Purcell, Steve, 1961-

Steven Ross Purcell (born July 30, 1961) is an American cartoonist, animator, game designer, and voice actor. He is a co-creator of the comic book series and media franchise Sam & Max and received an Eisner Award in 2007 for working on the comic books. The franchise has expanded to an animated television series and several video games. A graduate of the California College of Arts and Craft in Oakland, California in 1982, Purcell began his career creating comic strips for the college newsletter. He performed freelance work for Marvel Comics and Fishwrap Productions before publishing his first Sam & Max comic in 1987. He was hired by LucasArts as an artist and animator in 1988 and 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. Purcell collaborated with Nelvana to create a Sam & Max television series in 1997, and briefly worked as an animator for Industrial Light & Magic after leaving LucasArts. At Pixar, he co-wrote and co-directed the 2012 film Brave and developed a miniseries for the Cars franchise, Cars on the Road.