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Katie Rice said it wasn't until she saw John Kricfalusi's "Ren and Stimpy" cartoons that she knew how good the artform could be.
"She drew before she talked," Joanna Rice said about her daughter Katie Rice.
The 1999 Incline High graduate began last month working as a cartoonist with Disney television.
She has always wanted to be an artist and has always been interested in cartoons, Rice said in an e-mail interview.
"I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil," she said.
Although cartoons were in her life for several years, none of them captured her imagination quite like "Ren and Stimpy."
"She drew before she talked," Joanna Rice said about her daughter Katie Rice.
The 1999 Incline High graduate began last month working as a cartoonist with Disney television.
She has always wanted to be an artist and has always been interested in cartoons, Rice said in an e-mail interview.
"I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil," she said.
Although cartoons were in her life for several years, none of them captured her imagination quite like "Ren and Stimpy."
Rice was 9 when "Ren and Stimpy" came on television in 1990.
"I made it my goal to get in contact with him and try to learn everything he knew," she wrote. "I collected animation magazines and anything else I could find about him and his studio, Spumco."
At age 13, Katie got on the Internet and looked up her artistic hero.
"I e-mailed him and asked for drawing advice, and we've been friends since," she said.
Joanna said she remembers a time before they moved to Tahoe, when Katie talked her dad into driving by Kricfalusi's house in Los Angeles.
"He invited her, her two friends and her dad in," she said.
This led eventually to a job working at Spumco.
"I made it my goal to get in contact with him and try to learn everything he knew," she wrote. "I collected animation magazines and anything else I could find about him and his studio, Spumco."
At age 13, Katie got on the Internet and looked up her artistic hero.
"I e-mailed him and asked for drawing advice, and we've been friends since," she said.
Joanna said she remembers a time before they moved to Tahoe, when Katie talked her dad into driving by Kricfalusi's house in Los Angeles.
"He invited her, her two friends and her dad in," she said.
This led eventually to a job working at Spumco.
"Right now, I'm working full-time for Disney TV," Katie wrote. "Compared to working at Spumco, it's a much easier and less satisfying job."
She works as a character designer for a cartoon in development.
"I get to design and draw characters that will hopefully one day make it to the screen," she said.
Katie misses drawing for new episodes of her old favorites, Ren and Stimpy "some of which didn't reach the air because they were too controversial," she wrote.
She worked as a layout artist and character designer at Spumco.
"One of the things that was more fulfilling about my Spumco job is that there is a lot of creative freedom, and the work is much more challenging," she said. "Also, everyone else is as obsessed with cartoons as you are."
She works as a character designer for a cartoon in development.
"I get to design and draw characters that will hopefully one day make it to the screen," she said.
Katie misses drawing for new episodes of her old favorites, Ren and Stimpy "some of which didn't reach the air because they were too controversial," she wrote.
She worked as a layout artist and character designer at Spumco.
"One of the things that was more fulfilling about my Spumco job is that there is a lot of creative freedom, and the work is much more challenging," she said. "Also, everyone else is as obsessed with cartoons as you are."
For Rice, cartoon artists or anyone working in the arts should strive to improve constantly.
"I think people underestimate how hard it is to be a good cartoonist," she said.
Rice doesn't enjoy most of the cartoons she sees on television these days. But, she wrote, "I absolutely love the earliest Betty Boop cartoons from the 30s and Warner Brothers cartoon shorts from the 40s. My ultimate goal is to one day be as good as the people who made those."
Rice's mom said she is working on a new series, "Maggie." In addition, she is pitching her own cartoons on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network.
"It's not everyone that gets to live their dream at 22," she said.
To see more of Rice's work visit www.katienice@homestead.com.
Merry Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tahoebonanza.com or 831-4666, ext. 112.
"I think people underestimate how hard it is to be a good cartoonist," she said.
Rice doesn't enjoy most of the cartoons she sees on television these days. But, she wrote, "I absolutely love the earliest Betty Boop cartoons from the 30s and Warner Brothers cartoon shorts from the 40s. My ultimate goal is to one day be as good as the people who made those."
Rice's mom said she is working on a new series, "Maggie." In addition, she is pitching her own cartoons on Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network.
"It's not everyone that gets to live their dream at 22," she said.
To see more of Rice's work visit www.katienice@homestead.com.
Merry Thomas can be reached at mthomas@tahoebonanza.com or 831-4666, ext. 112.
