History Creator / MattGroening

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Disenchantment}}'' (2018-present)

Matthew Abram Groening[[note]]pronounced "GRAY-ning"[[/note]] (born February 15, 1954 in Portland, Oregon) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator, known as the creator of ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Disenchantment}}''.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Marvin Monroe (Creator/MarilynMonroe), Milhouse ([[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Richard Milhouse Nixon]]), Barney Gumble ([[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones Barney Rubble]]), Arnie Pye (radio presenter Ernie Pie).

* ArtEvolution: Averted to Groening himself, who has has ''never'' been a great artist from a technical point of view and who's personal drawing style of people with bug-like eyeballs and huge overbites hasn't evolved all that much even after decades in the business. However, his collaboration with animators and character designers has led to vast visual improvements in works which bear his name.

* WorldOfJerkass: A trademark of all his works. In ''The Simpsons'', ''Futurama'', and ''Disenchantment'', almost everyone is a cynical, selfish jerk who's biggest concern is their own self-interests, and their attempts at sincerity tend to be morally backwards (though as mentioned above, there are also plenty of [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold selfish characters who want to be good deep down]], and occasionally some [[NiceGuy genuinely good people]]).

* AnimationBump: Compare the earliest ''Simpsons'' shorts, in which animators were simply tracing over his own crude drawings, to when it went to series and, much later, switched from Creator/KlaskyCsupo to Creator/FilmRoman for it's animation. Many of his projects have also survived so long that they eventually evolved from traditional hand-painted cel animation to digital ink and paint and finally [[UsefulNotes/ToonBoom 2D computer animation]].

** [[{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}} TV series]] (1999-2003, [[{{Revival}} 2007-2013]], [[UnCancelled TBA 2023?]])

* OffModel: Especially in his early work.

Groening's third animated series, a ''very'' self-referential medieval fantasy spoof called ''Disenchantment'', premiered on Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2018. Much like ''Futurama'', ''Disenchantment'' isn't as beloved as ''The Simpsons'', but it does have its share of fans.

** By ''Futurama'', he'd concocted a three-step method for character designs, in which he'd do a crude character design, have a professional designer do a more polished version, then take the polished version and draw it himself to "re-crude" it. The result is a much slicker 50/50 of Groening's drawing style and more technically animatable characters, which remained consistant throughout the series.

* NoPronunciationGuide: His surname is pronounced ''"GRAY-ning"'', not ''"Groaning"''. This is joked about in ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame'', when he angrily corrects one of his secretaries after she addresses him as "Mr ''Groaning''", but then dejectedly admits he's unsure of the pronunciation himself.