A Studio That’s Animated in More Ways Than One

LOS ANGELES — Cartoons, comics, characters, repeat. Every nook of the Titmouse animation studio in Hollywood is filled with relics of pop-culture history and creations too obscure to name.

There are articulated action figures exploding off desks; plush loaves of bread stuffed into bookshelves; a smiling, shark-shaped guitar; and some equally friendly fungus-themed ornaments mounted like family portraits. With offices filled with artists in headphones, silently bobbing their heads; white boards crammed with inside jokes, sketches and work notes; and a 10-foot-tall sculpture of a guitar-toting Bigfoot in sunglasses guarding the parking lot, this is no average workplace, even by Hollywood standards.

The artifacts collected here may strike a chord if you watch late-night cartoons. The imprint of Chris Prynoski, president and owner of the company, is everywhere here. He and his wife, Shannon Prynoski, vice president and co-owner, moved here from New York and in 2000 founded Titmouse, a small startup.

The firm grew to a full-service production company well known in the cartoon world, with three offices and more than 500 employees. Titmouse has 12 series in production, including pilots, films, commercials and web promos, and work that has appeared on Netflix, Nickelodeon, Disney and others. It is probably best known for the cult hits “Metalocalypse” and “The Venture Bros.” — and for its out-there founder, Chris Prynoski, 46, with his trademark lumberjack beard, glasses and low-slung cap.

You will find his lair past a pair of arcade-era consoles — Asteroids and Pac-Man — and around a sweeping hallway covered by a black-and-white Travis Millard mural of a doglike creature eerily reminiscent of Yoshitomo Nara’s “Your Dog” sculpture.

Inside his office, you will see animation cels from “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” a 1980s animated show that achieved cult status, an original comic book page from “Dune,” a signed watercolor of singer George Clinton by Overton Loyd and a thrift store painting of Elvis in various stages in his career.

Prynoski’s own career began at MTV as a storyboard artist for “Beavis and Butt-Head.” Seeking more creative control, he and his wife struck out on their own with Titmouse, named for the bird and originally a purveyor of silk-screened T-shirts.

“It’s crazy,” says Prynoski, marveling at the growth and transformation as he walks through the office where you can see a photo of Roddy McDowall, shot between takes of “Planet of the Apes,” in costume but without a mask, and a 3-D painting of Bigfoot eating a taco. “I bought that one online because I love Bigfoot,” he said. “What’s cool about that is you can actually look at it in 3-D glasses.” Among the ephemera, there’s a Louisville Slugger baseball bat by his desk. More on that later.

Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Prynoski.