Tex Avery

Obviously this character comes to mind whenever Avery is mentioned.

Frederick Bean Avery, known better as Tex Avery (Or Fred) was an American animator, cartoonist, voice actor and director, famous for producing animated cartoons during the Golden Age of Hollywood animation. He did his most significant work for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, creating the characters of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Droopy, Screwy Squirrel and developing Porky Pig and Chilly Willy (Becoming the second most popular Lantz/Universe character, just behind Woody Woodpecker) into the personas for which they are remembered.

It is notable that Avery had made sure to steer the Warner Bros. house style away from Disney-esque sentimentality and made cartoons that appealed to adults as much as it did to children, with the usage of speed, sarcasm, irony and nonstop action. It was Avery who first made use of the forth wall breaking and slapstick gags for animations, which would later on carry onto many other cartoons. 

"In a cartoon you can do anything."

Needless to say, we have a lot to thank the man for, such as preventing other animation studios from becoming Disney clones (I'm just saying that we need variety, I'm not actually hating on Disney. IloveDisneyIreallydo), let Disney have the sentimentality and leave the silliness to them, and boy did Avery make full use of that (I could flood this whole post with gifs, but I won't… well, I will try), with really, really clever, ironic jokes and gags.

After sadly dying of liver cancer on the 26th of August 1980 at the age of 72, his work has been honored greatly by the animation communicates during the late 1980s animation renaissance. With influence seen in modern cartoons such as "Roger Rabbit", "Ren and Stimpy", "Animaniacs", "Freakazoid", "SpongeBob SquarePants" and even Genie form Disney's "Aladdin".

Many other forms of media have made reference to Avery's work, such as the first "The Mask" film.

Even before I had properly known about him, I remembered seeing numerous cartoons and even live action TV shows and films as a child that made obvious references to his animation style. It is needless to say that Tex Avery to this day remains a huge influence to all of us inspiring animators, and it warms my heart whenever I see anyone from the newer generations look him up and enjoy his humor.