Steven Ross Purcell was born on July 30, 1961. He is an American cartoonist, animator, game designer, and voice actor. He helped create the Sam & Max media franchise and won an Eisner Award in 2007 for his work on the show. The series later became an animated television show and included several video games.
Purcell graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, in 1982. He started his career by drawing comic strips for the college newsletter. Before publishing his first Sam & Max comic in 1987, he did freelance work for Marvel Comics and Fishwrap Productions. In 1988, he joined LucasArts as an artist and animator. He worked on several LucasArts adventure games, including the first two Monkey Island games, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and Sam & Max Hit the Road.
In 1997, Purcell partnered with Nelvana to create a Sam & Max television series. After leaving LucasArts, he briefly worked as an animator for Industrial Light & Magic. At Pixar, he co-wrote and co-directed the 2012 movie Brave. He also created a miniseries for the Cars franchise called Cars on the Road.
Career
Purcell began making comic books while he was a student at the California College of the Arts in 1980. He created comic strips for the school's weekly newsletter. The strips featured Sam and Max, a pair of human-like dogs and rabbits who work as vigilantes and detectives. Purcell drew the first strip the night before the deadline. After graduating in 1982, he worked as a freelance illustrator for a short time, including jobs with Marvel Comics, Chaosium, and on Steven Moncuse's Fish Police series. In 1987, Moncuse asked Purcell to create another comic book series to go with Fish Police. Purcell agreed and wrote his first full-length comic using Sam and Max. The 32-page comic was published by Fishwrap Productions in 1987. It included two stories: "Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple," a name Purcell found on a firework, and "Night of the Gilded Heron-Shark." Purcell also published another story titled "Night of the Cringing Wildebeest" in a 1987 issue of Critters. These three stories formed the foundation for Purcell's future work with Sam and Max.
In 1988, Purcell was hired by LucasArts, then called Lucasfilm Games, as an animator. He was later laid off when the project he worked on was canceled. He was rehired to create art for a game called Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders. Later, he designed covers for Maniac Mansion and the first two Monkey Island games. He also researched whips for the adventure game version of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. During this time, Purcell worked on animation for several LucasArts games, published three more Sam & Max comics, and created comic strips for LucasArts' newsletter, The Adventurer. The characters later became training tools for LucasArts programmers working with SCUMM, the main game engine used by LucasArts.
Purcell made versions of Sam and Max for new programmers to use in their office under Ron Gilbert, helping them practice their work. The characters sometimes appeared in the background of unrelated LucasArts games. In 1992, Purcell wrote a six-issue comic series called Defenders of Dynatron City for Marvel Comics.
After positive feedback on Sam & Max strips in The Adventurer and wanting to expand beyond Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island, LucasArts offered to make a game based on the characters in 1992. Sam & Max Hit the Road was created by a small team led by Purcell, Sean Clark, Michael Stemmle, and Collette Michaud. Purcell based the game on a story he wrote in 1988 called "On The Road." In 1995, Purcell compiled all published Sam & Max comics into a 154-page paperback called Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway. After working on cover art for Herc's Adventures and concept art for The Curse of Monkey Island, Purcell left LucasArts.
In 1996, Purcell worked with Dan Smith from Nelvana to create an animated TV series of Sam & Max. The series, The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, aired in 1997 on Fox Kids in the United States, YTV in Canada, and Channel 4 in the United Kingdom. Purcell wrote jokes for all 24 episodes and scripts for four episodes. Although some violent and adult content was removed for the show's young audience, Purcell was happy that the characters kept their complex moral nature. Some parents tried to stop the series from airing due to its content, and Purcell said he was glad the show "had managed to ruffle some feathers along the way." Two Sam & Max strips appeared in Totally Fox Kids Magazine in 1998, and others were published in Wizard and Oni Double Feature. In 1997, Purcell co-wrote and illustrated the Hellboy Christmas Special with Mike Mignola and Gary Gianni. After the TV series ended, Purcell briefly worked at Industrial Light & Magic on a film version of Frankenstein, but the project was canceled. Purcell believes some of the work from that project was later used in Van Helsing. While at ILM, he also worked on a Monkey Island animated film project, though it was never made. Years later, Purcell shared concept art from the project on his blog.
After leaving ILM, Purcell joined Pixar. At Pixar, he advised on the development of Sam & Max: Freelance Police, a sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road that began in 2002 under LucasArts. Purcell gave concept art to Michael Stemmle's team and helped create the game's story. However, LucasArts canceled the project in March 2004, and Purcell did not understand why. He described feeling "frustrated and disappointed" by the decision.
In 2005, LucasArts' license to make Sam & Max games expired. This allowed Purcell to take the franchise to Telltale Games in San Rafael, California, a company started by members of Stemmle's team. A new episodic game series, Sam & Max Save the World, was announced. Purcell helped design and write the game, as well as create its cover art. He described his role as "minimal" because the team was very effective. At the same time, he started a Sam & Max webcomic on Telltale's website. The webcomic ran for 12 issues and earned Purcell an Eisner Award for "Best Digital Comic" in 2007. Purcell also helped design and write Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space when it began in 2007. Through Telltale, he released two sketchbooks of his Sam & Max work and a 20th-anniversary edition of Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway in 2008. He later painted the cover art for Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island.
At Pixar, Purcell contributed to the screenplay and provided voice work for the 2006 film Cars. He also designed the character of the Screamin' Banshee in the short Mater and the Ghostlight. Purcell worked on scripts and voice work for three Cars video games, which led to his involvement with THQ's adaptations of Pixar films.
Personal life
Purcell was born and currently lives in California. He has a younger brother named David. In a 2000 interview, Purcell said he has been drawing since childhood and still keeps drawings he made when he was three years old. He explained that his creative work depends on what he learns. Purcell described himself as an "average" student but wished he had worked harder in some classes. After taking film-making courses at a junior college, Purcell joined the California College of the Arts to study fine art. He earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts there. While in college, he became friends with Mike Mignola and Art Adams. He mentioned that he is inspired by creative people like the Marx Brothers, Peter Sellers, and Monty Python, who turned their artistic ideas into successful careers. In 1993, during the development of Sam & Max Hit the Road, Purcell married Collette Michaud, who was also a lead designer on the project. They have two sons.
The characters Sam and Max were created when Purcell was young. His brother, Dave, first made comics about a dog and rabbit detective team. Dave often left unfinished comics around the house. Purcell, wanting to compete with his brother, would sometimes complete the stories by making fun of the characters and changing their names. This playful rivalry led to Purcell creating his own stories with the characters.
In the late 1970s, Dave gave Purcell the rights to use the characters. He signed a contract on Purcell’s birthday, allowing him to develop the characters in his own way. Purcell believes his brother has forgiven him for their earlier disagreements. Purcell also had a pet rat as a child and has shown interest in rats, which often appear in his artwork.