About Joseph Young, Jr.

Joseph Young Jr. is a nationally recognized cartoonist, filmmaker, producer, writer, and educator, who runs the Hartford Animation & Film Institute (HAFI). Young is the president of Joe Young Studios (JYS), a 17 year old multimedia agency based in Hartford, CT. Specifically, JYS produces community art programs, books, videos, animated projects, graphic art, and conducts workshops in the performing arts.

Young is the creator of the socially engaged Scruples comic characters and the writer and executive producer of Hartford’s first major homegrown book-to-film project, Diamond Ruff. In 1999, Young created the World’s Longest Comic Strip (also known as the World’s Largest Comic Strip) featuring Young’s Scruples characters. The strip is eight feet tall and 100 yards long. In 1999, he received the Daily Point of Light Award from the White House.