Scott Shaw (artist)

Scott Shaw (often spelled Scott Shaw!) is a United States cartoonist and animator, and is also an esteemed conductor of the concert band at Mary Institute and Country Day School. Among Scott's comic-book work is Hanna-Barbera's The Flintstones (for Marvel Comics and Harvey Comics), Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew (for DC Comics), and Simpsons Comics (for Bongo Comics). He was also the first artist for the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comic. Currently he also maintains a regular column on the craziest comic books ever published, oddballcomics.com.

Biography
Shaw has been a fan of cartoons and comic-books since he was a child. Among his favorite cartoons were Popeye, Rocky and His Friends, The Ruff & Reddy Show, and The Flintstones. He enjoyed comics by Jack Kirby, Gilbert Shelton, Sam Glanzman, Bob Bolling, Harvey Eisenberg, John Stanley and Carl Barks, as well as comic strips by Mort Walker and Gene Hazelton. Many of these cartoons and comics went on to influence his own artistic style.

He began selling his artwork while still in his teens after choosing a career as a cartoonist. Throughout the 1970s he contributed numerous stories to various underground comix. He also found work as an inker and then as a writer and penciller for a line of Hanna-Barbera comics which were originally published by Marvel Comics. Eventually, in 1978, he was hired to the Hanna-Barbera staff and became layout supervisor and character designer on NBC's The New Fred and Barney Show (starring the Flintstones) SatAM cartoon series.

Shaw's work in TV animation includes producing and directing The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley for Hanna-Barbera, starring Martin Short and Camp Candy for DiC, starring John Candy. He was also awarded four Emmy Awards for his work as a story director/storyboard artist on CBS' Jim Henson's Muppet Babies (Marvel Productions). Scott has also worked on dozens of other cartoon series, including Krypto the Superdog, Johnny Test, What's New, Scooby-Doo?, Duck Dodgers, American Dragon, Teamo Supremo, Fantastic Four, Richie Rich, Popeye and Son, The Smurfs, The Snorks and The Bungle Brothers segments of Tex Avery's The Kwicky Koala Show and many others. Scott also worked on Disney's direct-to-DVD Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas and Mulan 2.

Additionally, Shaw has worked extensively in advertising. For nearly ten years, he was the Senior Art Director of Ogilvy & Mather (Los Angeles), where he co-wrote, co-directed, storyboarded and designed hundreds of animated TV commercials for Post Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles cereal. He also wrote and drew many print ads for the product, and has even designed and illustrated many of the cereal's packages.

Recently, Shaw has added to his résumé by designing well-received lines of action figures of Hanna-Barbera and Simpsons characters for McFarlane Toys.

For 10 years, Shaw wrote a column on the Comic Book Resources website titled "Oddball Comics" were he selected comic and magazine issues noted for their strangeness and provided facts and commentary on them. As of April 1, 2006, Shaw moved this column to its own website (also called Oddball Comics) that continues this format, expanded to include other "oddball" topics as well.

Trivia

 * Shaw added the exclamation point to his name when he was 12.
 * Shaw's favorite quote is by Hunter S. Thompson, the gonzo journalist: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." In a number of his underground comix works, he has used a Thompson inspired character: an anthropomorphic dog named "Pointer X. Toxin".
 * Shaw was a storyboard artist for Cro, Garfield and Friends, Mother Goose and Grimm, and Family Guy, all for Film Roman. He has also done storyboards for the Cartoon Network show Dexter's Laboratory and the Nickelodeon series Hey Arnold!.
 * Shaw is one of the original co-founders of the San Diego Comic-Con.
 * He has a son named Kirby, after Jack Kirby.