Russian Animation Director Andrei Svislotski, Key Figure At Klasky Csupo, Dies At 62

Animation veteran Andrei Svislotski died on Monday, December 19. He was 62.

Svislotski studied architecture and graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute in 1983, but then returned to school to study animation. He began his animation career in the late eighties at Moscow’s Pilot Studio, Russia’s first non-state-run animation studio after the fall of the Soviet Union. At Pilot he directed and animated series and commercials, and created short films such as Hypnerotomahia (1992):

He also directed children’s films, such as Formula 1:

Svislotski emigrated to the United States in 1992, and became a key figure at Klasky Csupo where he worked for the next 14 years. His work, as a director, storyboard artist, designer, and animator can be seen on many of the studio’s iconic productions, including series such as Duckman, Santo Bugito, and Rugrats, and features like The Wild Thornberries Movie and Rugrats in Paris: The Movie.

As animation director, he was nominated for an Emmy for Aaahh!!! Real Monsters. Other animation direction credits include the series Rocket Power, As Told by Ginger, and All Grown Up. He was also a sequence director on The Rugrats Movie and Rugrats in Paris.

Actor Tim Curry, who worked with Svislotski on Duckman and supported his application for an America visa, said of Svislotski:

Svislotski is an absolute master of his craft, an influential genius whose magnificent animation of the character whose voice I play in Duckman never fails to astound me. Every nuance of emotion, humor or satire that I put into the soundtrack is magnificently developed and almost magically transformed into actions and facial expressions of the animated character.

Since leaving Klasky Csupo, he had a robust career at studios including Wild Canary Animation, Brown Bag Films, Universal Animation, Disney Television Animation, and Vanguard Animation. Most recently, he was animation director of PBS’s Curious George, where he worked on seasons 10-15 and received an Emmy nomination for directing in an animated program.

As a storyboard artist, Svislotski earned on Masha and the Bear, Doc McStuffins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Peter Rabbit, and Miles From Tomorrowland.

Svislotski maintained a website with many examples of his films, drawings, and animatics.

Svislotski is survived by his wife Elena and son Kirill. A fundraiser has been set up to help support Svislotski’s family.