Monday, January 31, 2011

John Dorman, 1952-2011

Bad weekend. Word reaches us that production board artist JOHN DORMAN died on Saturday at the age of fifty-eight.

Since 1974 he worked for Bakshi, Ruby-Spears, Hanna-Barbera, Warners, Disney, Project X, Marvel, Fil Cartoons, Graz Entertainment, Crest Animation, MGM, DreamWorks, Sunbow, Spumco, Vanguard Animation, Toonacious, Hyperion, Earthworks and Adelaide Productions. The above drawings are from his website.

Services are pending; I'll post a comment when I have details.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such a loss... and much too early. A nuclear warhead of talent that -really- could not be harnessed. A good man of great character, I'm proud that he had considered me a friend. I'll remember him always.

Yes, please post details as to services or the like and though there may be those more qualified, please keep me in mind to speak at the Afternoon of Remembrance.

david scott smith

Eric said...

A very sad loss. The last time I saw him was a little over a year ago. He brought by his portfolio which had the boards of the kitchen sequence with Sebastian from The Little Mermaid. They were magnificent! RIP.

Frank Forte said...

This is very sad. i worked with John at Threshold Animation on the Bionicle reboot and he was so damn talented it was crazy. He just sat there and blew out these amazing storyboards--one after the other--non stop--then when the whistle blew--he was gone--back the next day for more. he had this great style that was part Alex Toth, part Jack Kirby and like something out of the old Warren mags. And he had all these crazy stories about the industry, Ralph Bakshi,--just his life in general was nuts. I fell real bad about it. he was a really good guy and would do anything for you.

Stephen Worth said...

I had a great time working with John on Ripping Friends. He had great stories to tell and did beautiful work.

Frank Forte said...

John Dorman art

Not much of his work exists online, but he did give me a few pieces that we were going to use in a book called Cartoon Concept Design. It was going to feature John Dorman as well as a number of very talented artists from the industry. Here are some of John's temp pages:

http://frankforte.blogspot.com/

Jonah said...

John Dorman was also the producer of Pirates of Darkwater Miniseries (First 5 episodes). He did a great job. He will be missed. RIP John Dorman.

Anonymous said...

any word yet on services. please email me at rjohnson2000@gmail.com and i will let his laker friends know. there are dozens of us who knew him in a very unique way.

Randy Johnson

Jeff Massie said...

Services set for Saturday, February 12.

Tom Roth said...

I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear of John's passing. I worked with him at Bakshi's in 1974 and remember him as one of the most interesting characters I have ever known. His lively personality was always bursting with energy and ideas and left a deep impression on me. He was a generous soul who you could always count on for help. He was always a very prolific worker, as well.

Unknown said...

I'm so sorry to hear this sad news. John was a big character in my life for many years. I'll never forget him. Karen Marjoribanks

Anonymous said...

John & I were schoolm8s & began our art careers together doing comics for Two Bit mag & stuff.
He was short so he LOVED to chop people down to size with extremely clever insults. God he was good at it! He could have won a chop fight with Don Rickles. =]
Loved the man & his talent was overwhelming from early on.
~Terry Davis

Jeffrey M. Howard said...

I worked with John for a brief time at Disney, and was saddened to hear of his passing. He was tremendously talented, boundlessly energetic, and always a lot of fun to be around. It's a great loss for the art form.

- JH

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