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Who Is Ken "Mitch" Mitchroney ?:
Most of what made you laugh, smile or hang on to your seat during Pixar Studios’ Toy Story 2 is because of Ken Mitchroney’s work as senior story artist. Without Ken’s influence, Jessie the yodeling cowgirl would have been a nonspeaking cactus. Ken gave a face - not to mention a body, weapons, initial voice and personality - to Evil Emperor Zurg, the nemesis of Buzz Lightyear. If you laughed at the Jurassic
Park homage, or at toys using traffic cones as disguises to cross a busy street, you were admiring some of Ken’s work. If you were caught up in the drama and action of Jessie’s rescue near the end of the picture, that’s Ken’s cutting and staging.
Ken was part of the team which earned Warner Bros. Studios its first Emmy, for the notorious “Tiny Toons” episode “The Anvil Chorus.” He storyboarded the most popular episodes of Disney’s “Timon and Pumbaa” series, and co-wrote the “Beauty and the Wildebeest” episode. He also has boarded or done layouts for “Back to the Future,”
“Animaniacs”, “I.M. Weasel” episodes of “Cow and Chicken”, Fern Gully 2 and “The Pink Panther,” among many other shows. For Universal Studios, Ken met the challenge of designing the entire cast of nearly two dozen characters of “Hal Needham’s Stunt Dawgs” in less than 24 hours.
From his own studio, Last Laff, Ken produced and co directed a holiday special, “Coots & Critter: Santa’s Magic Book” on time, under budget, and designed to be aired in either a half-hour or full-hour time slot
without affecting the story line. Also at Last Laff, he earned a reputation for providing excellent free-lance work to major studios as sell as to the three primary American comic book publishers.
Ken was recognized early for his excellent cartoon style. While still in high school, he provided professional editorial cartoons for the Florida daily Lake Worth Herald, and designed and produced animated promotional spots for Burt Reynolds. He went on to earn a full scholarship in film making at DiBacco School for the Arts
before launching his career as a freelance and studio artist.
Career:
| 1996-2000 - Senior story artist and gag writing for Pixar Studios’ Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. Art services for the Baltimore Orioles (hand-picked by the owners), the Oakland Athletics, and Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, of Kustom Kar Kulture fame and the creator of “Rat Fink”. |
1993-1996 - Expanded Last Laff Studios to provide art services for “Back to the Future,” “Animaniacs”, “The Pink Panther”, “Timon and Pumbaa”, “Gargoyles”, Fern Gully 2, “Wayne-head”, “Mouse and Monster” and many other television series, and “Ren and Stimpy” comic books for Marvel Comics. He also directed several live action
children’s show
promotionals. |
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1989-1993 - Layouts and story board artist for Warner Bros. Studios’ “Tiny Toon Adventures” and co-developer of “Taz-Mania”; opened Last Laff
Studios in DeLand, Fla., and provided art for such titles as “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Mighty Mutanimals” for Archie Comics, and the
European version of “Tiny Toon Adventures” for DC Comics. |
1983-1989 - Layouts for DIC Studios’ “Beany and Cecil,” created, wrote and drew the “Space Ark” comic book series; and began drawing “Myth
Conceptions” for Apple Comics. |
In Development:
“Space Ark” television series; two baseball features, one
animated, one live-action; and a live-action bio-pic.
Skills:
Directing animation and live action; producing; storyboard; voices; character design; layout; writing story and gags; all aspects of comic book work; and putting and keeping a team together to get the job done.
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