'Gene Toons'.
Wendell Washer was an American storyboard artist and voice actor, who from the 1970s through the 2000s has worked for studios like Filmation, Hanna-Barbera, Warner Bros. Television Animation, Universal Animation Studios, Marvel Productions and Disney Television Animation. As a cartoonist, he was active in the "furry fandom" scene, creating funny animal art for fanzines like Rowrbrazzle. Some of these were comics, like 'Piffles the Barbarian' and 'Zar'. In the early 2000s, Washer also drew the webcomic 'Gene Toons'.
Early life
Born in 1947, Wendell Oliver Washer spent most of his life in Mission Hills, California. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and achieved a Bachelor of Arts Degree in cartooning.
Animation
Starting his career in the 1970s, Washer worked as a layout and storyboard artist for Hanna-Barbera, working on shows like 'Star Trek: The Animated Series' (1973-1975), 'The Scooby-Doo Show' (1976) and 'Dynomutt Dog Wonder' (1976-1977). He later moved on to work for a great many other companies. For Filmation, he worked on the 1982 film 'Mighty Mouse in the Great Space Chase', and voiced the character of Chester P. Chieseler on the TV series 'Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures' (1986-1987), produced by Ralph Bakshi. As a storyboard artist, Washer's work at Marvel Productions included the 1980s TV series 'My Little Pony', 'Jem' and 'The Transformers'.
Storyboard art for the 'Transformers' TV series.
Wendell Washer had a particularly long stint at Disney, working on 'DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp' (1990), as well as the sequel films 'The Return of Jafar' (1994), 'Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin' (1997) and 'The Lion King II: Simba's Pride' (1998). He also worked on Disney TV series like 'Bonkers' (1993-1994), 'Aladdin' (1994-1995), 'Timon & Pumbaa' (1995) and 'Dalmatians: The Series' (1997-1998). Later in his career, Washer mostly worked for Warner Bros. on productions like 'The Muppet Babies' (1985), 'The New Woody Woodpecker Show' (1999-2001), 'Baby Looney Tunes' (2005) and 'Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars' (2005). Wendell Washer was nominated for the 2010s Annie Award for Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production for his work on Warner Bros.' direct-to-video 'Tweety's High-Flying Adventure'.
' Mouse Warrior Comic' (Amazing Heroes #129, 18 November 1987).
Furry fandom
From the 1980s on, Wendell Washer was also a prominent member of the "furry fandom" scene, a subculture celebrating the funny animal genre in literature, art and entertainment. He was notably a contributor to the funny animal fanzine Rowrbrazzle, for which he drew the comic strip 'Piffles the Barbarian' and 'Zar'. He also illustrated stories for furry artist and fursuiter Bob Hill. Washer's art has also appeared in Amazing Heroes magazine by Fantagraphics. His last project was a planned children's book with furry artist Steve C. Martin in early 2022.
Later years and death
In the early 2000s, Washer developed the genealogy-themed cartoon series 'Gene Toons', which appeared online at ancestralfindings.com. Wendell Washer died in Panorama City, California in July 2022 from complications during a kidney dialysis. He was 75 years old.
'Gene Toons'.