Paul Rudish

Life and career

Paul's father, Rich Rudish, created the character Rainbow Brite for Hallmark and was art director for the 1985 movie Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer. Paul went into animation, too, studying in the Character Animation program at California Institute of the Arts.

Rudish did character design and storyboard work early in his career, most notably for Batman: The Animated Series. When Cartoon Network started producing new shows as Cartoon Network Studios, he quickly expanded into new roles on series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and Craig McCracken. He wrote, designed characters, or directed art for episodes of series including Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and Samurai Jack. He moved up to directing art for the entire production of the 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars miniseries.

In 2010, Rudish earned his first co-creator credit for the series Sym-Bionic Titan, which he co-created with Tartakovsky and Samurai Jack writer Bryan Andrews. He wrote the series and also designed the characters and Sym-Bionic Units. Around the same time, he provided development art for the first season and second season opener of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

Rudish's next project saw him work with characters not created by him or frequent collaborator Tartakovsky: Mickey Mouse and friends. Rudish created, executive produced and directed a series of 19 three-and-a-half minute shorts titled simply Mickey Mouse. The series uses the character designs and personalities from the earliest Mickey, Donald, and Goofy shorts, even using lesser known characters such as Clarabelle. Many of the shorts use a classic story structure in which Mickey must overcome a series of obstacles to achieve a seemingly simple goal, though some highlight the more playful aspects of animation, such as Mickey's cartoony evasive moves in "No Service" or the ability of characters to detach and reattach their ears (complete with temporary deafness) in "Bad Ear Day". Despite the retro feel, the developers used modern animation techniques and tools. Further, they did update some elements, most notably the vivid, detailed backgrounds and super-smooth animation in fast-paced scenes. They also took stylistic risks, basing some episodes entirely in foreign countries. In most of these, the characters speak sparingly, if at all, while in "Croissant de Triomphe", set in Paris, the characters speak entirely in French. The first short was released on June 28, 2013, on Disney Channel, Disney.com and WATCH Disney Channel.

Awards

Rudish has received a number of Emmy and Annie award nominations, winning three Emmys and one Annie. He shared Emmy wins for Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour or More) in 2004 and '05 for Star Wars: Clone Wars miniseries with that show's production staff, also earning nominations for Dexter's Laboratory and Samurai Jack. In 2013 he won for Outstanding Short-Format Animated Program for the Mickey Mouse episode "Croissant de Triomphe". In 1997, Rudish shared an Individual Achievement: Writing in a TV Production Annie with Jason Butler Rote for the Dexter's Laboratory episode "The Beard to Be Feared". He also received Annie nominations in 1994 for Best Individual Achievement for Artistic Excellence in the Field of Animation for an episode of 2 Stupid Dogs and in 2003 for Outstanding Character Design in an Animated Television Production for The Powerpuff Girls episode "Members Only".

Filmography