Glen Murakami


Glen Murakami is an American animator, animation director and producer best known for his work on Batman Beyond, Teen Titans, ' and '.

Animation

Murakami originally wanted to be a comic book artist. His friend from junior high and high school, Keith Weesner, got a job working on ' as a background artist and informed Murakami when they were hiring artists at Warner Bros. Murakami was given a storyboard test, which he failed. But seeing his drawing talent, he was hired anyway.
Working closely with Bruce Timm, Murakami worked as a character designer and storyboard artist from 1991 to 1993. From 1995 to 1999, Murakami worked as Art Director on ' and The New Batman/Superman Adventures.

''Batman Beyond''

Murakami was promoted to producer for Batman Beyond and won an Emmy Award in 2001 for his work on the series. In addition to producing, he also was credited for story on the movie, .

''Teen Titans''

In 2002, after a decade working on shows produced by his friend and mentor Bruce Timm, Murakami produced his first series without Timm, the Teen Titans.
In addition to producing, he was also character designer on the series. Murakami approached the show with an unusual design style, setting them apart from the rest of DC Comics animated programing. The show's style was dubbed Murakanime or "Americanime".
The popular series ran for five seasons, 65 episodes and concluded with the movie in 2006.

''Ben 10: Alien Force'' and ''Ben 10: Ultimate Alien''

Following Teen Titans, Murakami teamed up with writer Dwayne McDuffie to revamp a series for Cartoon Network's Ben 10 franchise. Murakami served as executive producer on ', which ran for three seasons and 46 episodes.
Immediately following ', Murakami and McDuffie revamped the follow-up series, .

''Beware the Batman''

In 2011, Warner Bros. Animation announced that Murakami would be executive producer on a computer-animated television series Beware the Batman.

Comics

Murakami illustrated the Star Wars comic Death Star Pirates - originally published in issues #16 through #20 of the Star Wars kids magazine in 1998 and later collected in Star Wars Tales Volume 2 by Dark Horse Comics.
He also drew a cover for Teen Titans Go!, and wrote and drew for stories in Batman Adventures and Batman: Mad Love and Other Stories, winning an Eisner Award for his work in the Batman Adventures Holiday Special.

Awards

Murakami's influences include Jack Kirby, Alex Toth, John Byrne, Gilbert Hernandez and Jaime Hernandez, and Dave Stevens.