Lance Wilder is an American animator and longtime background designer on The Simpsons, joining during the show's second season and having done work on roughly 600 episodes. He also served as background design supervisor from 1993 to 2003 and worked as the background design lead on The Simpsons Movie. His other credits as a background designer include The Critic, Mission Hill, King of the Hill, Duckman, and Rugrats.

Lance Wilder
Born
Lance Wilder

(1968-05-07) May 7, 1968 (age 56)[1]
Lowell, Massachusetts, United States
EducationChelmsford High School
Alma materRhode Island School of Design
OccupationAnimator

Biography

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Wilder was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and raised in the nearby town of Chelmsford and graduated from Chelmsford High School in 1986. Various landmarks from the area where he grew up were later incorporated into his design work on The Simpsons, such as the Springfield Town Hall, which directly takes its design from the Chelmsford Public Library.[2]

He is an alumnus of the Rhode Island School of Design.[3] After graduating in 1990, he moved to Los Angeles and was hired as a background designer for The Simpsons immediately despite no previous experience in animation, with his first assignment being "The Raven" segment of the original "Treehouse of Horror" episode.[4] Wilder was responsible for the infamous "Squirrel House" design from "Treehouse of Horror V", which took him several days to draw only to be cut from the final episode.[5] He was also featured in the 2000 BBC documentary The Simpsons: America's First Family. He received an Annie Award nomination in 2013.

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1990–present The Simpsons Background designer (417 episodes)
Background design supervisor (255 episodes)
Animator (1 episode)
1990 Bart Simpson: Do The Bartman Background designer Music video
1991 Rugrats Background layout artist (5 episodes)
1994 Duckman Background designer (1 episode)
1994 The Critic Background designer (7 episodes)
1996 Quack Pack Key background stylist (2 episodes
background artist (1 episode)
1997 King of the Hill Background designer (1 episode)
1998-2000 Histeria! Background designer (17 episodes)
2000-2002 Mission Hill Background designer (8 episodes)
2007 The Simpsons Movie Background design lead

References

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  1. ^ "Simpsons Designer Shining His Light in Hollywood". Christian Broadcasting Network.
  2. ^ "Lance Wilder – The Merrimack Valley Connection to the Simpsons". Merrimack Valley Magazine.
  3. ^ "Lance Wilder: Life at The Simpsons Is Lots of Fun..." Crossmap.
  4. ^ "Faith in the Foreground: Lance Wilder". Crosswalk.com.
  5. ^ Reardon, Jim (2005). The Simpsons The Complete Sixth Season DVD commentary for the episode "Treehouse of Horror V" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
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