Kazimieras Gediminas Prapuolenis (born 1959), known professionally as Kaz, is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. In the 1980s, after attending New York City's School of the Visual Arts, he was a frequent contributor to the comic anthologies '' RAW'' and '' Weirdo''. Since 1992, he has drawn ''

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

'', an adult-themed syndicated

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

that appears in many alternative weeklies. He is also known for his long tenure as a storyboard director and writer for ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' and worked on animated shows such as ''

Camp Lazlo ''Camp Lazlo'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Cartoon Network. The series follows Lazlo, an anthropomorphic spider monkey who goes to a camp called "Camp Kidney", a Boy Scout–like summer camp in the Pim ...

'' and '' Phineas & Ferb''.

Career

Kaz's comics and drawings have appeared in many alternative and mainstream publications including '' Details'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', '' Nickelodeon Magazine'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', '' East Village Eye'', '' Swank'', '' RAW'', ''Eclipse'', ''N.Y. Rocker'', ''

New York Press ''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...

'', ''

Screw A screw is an externally helical threaded fastener capable of being tightened or released by a twisting force (torque) to the screw head, head. The most common uses of screws are to hold objects together and there are many forms for a variety ...

'', and ''Bridal Guide''. He has continued to contribute to comics anthologies such as '' Zero Zero''. Kaz has also worked on several animated television shows including ''

'', ''

'', and ''

Phineas and Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated series, animated Musical film, musical-television comedy, comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. The series originally aired on t ...

''. He was the co-executive producer of '' Get Blake!''. Kaz joined ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' as a storyboard director and writer in 2001 during the production of the series' third season and was paired with C. H. Greenblatt. The series went on hiatus after production began on ''

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie ''The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie'' is a 2004 American adventure comedy film, animated adventure comedy film based on the television series ''SpongeBob SquarePants''. It was co-written, co-produced, and directed by series creator Stephen Hill ...

''. Shortly before production on the fourth season began in 2004, Kaz was invited by his colleague and the series' newly appointed showrunner, Paul Tibbitt, to work on an episode for the fourth season but he was never contacted by Tibbitt again and joined ''

'' after leaving ''SpongeBob''. After ''Phineas and Ferb'' ended production, Kaz returned to ''SpongeBob'' in 2015 as a writer. With Derek Drymon, Kaz co-wrote and storyboarded the pilot episode for ''Diggs Tailwagger'', which was ultimately not picked up. In September 2006, Kaz left ''Camp Lazlo'' to work on another pilot for a

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

show, ''Zoot Rumpus'', based on a character from ''Underworld''. With Mr. Lawrence, he wrote the episode '' SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout'' and is currently working on the first ''SpongeBob'' spinoff, '' Kamp Koral''. He also serves as a writer and outliner on the second spinoff, '' The Patrick Star Show''. Kaz also co-wrote the screenplay for the Sandy Cheeks spinoff film, '' Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie,'' alongside Tom Stern.

Personal life

Kaz lives in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, with his wife Linda Marotta. Kaz is of Lithuanian descent, his parents having immigrated from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Filmography

Television

Film

Bibliography

References

External links

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Kaz Prapuolenis: You don’t have to live an intense life, Interviews with exceptional minds, Eximia
{{Authority control 1959 births Living people Television writers from California American male television writers American storyboard artists Animators from New Jersey American comic strip cartoonists American comics writers American comics artists American people of Lithuanian descent Artists from Hoboken, New Jersey American magazine illustrators American magazine cartoonists The New Yorker cartoonists People from Hollywood, Los Angeles Primetime Emmy Award winners Pseudonymous comics artists School of Visual Arts alumni Screenwriters from New Jersey Underground cartoonists Writers from Hoboken, New Jersey