Ghostshrimp

Not to be confused with ghost shrimp.
Ghostshrimp

Dan Bandit, better known as Ghostshrimp
Born Daniel James Bandit
(1980-08-14) August 14, 1980
Shutesbury, Massachusetts
Nationality American
Alma mater Pratt Institute[1]
Known for Illustration, Animation

Daniel James Bandit (born August 14, 1980), better known as Ghostshrimp, is an American graphic artist. His illustration work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and on many album covers, most notably the MF DOOM and Bishop Nehru collaboration NehruvianDoom. He is perhaps best known as the former lead background designer for the Cartoon Network series Adventure Time. He left midway through production of the fourth season to return to his freelance career, although he later temporarily returned to design backgrounds for the seventh season miniseries Stakes and several subsequent eighth season episodes. Finally, for the same channel he created in 2013 the pilot Mars Safari!,[2] which was released online as part of Cartoon Network Studios' shorts development program.[3]

History

NehruvianDoom album cover by Ghostshrimp

Ghostshrimp lived a self-proclaimed "Mark Twain childhood", and he spent most of his time in the forests around his home in rural western Massachusetts. When his family eventually moved to seacoast New Hampshire, the memories of the forests that he played in as a kid stayed with him and became hugely influential when he became an artist. Prior to moving to California to work on Adventure Time, Ghostshrimp lived in a cabin that he had constructed himself on Mystery Mountain in New Hampshire. This influenced his later ideas for the Land of Ooo, perhaps most notably with how he envisioned Finn and Jake's tree fort.[4]

In 2008, the producers for Adventure Time had been long fretting about the series' background art. Creator Pendleton Ward wanted his series to be "fully realized", with a greater emphasis on the backgrounds pieces.[5] The crew tried a whole variety of art styles for the background art, but none seemed right.[6] Eventually, Ghostshrimp became available, and he was soon approached about working on the show; former creative director Patrick McHale noted that he "was pretty much perfect".[7] Ghostshrimp was given free rein to design the world, and Ward told the artist to make the series look like it took "place in a 'Ghostshrimp World'".[5][8]

Adventure Time

Ghostshrimp had taken the job at Cartoon Network in order to save up enough money to buy a tract of land in Northern New England to build the Bandit family homestead and start a training camp for aspiring visual artists.[9] His plan eventually worked, and he left Adventure Time during production of the show's fourth season and moved into the forest of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The inaugural session of Ghostscout Training Camp lasted from August 1 to September 1, 2012, and Ghostshrimp continues to host the 30-day training camp every August.[10]

Ghostshrimp has returned to Adventure Time several times. The first was in March 2015, when he agreed to design backgrounds for the seventh season miniseries "Stakes".[11] According to his official Facebook profile, he designed around 70 new pieces for the show.[12] In September 2016, Ghostshrimp also revealed that he was working on new background pieces for several season eighth episodes.[13]

Art style

Ghostshrimp's art style is highly idiosyncratic. Fellow background artist Chris Tsirgiotis has described Ghostshrimp's art as "simple at first glance, but it’s actually very sophisticated and nuanced".[14] Tsirgiotis has also said that Ghostshrimp "is a master at his use of pattern. He puts it in just about everything he does."[15]

Filmography

Title Channel Year Role
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack Cartoon Network 2009 Writer and storyboard artist (4 episodes)
Adventure Time Cartoon Network 2010–2012, 2015, 2016 Background designer, and guest voice actor (as "Phil", "Wizard", and "Head #2")
Uncle Grandpa Cartoon Network 2010 Character clean-up ("Pilot")
Transmission Short only 2012 Special thanks
Mars Safari! Cartoon Network 2013 Creator, writer, and storyboard artist

Further reading

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Kahn, Ilana (October 29, 2008). "Interview with Ghostshrimp". Lost At E Minor. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  2. ↑ Mars Safari (2013) - Video Dailymotion
  3. ↑ "Early Preview of Ghostshrimp's New Project "Mars Safari" for Cartoon Network". Strange Kids Club. Retrieved 2012-12-26.
  4. ↑ McDonnell 2014, p. 208.
  5. 1 2 DeMott, Rick (April 25, 2010). "Time for Some Adventure with Pendleton Ward". Animation World Network. Retrieved July 14, 2010.
  6. ↑ McDonnell 2014, pp. 202–207.
  7. ↑ McDonnell 2014, p. 207.
  8. ↑ Ghostshrimp. "As Seen On Television". Ghostshrimp.net. Archived from the original on August 20, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ McDonnell 2014, pp. 208–209.
  10. ↑ James, Dan. "Ghostscouts". GhostshrimpGlobal.com. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ James, Dan (March 15, 2015). "New Adventure Time 8-Parter!". GhostshrimpGlobal.com. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  12. ↑ Ghostshrimp (May 16, 2015). "[Ghostshrimp discusses the new backgrounds for the Adventure Time miniseries]". Facebook. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  13. ↑ Ghostshrimp. "[Adventure Time backgrounds]". Instagram. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
  14. ↑ Tsirgiotis, Chris (November 20, 2014). "A Few Designs I Did for Adventure Time". Tumblr. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  15. ↑ Thomas, Paul; Tsirgiotis, Chris (September 25, 2015). "Chris Tsirgiotis Interview". Tumblr. Retrieved October 17, 2015.

Bibliography

External links

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