Ren Hoek

Ren and Stimpy was one of my favorite cartoons when I was a kid. It was a little gross, but not enough to turn me off. I really liked how it pushed boundaries. It took things to a level beyond anything I had seen before. It dealt with weird, occasionally adult things that made me feel like I was watching something I wasn’t supposed to. But my favorite thing about it was the art style. It was so out there and filled with a strange inconsistency that I fell in love with. Extreme detailed close ups, weird stock music, expressionistic backgrounds, bizarre poses and movement, I dug it all. And it was a big influence on me as an artist. The creator of the show famously had a rule that he never wanted a face repeated twice. He was worried about consistency, just creativity. I didn’t know that at the time, but I could tell on some level and that idea left an impression on me.

One of my favorite things was when Ren would get really upset or go crazy, so that was my main idea here. I love how insane he gets. It can be pretty off-putting at times, and hilarious at other times. It’s unlike anything else you see in kid’s programming.