Ward Taylor Pendleton Johnston (born September 23, 1982 in San Antonio, Texas), known professionally as Pendleton "Pen" Ward, is an American animator, screenwriter, producer, director, and voice actor. Through his work for Cartoon Network, Frederator Studios and Netflix Animation, he is best known as the creator of Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors, as well as the co-creator of The Midnight Gospel.
Ward became interested in animation as a kid, and drew flipbooks and comic books in his youth. He graduated from CalArts, where he met and befriended J.G. Quintel and Alex Hirsch, who he would later work with on The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and whom would go on to also create highly popular animated shows in the 2010s (Regular Show and Gravity Falls, respectively).
His official site is here
. He can also be found on Twitter, Tumblr, and Twitch. The name of his website and Twitter handle ("buenothebear") was derived from a webcomic named Bueno the Bear that he published from 2002-2003; he later took the comics down because he thought they were "terrible".
Works Pendleton Ward has worked on:
- Adventure Time: Creator, writer, storyboard artist, & voice actor (Lumpy Space Princess).
- Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake: Voice actor (Ellis P.)
- Bee and Puppycat: Animatic editor, voice director and writer.
- Bravest Warriors: Creator.
- Broken Age: Voice actor (Gus).
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack: Writer & storyboard artist (11 episodes).
- Over the Garden Wall: Writer & storyboard artist ("Songs of the Dark Lantern").
- The Simpsons: Voice Actor (Couch Gag for "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus")
- Steven Universe: Writer & storyboard artist ("Familiar").
- Uncle Grandpa: Special guest writer & director ("For Pete, Love Pen").
- Random! Cartoons: Director (two episodes).
- The Midnight Gospel: Co-creator and executive producer.
- City of Ghosts: Writer, storyboard artist & director ("Bob & Nancy").
- Psychonauts 2: Guest animator.
Tropes associated with Pen Ward and his work:
- Deranged Animation: Off-model, simplistic, bizarre, and absurd animation abound in his shows.
- Reclusive Artist: Ward has described himself as a notoriously shy and private individual, and his public appearances and online presence have notably dwindled since stepping down from producing Adventure Time.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism: Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors are mostly on the idealistic end of the scale. The Midnight Gospel is a bit more middling but is insightful enough to still be an idealistic series.
- Thin-Line Animation: Ward pioneered the modern version of this style.
- White-and-Grey Morality: At least 90% of his villains are at least somewhat human and sympathetic. His heroes are flawed but still likable and easy to root for.
