Jim Kammerud (born July 23, 1960) is an American director, writer, producer and animator, best known for his work with

the Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

. Kammerud attended the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

in the mid-1980s. There he developed his cartooning style by working as an editorial cartoonist, as well as creating the comic strip "It's Working", for '' The Lantern'', the University's student newspaper. Also on staff at ''The Lantern'' at the time was Jeff Smith, later known for the comic book ''

Bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

''. After college, while still living in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, Kammerud and Smith formed the Character Builders animation studio. There, Kammerud began working on '' Rover Dangerfield'' and worked as an animator and storyboard artist for ''

Bebe's Kids ''Bebe's Kids'' ( ; also marketed as ''Robin Harris' Bebe's Kids'') is a 1992 American Adult animation, adult animated comedy film produced by Hyperion Pictures, Hyperion Studio for Paramount Pictures. Directed by Bruce W. Smith in his List of ...

'' as well as '' Space Jam''. He became involved with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

as sequence director for the additional animation in '' Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World'' and later joined to direct and design the new characters in '' The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea''. His next film as director was '' 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure'', when he also worked on part of the screenplay. His second film where he worked on the screenplay was '' Tarzan II'', in addition to producing the film, and his most recent Disney project, '' The Fox and the Hound 2'' is his first film without co-direction from Brian Smith. He also worked on ''The Aristocats II'', which has since been shelved after the decision to drastically reduce the number of direct-to-video sequels made by Disney. He has also done storyboards for many non-Disney animated films with Toronto-based animation/animatic studio House of Cool, including '' Gnomeo & Juliet'', '' Ice Age: Continental Drift'', ''

Escape from Planet Earth ''Escape from Planet Earth'' is a 2013 animated comedy-adventure science fiction film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment (now Mainframe Studios) and distributed by The Weinstein Company in the United States and Entertainment One in Canada, ...

'', ''

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

'', '' The Nut Job'' and ''

Rio 2 ''Rio 2'' is a 2014 American animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. It is the sequel to the 2011 animated film and the second installment of the ''Rio'' franchise. The title refers to the ci ...

''. In 2009, Kammerud was featured in '' The Cartoonist,'' a documentary film on the life and work of Jeff Smith, creator of ''Bone.''

Filmography

Notes and references

External links

*
Ultimate Disney Interview
1960 births Living people Animators from Ohio Film directors from Ohio American animated film producers American storyboard artists American animated film directors Walt Disney Animation Studios people Blue Sky Studios people Illumination (company) people Ohio State University alumni American male screenwriters {{US-film-producer-stub