The death of animator Jim Smith, 70, was announced on May 3 on the Animation Magazine website; no other sources yet to prove that he is really most sincerely dead. Smith co-founded the groundbreaking indie animation studio Spümcø, which produced Ren & Stimpy from 1991-96 (Smith and partner John Kricfalusi left in a cloud of bad feelings and rumors). He also worked on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Ripping Friends, The X's, and Cans Without Labels. Smith named among his inspirations “Chuck Jones and Tex Avery. I was always into Disney before. Another real real big influence on me was Frank Frazetta. He was an oil painter who painted a lot of paperback covers in the sixties. I think he’s the greatest painter that ever lived. I discovered him at a time when I didn’t really want to be an artist… when I was heavily into my music. But I kept on getting those paperbacks of his and gradually came back around. And I decided to draw for a living!”
