James "Jim Grue" Sugrue is a New York-based freelance animator.
Most of his professional work has been for Titmouse, while he usually produces one independent short cartoon a year, all of which are batshit insane and messed up (not surprisingly, he was an animator for the second season of Superjail!). He's currently married seamstress Melissa Hurley.
View his blog here
, his YouTube page here and his DeviantArt page here.
Independent Shorts
Tropes associated with this artist and his work
- Affectionate Parody: "Fit To Be Squared" is one of Crocodile Hunter.
- Amusing Injuries: Plenty, in the grand tradition of Looney Tunes and The Ren & Stimpy Show. The worst offender of these has to be the poor, poor kitty in "Life By A Thread" who gets pummeled within an inch of his life when a loose thread on his sweater repeatedly gets caught on things.
- Big Applesauce: A few of his cartoons are set in New York, most likely because he lives there.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: Veest somberly grabs his crotch when he sees something that "makes [his] poor heart ache."
- Calling a Rabbit a "Smeerp": Veest Winri has some... creative names for certain earth customs, such as the "Erection of Disapproval" for the middle finger.
- Catchphrase: In keeping with his parody of Steve Irwin, Veest Winri has "Crispies!" in place of Irwin's "Crikey!"
- Descended Creator: He does all of the voices for his cartoons. He's actually quite good at them!
- Hurricane of Puns: All of Pal Stroker's lines in "Weather Or Not", which doubles as a Stealth Pun because it takes place during a weather report!
- Just Add Water: When Boohilda witches die, they can be resurrected with a potion that requires their wart. However, the person responsible for making the potion mistook a blueberry for a wart, resulting in Bluehilda's creation.
- Kick the Dog: A couple moments in "Life By A Thread" where the cat is laughed at when he's the most down. Happens literally at the end, when he rips off the flesh of a dog who laughs at him to use as a blanket.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- Pal Stroker is clearly a take-off on Al Roker.
- Veest Winri in "Fit To Be Squared" is an Affectionate Parody of Steve Irwin. It's even an anagram of his name!
- Pet the Dog: The cat in "Life By A Thread" had exactly one moment of genuine happiness when he cuddles his new sweater. And it's all downhill from there.
- Shout-Out
- Veest briefly turns into Bob Clampett-era Daffy Duck, complete with "Woohoo! Woohoo! Woohoo!"s, after accidentally eating a joint.
- Characters in his animations will sometimes climb out of their own mouths a 'la The Genie.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Veest's final analysis on Earthly behaviors:"In closing, despite their odors, coarse language and odd mating rituals, I've come to the educated conclusion than... earthlings are fucking awesome!
- Thermal Dissident: In Bluehilda, Slushy, one of a trio of bear-based villains called the "Unbearables", is a polar bear analogue who complains that it's too cold, even though it's the middle of July. In The Stinger, when the trio ends up in the North Pole after their bout with Bluehilda, Slushy complains that it's too hot.
- This Is Gonna Suck: When the cat in "Life By A Thread" is catapulted into a huge neon sign, he simply sighs, crossed himself and closes his eyes in anticipation.
- Toilet Humor: "Two Gentlemen of Leisure", who *ahem* "shoot the shit." That's not a metaphor.
- Wild Take: Frequently, like the scene with Bluehilda's jaw dropping and her eyes popping out of her mouth.
- White Sheep: Boohilda witches are evil creatures that love causing chaos and mischief. Bluehilda on the other hand is a good witch who wants to escape from the bad reputation her predecessors caused.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: The whole concept of "Life By A Thread": all the cat wants is to have a sweater to keep him warm, but a thread on said sweater keeps getting him into violent situations.
