James William Woodring (born October 11, 1952) is an American cartoonist, fine artist, writer and toy designer. He is best known for the dream-based comics he published in his magazine Jim, and as the creator of the anthropomorphic cartoon character Frank, who has appeared in a number of short comics and graphic novels.Since he was a child, Woodring has experienced hallucinatory "apparitions", which have inspired much of his surreal work. He keeps an "autojournal" of his dreams, some of which have formed the basis of some of his comics. His most famous creation is fictional—the pantomime comics set in the universe he calls the Unifactor, usually featuring Frank. These stories incorporate a highly personal symbolism largely inspired by Woodring's belief in Vedanta from Hindu philosophy. He also does a large amount of surrealist painting, and has been the writer on a number of comics from licensed franchises published by Dark Horse and others.Woodring has won or been nominated for a number of awards. He placed twice on The Comics Journal's list of the 100 best comics of the century, with the Frank stories ranked #55, and The Book of Jim ranked #71.
I'm not a freak. I'm not really crazy or anything. I don't think I'm really abnormal. It's just, like anybody else, I have interests I cultivate, and one of my interests is not getting too used to things. I've sacrificed a lot of things in my life in order to keep that sense of things being unfamiliar.
2
Every time I write something down I check it to see if it has that telltale glow, the glow that tells me there's something there. If it glows, it stays. Everything is either on or off.
3
When I started formulating the first Frank comic, I knew I wanted it to be something that was beyond time and specific place. I felt that having the characters speak would tie it to 20th-century America, because that would be the idiom of the language they would use, the language I use.
4
I've heard that Alfred Hitchcock said that by the time he was ready to shoot a film, he didn't even want to do it any more because he'd already had all of the fun of working it out. It's the same thing with these Frank comics.
5
Comics could use more creators with something worthwhile to say.
Art Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Fish Police
1992
TV Series storyboard artist - 1 episode
The Pirates of Dark Water
1991
TV Series storyboard artist - 1 episode
The Smurfs
TV Series story director - 36 episodes, 1987 storyboard artist - 24 episodes, 1989
DuckTales
1989
TV Series storyboard designer - 1 episode
Denver, the Last Dinosaur
1989
TV Series storyboard artist - 8 episodes
Superman
TV Series design supervisor - 1 episode, 1988 storyboard supervisor - 1 episode, 1988
Mister T
TV Series storyboard supervisor - 17 episodes, 1984 - 1985 story director - 13 episodes, 1983
Robo Force: The Revenge of Nazgar
1984
TV Movie storyboard supervisor
Turbo Teen
1984
TV Series storyboard supervisor - as James Woodring, 1984
Dragon's Lair
TV Series story director - 1 episode, 1984 storyboard supervisor - 1 episode, 1984
The Puppy's Further Adventures
1983
TV Series story director - 1983
Rubik, the Amazing Cube
1983
TV Series story director - 1983
The Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour
1982
TV Series story director - 13 episodes
Animation Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
Police Academy: The Series
1988
TV Series character designer - 14 episodes
Centurions
1986
TV Series character design supervisor - 65 episodes
Lazer Tag Academy
1986
TV Series character design supervisor - 1986
Rambo
1986
TV Series character design supervisor - 1986 / character designer
Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos
1986
TV Series character design supervisor - 5 episodes
Rubik, the Amazing Cube
1983
TV Series character designer - 1 episode
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Visions of Frank
2007
Video
God Hates Cartoons
2002
Video
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Visions of Frank
2007
Video story
The Pirates of Dark Water
1991
TV Series additional dialogue - 1 episode
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Lobster and the Liver: The Unique World of Jim Woodring