spaceships for these little movies I made with a Super 8 camera." He was an artistic prodigy and displayed his very detailed drawings at art shows. Marsh was raised in a large, blended family. As with Povenmire, Marsh spent his summers exploring and taking part in various activities to have fun. Conception While attending the University of Southern California, Povenmire started a daily comic strip called Life Is a Fish, and received money from the sale of its related merchandise. He eventually dropped out and started drawing people on street corners to make a living, until he was finally called by Tommy Chong to work on a short bit of animation in the film Far Out Man. Povenmire began to take up animation professionally, working on shows such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Marsh had become a vice president of sales and marketing for a computer company until he "freaked out" and decided to quit. His friend helped him put together a portfolio and enter the animation business. Povenmire and Marsh started working across from each other as layout artists on The Simpsons. The two bonded over mutual tastes in humor and music, becoming fast friends. They continued their working relationship as a writing team on the Nickelodeon series Rocko's Modern Life, where they conceived the idea for their own series. While eating dinner at a Wild Thyme restaurant in South Pasadena, Povenmire drew a quick sketch of a "triangle kid" on butcher paper. He tore it out and called Marsh that night to report, "Hey, I think we have our show." The triangle doodle sparked rapid development of characters and designs. Povenmire decided that his sketch "looked like a Phineas," and named Ferb after a friend who "owns more tools than anyone in the world." The creators based their character designs on angular shapes in homage to MGM/Warner Bros. animator/director Tex Avery, adding geometric shapes to the backgrounds for continuity. Pitching and pickup The writing duo's early attempts to pitch the show failed and, though they remained committed to the concept, Povenmire and Marsh began to drift apart after their work on Rocko's. Marsh moved to London and worked on shows including Postman Pat and Bounty Hamster. Povenmire began working on the primetime Fox series Family Guy and the Nickelodeon series SpongeBob SquarePants, always carrying a Phineas and Ferb portfolio for convenient pitching to networks such as Cartoon Network