Never grow up - Lynchburg native living his dream as animator
By Liz Barry on Nov. 08, 2007
If Peter Pan lived in the adult world, he would have Tuck Tucker’s job. As the supervising storyboard director for the hit TV series “SpongeBob SquarePants,” Tucker’s job is to make sure SpongeBob is funny enough to appear on your TV screen.
“One of the prerequisites of the job is that you’re somebody who has never grown up,” says the Lynchburg native.
The Emmy-nominated cartoon series follows the adventures of a young sponge named SpongeBob and his sea creature friends. SpongeBob, whose signature outfit includes brown pants, a white shirt and red tie, lives in a pineapple under the sea.
He got to Nickelodeon, where he has worked off and on for 16 years, after moving to LA to pursue his dream of working in animation.
SpongeBob is his dream job.
The cartoon has a level of innocence that appeals to children and adults alike. But Tucker says the show’s creators cannot help but slip in some adult-level humor, giving the cartoon a subversive edge.
Because the show is so successful, Tucker and his colleagues enjoy generous amounts of creative freedom. Tucker likens his work environment to a McDonald’s Play Place with ball pits and twisty slides.
The network reins them in when the jokes get too ribald.
“That’s usually what we get busted for,” Tucker says
The Process
A show goes through six to eight weeks in the writing and drawing stages before it airs. Tucker comes in at the latter end of that process. His job as storyboard director is to draw a polished version of the show. Then he works with the producer and creative director to ensure that the episode lives up to comedic expectations.
His favorite part of his job—the animatic process—takes place in a dim room that resembles a tiki bar, with its palm-thatched walls, Polynesian heads and funky furniture. Here, the vocal tracks and images are married to create what approximates the show audiences see, only in still images.
Tucker works with the producer and creative director to tweak the show before it gets shipped to Korea for final production. If all goes well, Tucker leaves the tiki room with his face sore from laughing.
Before Tucker was a promoted to supervising storyboard director, he spent a year as a storyboard writer.
As a storyboard writer, Tucker’s job was to flesh out an episode with dialogue and jokes. He would explore possibilities through drawing and write the script afterwards.
“It was sometimes tragic, rarely joyful,” he says. “It was the hardest job I’ve ever had.”
One of the biggest challenges was creating fresh humor. He had to beat public expectations of what was going to come next. A lot of it came down to timing.
“You can draw a million funny poses,” he says, “but none of them work unless you have a good sense of timing.”
Tucker says he has an easier time writing for adult characters, such as Mr. Krabs and Squidward.
If Tucker could be any cartoon character, he said he would be Handsome Squidward, who will make an appearance in a future SpongeBob episode. He wouldn’t divulge anything more for fear of getting in trouble with the network.
So to find out more about the mysterious Handsome Squidward, stay tuned.
Lynchburg Roots
Tucker returns to Lynchburg every year to visit family and go fishing in the mountains. He graduated from Virginia Episcopal School and earned an art degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.
His mother, Gay Tucker, says her son’s work doesn’t surprise her, given his history as a practical joker.
For instance, when he was 12 or 13, he drilled a hole in the wall that separated his bedroom from his younger brother’s. At night, he poked his younger brother with a stick, pretending it was a ghost.
“I still have a hole in my wall,” Gay laughs. “But his brother didn’t think it was funny. I didn’t think I’d ever get him to sleep in that room again.”
His mother describes the young Tucker as an avid drawer from the age of 3, specializing in wildlife. And like most children, he loved cartoons. His mother remembers him spending hours watching “The Flintstones” and driving his Flintstone car – a miniature log on wheels.
Tucker says the old Warner Brother cartoons and Disney shorts from the ’30s and ’40s were his childhood favorites. The Bob Clampett “Bugs Bunny” shows were his No. 1.
His art teachers at VES nurtured his love of drawing. After high school, Tucker enrolled at Lynchburg College where he planned to major in biology. He ended up transferring to art school at Virginia Commonwealth University.
His mother is a painter, and his father, Bill Tucker, just released a book. His mother nurtured Tucker’s love for art, but did not encourage him to major in it because she knew what a difficult field it is to make a living in.
Tucker is one of the fortunate ones.
Still, the jump from Lynchburg in 1984 to hustle and bustle of LA was rocky.
His first night in the city, his car was broken into and all his belongings were stolen – including his entire animation portfolio. Tucker still managed to land his first job as an assistant animator for “He-man and the Masters of the Universe” with a studio called Filmation.
After He-man, which in retrospect Tucker calls painful, he bounced around from small jobs until he landed a breakthrough gig with “The Simpsons.” Tucker was a character layout artist for seasons two through six.
Lynchburg in LA
Tucker lives with his wife and daughter in La Canada, which he calls “the most Lyncburgy community” in the LA area.
He has a deep-seated love for the countryside, which he brings to his life in California. He owns a bird dog named Tucker and hunts regularly.
At the Nickelodeon studio, Tucker is known as “the hillbilly.” According to the Nickelodeon staff yearbook, Tuck Tucker “came from Virginia riding a mule with his beautiful daughter and wife.”
Tucker is proud of his small-town upbringing. He comes from a family of farmers, “a really noble tradition.”
Though Tucker’s job requires humor, he has a serious side. He says he is passionate about environmental issues, like sustainable farming, and hates to see development wipe out farms and countryside in Lynchburg.
Tucker might love his job, but he doesn’t spend all his time in Neverland.
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