William Wray

At age 10, his family settled Costa Mesa, California. Wray would later attend and drop out of Orange Coast College — to animate professionally during the day and study art privately weekends and nights with a retired Disney animator. He subsequently animated for Disney, Hanna-Barbera and Filmation.

Wray's approach to painting was influenced by Edgar Alwin Payne, Emil Gruppe, J. C. Leyendecker and other artists. He is a member of Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, Oil Painters of America and the California Art Club — and has participated in workshops with Ray Roberts, Carolyn Anderson, Matt Smith, Eric Merrill, Frank Serrano and George Strickland, in addition to his long-term study with Jove Wang.

Wray was the son of a lieutenant colonel in Army intelligence, and his family moved frequently, living in Germany, Vietnam, and Hong Kong. Wray often read comic books and watched animated cartoons. In 2009, Wray said, "I was always drawing because I was lonely."

In 1985, Wray moved to New York, doing comic book work for Marvel and DC Comics, while studying at New York's Art Students League. A phone call from John Kricfalusi sent him back West from the early 1990s through the 2000s to work on The Ren & Stimpy Show, Samurai Jack, The Mighty B! and other shows. Since 2010, Wray has worked with Rauch Brothers Animation on animated shorts for StoryCorps.

William York Wray (born March 24, 1956) is an American cartoonist, animator and painter widely known for his contributions to Mad and The Ren & Stimpy Show as well as his current focus on regional landscape painting — under the names Bill Wray for his animated work and William Wray for his paintings.