Wheeling artist lands in Hollywood
As he sat in class at Wheeling High School, David Tuber doodled in the margins of his notebook paper.
Now those doodles, which he saved and cut into long rectangular strips, decorate a wall in his Los Angeles home.
Tuber, a 29-year-old television animator whose best-known work appears on the Cartoon Network’s late-night “Adult Swim” shows, says he finds inspiration in those sketches when he’s writing and directing stop-motion cartoons.
Tuber just wrapped the second season of “Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole” — a comedy rated for mature audiences about Dr. Victor Frankenstein and others from an eastern European town who have access to time travel portals.Tuber#146;s also worked on two other adult-themed Cartoon Network comedies, http://www.adultswim.com/shows/robot-chicken/index.html">#147;Robot Chicken#148; and #147;Moral Orel#148; (where most of the crew hailed from the Chicago suburbs).
Tuber#146;s now drawing up plans for his own animated cartoon, which he can#146;t yet discuss but will be pitched to various networks next year.
#147;I don#146;t care about fame and fortune. I just want my cartoons to be famous,#148; Tuber said. #147;If I design the next Mickey Mouse, and no one knows my name, that#146;s fine with me.#148;
Besides drawing and cartoons, Tuber has one more obsession: Chicago.
The city#146;s skyline is tattooed on his leg, and another self-designed Chicago tattoo is on his bicep.
When he comes home, Tuber is constantly out and about, taking photos around the city, visiting friends, and stopping at his favorite childhood restaurant, Wa-Pa-Ghetti#146;s Pizza in Wheeling.
Many of Tuber#146;s future goals involve Chicago.
#147;Number one on the list is to somehow do what I do while living in Chicago,#148; he said. #147;Number two is to sing #145;Take Me Out to the Ballgame#146; at a Cubs game and be the lottery guy on TV with the ball machines.#148;
During his childhood, there was little doubt Tuber was going to be an artist and cartoonist. He remembers the exact moment he knew: He was 4 years old, and had just drawn a picture of a monkey.
#147;I remember, even back then, thinking (my drawing) was better than anyone else#146;s,#148; he said, laughing. #147;I wish I still had it.#148;
Tuber grew up on a steady diet of cartoons #8212; including #147;Ren Stimpy,#148; #147;The Simpsons,#148; and Tim Burton#146;s #147;The Nightmare Before Christmas#148; #8212; and he drew every chance he got.
One weekend, when his parents went out of town, he drew a caricature of his family across the living room wall. It remained up for years, until his parents sold their house in 2004.
#147;When they saw it, they said ... (long pause with unblinking eyes) ... #145;That#146;s awesome!#146; They were always very supportive,#148; he said. #147;Every one of my friends has a drawing of mine somewhere. Maybe it was on their arm, or on a napkin ... I just can#146;t help myself.#148;
At Wheeling High School, Tuber said he joined student council solely so he could design the group#146;s posters, banners and T-shirts. He was voted #147;best artist#148; and #147;most creative.#148;
Less creative were the low-paying jobs at video stores and warehouses he held down in his teens and early 20s before he could find a way to live off his art. To explain this period in his life, he borrowed a line from the movie #147;Wayne#146;s World#148;: #147;I have an extensive collection of name tags and hair nets.#148;
#147;I had lots and lots of jobs before I got to Hollywood,#148; Tuber said. #147;I never worked anywhere for more than a year. It scared me that I#146;d get stuck. I wanted to make sure I#146;d get to California one day, but if I started to get too deep into something, or too good at something, I was afraid I#146;d stay here.#148;
Dino Crisanti, Tuber#146;s stop-motion teacher at Columbia College, was so impressed with his work that he encouraged him to visit his sister in Los Angeles, who worked on #147;Robot Chicken.#148; Tuber flew out there, met the show#146;s staff and watched the production. He was instantly hooked and managed to snag an unpaid internship a few months later. It was his big break, but the long hours and lack of pay were grueling.
#147;I was literally starving,#148; he said. #147;But once I was there and doing work, I didn#146;t want to leave. It was so much fun.#148;
Tuber started out building puppets. Soon he was drawing story boards, writing and directing. One show led to another.
Even though his true passion is two-dimensional drawing, he says working with puppets on stop-motion cartoons is a creative job. It involves posing the puppets in the right position, taking a photo and doing that repeatedly with different movements until the images can be transformed into a full-length cartoon.
#147;No one understands how much work goes into blink-of-the-eye moments,#148; Tuber said. #147;You work a minimum of 10-hour days, plus weekends. Then you go home and you#146;re still thinking about it, and you wake up at 3 a.m. with ideas. But I love it.#148;
#8212; Jamie Sotonoff
Ÿ Dann Gire and Jamie Sotonoff are always looking for suburban people in showbiz. If you know of someone, send a note to dgire@dailyherald.com and jsotonoff@dailyherald.com.