Kazimieras Gediminas Prapuolenis (born 1959), known professionally as Kaz, is an American cartoonist, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and illustrator. In the 1980s, after attending New York City's School of the Visual Arts, he was a frequent contributor to the comic anthologies RAW and Weirdo. Since 1992, he has drawn Underworld, an adult-themed syndicated comic strip that appears in many alternative weeklies. He is also known for his long tenure as a storyboard director and writer for SpongeBob SquarePants and work on shows such as Camp Lazlo and Phineas & Ferb.
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Career
Kaz's comics and drawings have appeared in many alternative and mainstream publications including Details, The New Yorker, Nickelodeon Magazine, The Village Voice, East Village Eye, Swank, RAW, Eclipse, N.Y. Rocker, New York Press, Screw, and Bridal Guide. He has continued to contribute to comics anthologies such as Zero Zero.
Kaz has also worked on several animated television shows including SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo, and Phineas and Ferb. He was the co-executive producer of Get Blake!.
Kaz joined SpongeBob SquarePants as a storyboard director and writer in 2001 during the production of the series' third season and was paired with C. H. Greenblatt. The series went on hiatus after production began on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Shortly before production on the fourth season began in 2004, Kaz was invited by his colleague and the series' newly appointed showrunner, Paul Tibbitt, to work on an episode for the fourth season but he was never contacted by Tibbitt again and joined Camp Lazlo after leaving SpongeBob. After Phineas and Ferb ended production, Kaz returned to SpongeBob in 2015 as a writer.
With Derek Drymon, Kaz co-wrote and storyboarded the pilot episode for Diggs Tailwagger, which was ultimately not picked up. In September 2006, Kaz left Camp Lazlo to work on another pilot for a Cartoon Network show, Zoot Rumpus, based on a character from Underworld. With Mr. Lawrence, he wrote the episode SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout and is currently working on the first SpongeBob spinoff, Kamp Koral. He also serves as a writer and outliner on the second spinoff, The Patrick Star Show.
Kaz also co-wrote the screenplay for the Sandy Cheeks spinoff film, Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie, alongside Tom Stern.
Personal life
Kaz lives in Hollywood, California, with his wife Linda Marotta. Kaz is of Lithuanian descent, his parents having immigrated from Lithuania.