639 - Ian Jones-Quartey

Your new hero is the man responsible for an entire world of heroes from OK KO! on Cartoon Network, Ian Jones-Quartey. Since his hand could hold a pencil and his head could form a question he has been learning, growing, and using all of that information to create anything and everything he could share with other people. His unquenchable desire to create has put him behind such projects as Adventure Time and Steven Universe with titles next to his name like writer, animator, storyboard artist, and voice actor. With an infectiously positive outlook and a boundless imagination, Ian now finds himself at the helm of OK KO! creating a safe escape for kids to find the hero within themselves and face the world confidently. It's time you do the same, so let go of all that baggage you've been lugging around and take a step back into the magic of your youth on today's Adventure In Design. Maybe you'll start to feel like everyday is your birthday too!

Talking Points

• A self-initiated project that was a refinement of the work you've been putting in since your pre-tween days. 
• Fascination, frequency, and follow through. 
• Getting the permission to evolve in your craft. 
• Animated shorts on your own time that are filled with the fun of creation and constant reinvention. 
• OK KO is Ian ideas on overdrive on the fly. 
• Pendleton Ward expands on what joke telling can be. 
• Keeping creative success in your hands whether the limelight is on you or not. 
• Awash in information pre and post internet. 
• If there's a problem you can solve it. If there's something you don't know you can learn about it. 
• Consistency over accuracy in storytelling and overcoming the naysayers. 

Circle Of Trust Talking Points

• OK KO arrives on Cartoon Network and shows how everyone can be that hero without any cosmic intervention. 
• Kid First goals and living your life in the margins. 
• The concept of the sublime that draws your audience into a larger universe they invent in your head. 
• Keeping cartoons safe.
• Capturing the creative process and sharing it with people who can keep building off whatever you put out into the world. 
• The unbridled love for making things with an open ended idea of being creative. 
• Adults are (kind of) ruined people. Kids are still open to the fun of life. 

You need more of these positive creation vibes? Of course you do and this Paul Frank interview is just that and more. His perspective on creation and the fun behind work runs parallel with Ian's and it can sure be infectious.

If you're constantly pumping out idea after idea then eventually you might find yourself in the office of one of these movers and shakers who know how to turn your art into the entertainment that everyone can enjoy.

William Stout has that same dexterity in creating wonder as Ian does. From rock and roll album covers to imagineering with Disney to toy deals form Master Of The Universe and thats just the start. Meet the man who helped inspire Jurassic Park.