Kaws aka Brian Donnelly

http://www.daily-art.com/kaws-cartoon-world/

KAWS graduated from the School of Visual Arts in New York with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in illustration in 1996. KAWS briefly worked for Disney as a freelance animator painting backgrounds. He also contributed to the animated series 101 Dalmatians, Daria and Doug.

While growing up in Jersey City he started his artistic career with graffiti. Later, when he moved to New York City in the 90s, KAWS started subverting imagery on billboards, bus shelters and phone booth advertisements. These reworked advertisements were at first left alone, lasting for up to several months, but as KAWS’ popularity skyrocketed, the ads became increasingly sought after. In addition to New York, KAWS has done work in Paris, London, Berlin and Tokyo.

But only in the late 90s did KAWS begin to create the art which made him famous. He started to design and produce limited edition vinyl toys, an instant hit with the global art toy-collecting community. His work was a hit, especially in Japan, where this genre is well respected and widespread.

So all the information and picture are from the linked article above. When I first discovered Kaws, I only knew about the mouse, cross eyed, giant sculptures and it wasn't till I read this article that I discovered his history. I had no idea that he worked in animation, although I kind of suspected he dabbled in graffiti it kind of has that style to it. 

I think the reason he has managed to make his characters so successful is because of how much he understands the shapes of what's already out there. His characters mimic the silhouettes of Mickey Mouse. He's taken that feature and applied to his own work that makes it familiar and therefore will instantly be successful with the crowds. It's not ground breaking. It's not original. It feels like I've already before because of this reason. Therefore it's just okay. I think it's important to draw influences from your history and draw upon different areas of creativity but you can't take too much otherwise you can't put your name on it. That's what makes Hyungkoo Lee amazing because it barely looks like the original characters where as Kaw's work half looks like the original characters.