Television

‘Bob’s Burgers’ Character Designer Dave Creek Dead at 42 After Skydiving Accident

Dave Creek — the lead character designer of the hit cartoon series, Bob’s Burgers — died Thursday, January 7th, from injuries sustained after a recent skydiving accident, according to a statement from the show’s production companies 20th Television, Fox Entertainment, and Bento Box Entertainment. He was 42.

“We are heartbroken at the tragic passing of Dave Creek, an extraordinary artist who had been with Bob’s Burgers from day one,” the statement read. “He was not just an incredible talent but a beautiful person as well, and our hearts go out to his family, friends, and all his colleagues at the show who loved him and are grieving today.”

Creek was a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and worked as a freelance animator until he was tapped to join the Bob’s Burgers team. Creek had worked on the show since it first premiered in 2011, while his other credits include Central Park (also co-created by Bouchard), Brickleberry, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, and Charlie Brown. Since 2015, he’d been working as an adjunct professor in the Calarts character animation department.

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A number of members of the Bob’s Burgers creative team have shared tributes to Creek on social media. Director Simon Chong wrote on Twitter, “Today we tragically lost our Lead Character designer and friend, Dave Creek. “A wonderfully brilliant and talented man who I can guarantee designed your favorite character on Bob’s at some point. I’ll miss you, buddy x.”

Series creator Loren Bouchard shared a photo of Creek on Twitter while retweeting a message from supervising director Bernard Derriman: “We lost a great artist and a great friend at Bob’s today — our lead character designer Dave Creek. Here’s one of his many designs, Lady Tinsel, and one of his incredible treehouses.”

Wendy Molyneux, a writer on the series, wrote, “If you love Bob’s Burgers, you loved Dave Creek. He was an adventurous, funny, outgoing, amazing artist and one of the most incredible, interesting people I ever met. I often thought that Dave really knew how to live, and I wish he got to live some more. Rest In Peace, buddy.”

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