I just found out that Jim Smith has passed away. I don’t know the details, but he was one of the key artists behind The Ren & Stimpy Show—his wild, expressive style helped define the look and energy of that era of animation. In spite of what you may think of series creator John Kricfalusi, Smith remained one of the only people loyal to him, even working on the doomed Cans Without Labels short.
The last thing Smith posted on his blog was a series of Batman and Superman drawings from March 2016. After that, he disappeared. To my knowledge, it was never reported on. I only knew something was wrong because his family members began leaving comments on old Ren & Stimpy YouTube videos, asking if anyone had information on what happened to him.
Now it seems he's passed away. I didn’t know the man personally, so I won’t pretend to feel a personal loss. But I do hope nothing horrible happened to him, given his years of silence and the fact even his family didn't seem to know what happened to him, and that he passed peacefully. As an admirer of his artwork, I do feel this loss on a cultural level. Smith was potentially the best draftsman on the first two seasons of Ren & Stimpy—perhaps the best seasons of what may have been the greatest comedy cartoon ever made for television.
Rest in peace, Jim.
