Craig McCracken
Craig McCracken is an American animator, writer, and cartoonist. He created the Cartoon Network animated television series The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, as well as Wander Over Yonder for the Disney Channel. McCracken has previously served as an art director and storyboard artist for 2 Stupid Dogs and Dexter's Laboratory respectively. He has been married to fellow animator Lauren Faust since 2004. He is set to create and executive produce Kid Cosmic, an animated series for Netflix, set for a 2020 release date.
Personal life
McCracken began drawing at an early age. After he graduated from California High School in Whittier, California, he attended the California Institute of the Arts, where he honed his animation skills and met his classmate Genndy Tartakovsky, with whom he would occasionally collaborate throughout his career. During his first year, he created a series of short cartoons featuring a character named No Neck Joe, which were picked up by Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. While at CalArts, he also created a short entitled Whoopass Stew!, which would later become the basis for The Powerpuff Girls. Craig McCracken married animator Lauren Faust on March 13, 2004. Craig's wife Faust took maternity leave in mid-2016 to take care of their newborn daughter.Career
In 1993, McCracken was tapped by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons to be an art director on the Turner Broadcasting System series 2 Stupid Dogs, where he would also work with Tartakovsky. While McCracken was at Hanna-Barbera, studio president Fred Seibert began a new project: an animation incubator consisting of 48 new cartoons running approximately seven minutes each. Dubbed What a Cartoon!, it motivated McCracken to further develop his Whoopass Girls! creation, renaming it The Powerpuff Girls in the process. His new pilot, "The Powerpuff Girls in: Meat Fuzzy Lumkins", premiered on February 20, 1995, on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toon-In, and a second short, "Crime 101", followed on January 28, 1996. The first short to be picked up by the network was Tartakovsky's Dexter's Laboratory, which McCracken would contribute to in early seasons. McCracken's Powerpuff was the fourth cartoon to be greenlit a full series, which premiered on November 18, 1998, with the final episode airing on March 25, 2005. The show soon became a hit and has won both Emmy and Annie awards. In 2002, McCracken directed The Powerpuff Girls Movie, a prequel to his series. The film received generally positive reviews but was a box office failure.McCracken left The Powerpuff Girls after four seasons, focusing on his next project, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. It premiered with the 90-minute television special "House of Bloo's" on August 13, 2004, on Cartoon Network. He developed the series with wife Lauren Faust and Mike Moon. The show ran for six seasons, all directed by McCracken, and concluded on May 3, 2009. It also won Emmy and Annie awards.
In April 2008, he became executive producer of a new Cartoon Network showcase project called The Cartoonstitute. After 15 years of employment, he resigned from Cartoon Network and created Wander Over Yonder for Disney Television Animation and the Disney Channel in 2013. He is currently at Netflix creating and producing the animated series Kid Cosmic, set to premiere in 2020.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1993–1995 | 2 Stupid Dogs | Art director and storyboard artist |
| 1995 | Space Ghost Coast to Coast | Himself |
| 1995–1997 | What a Cartoon! | Writer, director, and art director |
| 1995–1996 | Dumb and Dumber | Character designer |
| 1996–2003 | Dexter's Laboratory | Director, art director, model designer, and storyboard artist |
| 1998–2005 | The Powerpuff Girls | Creator, story, executive producer, writer, storyboard artist, recording director, and director |
| 2004–2009 | Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends | Creator, executive producer, art director, character designer, developer, story, writer, storyboard artist, director, and story editor |
| 2007 | Diggs Tailwagger: Galactic Rover | Executive creative consultant |
| 2007 | Enter Mode 5 | Executive creative consultant |
| 2008 | Uncle Grandpa | Executive producer |
| 2009 | Chowder | Writer and storyboard artist |
| 2009 | Regular Show | Executive producer |
| 2013–2016 | Wander Over Yonder | Creator, writer, storyboard artist, director, story, character designer, executive producer, and additional voices |
| 2020 | Kid Cosmic | Creator, executive producer |