Sketchbook', featuring sketches, comic pages, storyboards and concept art for an unfinished project about a massive barbarian. Between August and October 2011, Smith was also a teacher in cartooning at the Viborg College of Animation in Denmark.
In 2025, Jim Smith died from a heart attack at age 70.
Self-portrait.