David Horvath


David Z. Horvath is an American illustrator, comics artist, toy designer and author best known for creating the popular Uglydoll characters as well as the world they inhabit, The Uglyverse, with his wife, Sun-Min Kim. The toy line began in 2001 with a single plush toy called Wage, hand sewn by his sweetheart and creative partner, Sun-Min Kim for David as a gift, and grew into the brand.
Kim and Horvath were later married. Today they live in Los Angeles and have two kids: a daughter and a son.
Along with a plush Uglydoll line, he is also the author and illustrator of 12 Uglydoll books, including the four "Ugly Guides" and a series of comic books, and the Bossy Bear series of children’s books. His books have been reprinted in Korean, Japanese, and Spanish.

Education

Horvath attended Parsons: The New School For Design.

Characters

David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim are the creators of multiple characters and toy lines including:
  • Uglydolls
  • Bossy Bear, Bissy Bear, and Turtle
  • Crocadoca
  • Noupa
  • Littlebony
  • Choco and Minty
  • Roller the Reindeer
  • Dunnys with Kidrobot
  • Kaiju including:
  • Super Puncher
  • Power Mister
  • Pounda and Chu Chu
  • My Friend Dave
Noupa is a heroic garbage man who organizes a small underground movement against the evils of Super 7.5 robots in a struggle of nature VS commerce. The Noupa world includes 21 characters. In the early 2000s, Flying Cat produced these 21 characters as vinyl figures which were distributed by Critterbox. Five of the figures were limited releases exclusive to toy shows. Collectors refer to the entire series of characters as "Noupa."
The couple also has the intellectual property of Spider Boom, although the latter is a solo project by Kim.

Adaptations

An UglyDolls animated film was released by STX Entertainment on May 3, 2019 to negative reviews.

''Bossy Bear'' TV series

In March 2022, a children's 2D-animated series titled Bossy Bear was announced for Nickelodeon. Aimed at preschoolers, the series premiered on March 6, 2023 with an initial 30 episode order.

Awards

Publications

  • How to Draw Ugly
  • Bossy Bear
  • The UglyDoll Ugly Guide #1: To the Uglyverse
  • The UglyDoll Ugly Guide #2: To Things That Go and Things That Should Go But Don't
  • The UglyDoll Ugly Guide #3: To Being Alive and Staying That Way
  • Just Like Bossy Bear
  • Chilly Chilly Ice-Bat
  • 1 2 3 4 U
  • ABC U Later
  • The UglyDoll Ugly Guide #4: To Eating Out and Keeping It Down
  • Ugly Colors
  • Babo's Cookie Problem
  • What Dat?
  • Uglydoll: SHHHHHHH Comic Book
  • Uglydoll: Eat Dat! Comic Book
  • Uglydoll: Goin' Places Comic Book