Marlo Meekins: Caricature as Character

Marlo Meekins is a legendary creature: the continuously and gainfully employed artist, illustrator, and cartoonist who’s worked on everything you love, but you still somehow haven’t heard of. Unless you’re into illustrators on Tumblr of course, in which case it’s hard to miss her distinctive line.

Hailing from the cluster of suburbs on the New Jersey side of Philadelphia, Meekins wanted to learn animation in college, but settled for illustration and design. That turned out not to be settling at all, as the discipline obviously informs her work and creative life. After school, she went right to regular illustration and character design for the studios, taught drawing and cartooning, and entered the world of competitive caricature. In 2009 she was named Caricaturist of the Year by the International Society of Caricature Artists.

Meekins spent a hot second working on The Simpsons but dropped the gig to join John Kricfalusi at Spumco, where she met her husband, director Nick Cross. Since then, she’s been contracted on all kinds of developing shows (including one for Disney), while still omnivorously teaching, drawing, and posting her work online.

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