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Mark Zoeller is a two-time
Emmy Award winning artist who was born in Michigan. Many
find it hard to believe that the same hand that creates
these paintings has also drawn “Tiny Toon Adventures”,
“Animaniacs”, “Pinky and the Brain”,
and even “Family Guy”, to name a few.
After leaving an advertising
art studio in Chicago, Mark moved to Los Angeles and began
a successful career in animation. Having worked for all
the major studios including Warner Bros., DreamWorks SKG,
and the Walt Disney Studios, Mark has won two Emmy awards
for Individual Achievement in Animation, Storyboards.
“When you are hired
by a studio,” says Mark, “you are paid to draw
their shows. When I paint, you begin to see my range of
style. That is part of the talent of being a professional
artist. In high school, some of my greatest influences in
art were Norman Rockwell and Frederic Remington. In college,
my horizons were expanded to artists like Pierre Bonnard,
Mary Cassatt, and John Singer Sargent, as well as sculptors
like Henry Moore. However, most of my artistic influences
derive from music, the most abstract art of all.”
As a storyboard artist,
it is impossible to ignore the “Western”, which
is America’s own unique form of mythic storytelling.
Any classic story can be told as a Western. I don’t
believe the genre is gone forever. In fact, I predict a
comeback. Hollywood is full of people who would like to
film a western.
“I really enjoy creating
art that has personal significance for the viewer, be it
a spouse, children, a house, or anything else held dear.
If you want me to trace or reproduce a photograph, hire
someone else. While I may use photographs for reference,
it is more important for me to capture the spirit of the
individual. Each painting is preceded by a series of many
drawings, much like a concert follows many rehearsals. I
become so familiar with my subject in the sketching stage,
that most of my paintings do not have under-drawings.”
Mark shares his life with
his wife Kathy and their children, where they reside in
their historic home in the Hollywood Hills.
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