by Jake Friedman

Gary Conrad has put his stamp on some of the most memorable kids’ cartoons shows since the ’90s. Now finishing up a four-year directing stint for Nickelodeon’s über-popular “Fairly Oddparents” and beginning a new project for Frederator’s “Random” cartoon series, Conrad shares his history, his mistakes and his advice.

JF: What was your career path post-college that landed you where you are now?

GC: Well, I graduated CalArts in 1984, and I was offered a job at a little studio in Cincinnati as an animator where I worked on commercials for three years. But I missed Los Angeles, and I was lucky enough to move back to work on a presentation for a Garfield movie, which did not sell. For I while I animated on several of the Garfield prime-time specials. I also worked on some of those later Charlie Brown shows they were doing over at Melendez, which was fun. Then they sold the “Garfield and Friends” series, so I moved onto that series as a storyboard artist. After a couple years they sold a show called “Bobby’s World,” so I was moved onto that show as a storyboard artist, and then I became a director and then a producer, which lasted for six years. When that wrapped up, I went to Nickelodeon as a storyboard artist on “The Angry Beavers.” They asked me to direct, and I moved into directing again. After that, I moved onto “Dora the Explorer,” which was brand new, as its director. From there I went to a little studio in San Francisco called Wild Frame Brain where I directed a series for them called “Mr. Baby,” and then I came back to direct “Fairly Oddparents” for four years. From that I moved on to “Danny Phantom,” and from that to “Random Cartoons,” where I am now. (Read the article)

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