Verne Andru
- Animation Department
- Director
- Writer
Verne grew up during the dawn of the television era where the wacky
worlds of Beatlemania and Bugs Bunny collided with his all too
impressionable psyche. Driven to dabble in music and art, it wasn't
until he met the crew from Captain Canuck Comics at a high school
career day that he found his calling. Pouncing on the opportunity, he
dropped by their studio to pester them with his latest drawings until
they had no choice but to hire him.
His extensive animation experience started as humbly when he was hired to paint animation cels on Blowhard, a National Film Board animated short. This was followed by assignments for Hanna-Barbera where he worked his way up to the position of animator. All the while he continued working in comics, illustrating stories for Phantacea, doing ink and color on Captain Canuck, inks for Marvel Comics and cover art for Charleton Comics Group, to name but a few.
While working at Nelvana on their animated feature "Rock and Rule," he became intrigued with the opportunities computers held for fantasy creators. Once that project wrapped he attended college where he graduated with honors as a Computer Systems Specialist. He later added Television Operation and Production to his academic credentials.
Given the state of technology in the '80s, it took another decade to catch up to Verne's vision. He spent that time teaching computer sciences as well as doing creative, design and advertising assignments in Toronto and Vancouver Canada.
Verne is the creative genius behind the avalanche of "Simply" products and services available today. It all began when he branded and launched Simply Accounting, a product that remains one of the best-selling accounting packages to this day.
Verne branded and launched the highly successful Pigtronix line of boutique musical effects pedals. His stylish industrial-design work on their flagship product grabbed magazine covers while his "Marvin the Space Pig" illustration proudly stands as the company mascot.
Verne has always been on the leading edge. He moved from traditional typesetting and pre-press into desktop publishing as the technologies were still being developed. He pioneered the use of digital paint for location and character color styling on "Billy The Cat" and "Mutant League" animated series work as well as the use of Flash for broadcast animation.
Today Verne continues to produce a range of content for print, web, and broadcast, including the highly successful Kid's Club commercial spots for Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA. And if this wasn't enough to keep him busy, his music has received a rave review in Guitar Player magazine.
His extensive animation experience started as humbly when he was hired to paint animation cels on Blowhard, a National Film Board animated short. This was followed by assignments for Hanna-Barbera where he worked his way up to the position of animator. All the while he continued working in comics, illustrating stories for Phantacea, doing ink and color on Captain Canuck, inks for Marvel Comics and cover art for Charleton Comics Group, to name but a few.
While working at Nelvana on their animated feature "Rock and Rule," he became intrigued with the opportunities computers held for fantasy creators. Once that project wrapped he attended college where he graduated with honors as a Computer Systems Specialist. He later added Television Operation and Production to his academic credentials.
Given the state of technology in the '80s, it took another decade to catch up to Verne's vision. He spent that time teaching computer sciences as well as doing creative, design and advertising assignments in Toronto and Vancouver Canada.
Verne is the creative genius behind the avalanche of "Simply" products and services available today. It all began when he branded and launched Simply Accounting, a product that remains one of the best-selling accounting packages to this day.
Verne branded and launched the highly successful Pigtronix line of boutique musical effects pedals. His stylish industrial-design work on their flagship product grabbed magazine covers while his "Marvin the Space Pig" illustration proudly stands as the company mascot.
Verne has always been on the leading edge. He moved from traditional typesetting and pre-press into desktop publishing as the technologies were still being developed. He pioneered the use of digital paint for location and character color styling on "Billy The Cat" and "Mutant League" animated series work as well as the use of Flash for broadcast animation.
Today Verne continues to produce a range of content for print, web, and broadcast, including the highly successful Kid's Club commercial spots for Swedish furniture retailer, IKEA. And if this wasn't enough to keep him busy, his music has received a rave review in Guitar Player magazine.