anyone to draw them for him . His talent grew with experience and he made up his own little comic books about life around him .
“ I would watch the cartoons and I would see the list of credits at the end of the show of which animation studio did what ,” he said . “ I wanted to work and figure out how they did these things . I wanted to be a part of it .”
After graduating from high school in 1972 , Vaughns went on to major in art and minor in English at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff , where he earned his bachelor ’ s degree . There , he said , he learned to be a serious artist .
“ When I started out going to university … they said you have to get away from cartoons . You have to learn to do things , the tried-and-true fine arts way , and that ’ s what I did for about four and a half years ,” he said . “ I learned serious painting when I was at UAPB , but I was hoping to one day learn more about how comic books and animated cartoons were done .”
After college , Vaughns worked as a graphic designer at an Arkansas TV station and drew editorial cartoons and comics for various newspapers . But his love of animation and comic art continued to grow and he decided to leave the South and head to California , where he focused on becoming a cartoonist .
“ I stayed with a cousin and , ultimately , I found all of those places I was curious about , like Hanna-Barbara , all of the studios that did animation ,” he said .
It took a little while to get his foot in the door with Hollywood ’ s animation studios . He joined the union , acquired books and animation samples to hone his skills , and absorbed knowledge from others in the business . Eventually , he found success .
“ I started out on a show called ‘ Hero High ’ which was about a high school where teenage heroes learn how to be superheroes ,” said Vaughns , who was in his mid-20s at the time .
He soon discovered a talent drawing storyboards , a sequence of illustrations that break down the scenes for a film or cartoon , shot by shot , giving filmmakers a visual outline for telling the story .
“ I worked for different studios . I freelanced . Sometimes I worked on staff ,” he said , “ and then I started steadily wanting to do other things because I did a lot of storyboards .”
According to his IMDb biography , Vaughns has worked as a storyboard artist or storyboard director on dozens of
Emmy winning cartoonist , director and producer Byron Vaughns , who spent years working for Hollywood animation studios , now makes his home in Meridian and can often be found at downtown events . Photo by Glenda Sanders . animated cartoons , including “ Alvin & The Chipmunks ,” “ The Smurfs ,” “ Care Bears ,” “ The Lionhearts ,” “ Angelina Ballerina : The Next Steps ,” “ Tiny Toon Adventures ,” and 49 episodes of “ He – Man and the Masters of the Universe .” He also worked on films , such as “ Hop ,” “ Madagascar 3 : Europe ’ s Most Wanted ,” “ Horton Hears a Who !,” and several “ Tom and Jerry ” movies . In addition , he is credited as director and producer for several shows , including 59 episodes of “ The Pink Panther ” series in the mid-1990s and “ Make Way for Noddy ” in the early 2000s and “ The Lionhearts ” in 1998 .
Vaughns was twice nominated by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for an Emmy Award for his work on “ Tiny Toon Adventures ,” one of which he won in 1993 . While working for Universal , he was nominated for an Annie Award , which honors achievement in film animation , for his work on “ The Adventures of Brer Rabbbit ” in 2005 .
“ It was nice ,” he said of receiving an Emmy Award . “ I was nominated twice . The first time I went to New York for the awards ceremony and another show won it instead . So I was like why should I come to this next year and do this all over again . So I didn ’ t go , and that ’ s when I won .”
Since he had moved on to MGM Studios by then , Vaughns ’ old studio called to ask how to get him the Emmy .
“ They called me up and said looks like you won one . How do you want to receive it ? And I said , ‘ Just mail it to me .’”
Kate said , despite his being nonchalant , he really is proud of his Emmy Award , which they keep on the fireplace mantle .
Besides cartoons , Vaughns also worked as a comic book penciler , inker and cover artist for DC Comics on a series titled “ Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam ,” which was collected into graphic novels .
“ I got into doing comic books for DC Comics and that ended up being a little more worthwhile because it ’ s got your finished version of your drawings ,” he said . “ They would give me a script and I would interpret all of this stuff myself as far as what is going on . I would do it in pencil form and in ink . That ended up being pretty lucrative .”
In 2017 , he worked on one of DC ’ s most unlikely crossover hits with Looney Toons , a special that featured Elmer Fudd having an adventure with Batman in Gotham City . A critical success , the Batman / Elmer Fudd special was nominated the following year for an Eisner Award , one of the www . meridianstar . com
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