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Bill Plympton

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Bill Plympton
Born (1946-04-30) April 30, 1946 (age 78)
NationalityUnited States American
EducationUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
Known forAnimation
Notable workYour Face
Signature

Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946) is an American animator, former cartoonist, director, screenwriter and producer best known for his 1987 Academy Award-nominated animated short Your Face. and his series of shorts Guard Dog, Guide Dog, Hot Dog and Horn Dog

Biography

Bill Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon, to Don and Wilda Plympton. From 1964 to 1968, he attended Portland State College, where he was a member of the film society and worked on the yearbook. In 1968, he transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Plympton's illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and weekly newspaper The Village Voice, as well as in the magazines Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse, and National Lampoon. His political cartoon strip Plympton, which began in 1975 in the Soho Weekly News, eventually was syndicated and appeared in over 20 newspapers. His distinctive style is easily recognized.

Plympton is the only animator ever to draw every frame for an animated feature film by himself.[1] Signe Baumane, also a director and animator, has been inking and painting Plympton's cels for many years.[citation needed] As of 2006, Plympton had created 26 animated short films and five animated features. He has also published a comic book, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton. Plympton usually publishes a graphic novel version during the production of each feature in order to raise money for the film itself.[citation needed]

Plympton, together with other independent New York City animators, has released two DVDs of animated shorts, both titled Avoid Eye Contact. His work also appeared on the 1992–1993 Fox comedy series The Edge; on MTV during the late 1980s; and on MTV's animated series Liquid Television in the early 1990s. In 1995, he contributed animation and graphics to a computer game collection, Take Your Best Shot.[2]

From 2001 to 2003, he teamed with Don Hertzfeldt for the touring "The Don and Bill Show", which played throughout the United States.[citation needed] In 2005, Plympton animated a music video for Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say". The following year, he created the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song".

The actress Martha Plimpton, a distant relative of his,[3] served as associate producer on Plympton's animated feature Hair High (2004), doing much of the casting. The movie's voice cast included her father Keith Carradine and her uncle David Carradine. Plympton contributed animation in the History Channel series, 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America, to illustrate the events of Shays' Rebellion.

His films: The Fan and the Flower; Eat, Your Face, Guard Dog and Santa: The Fascist Years were included in the Animation Show of Shows.

Plympton's 2008 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels, had no dialog.[4] The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 26 April 2008,[5] and was nominated in the feature film category at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2008.[citation needed]

In 2011, a documentary on Plympton's life called Adventures In Plymptoons! [6] by filmmaker Alexia Anastasio, was completed.

Awards

  • 2010 Delray Beach Film Festival for "The Cow Who Wanted To Be a Hamburger"
  • 2008 MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) - Cartoonist of the Year, MoCCA Art Festival
  • 2006 Special Career Award - Fantasporto Film Festival
  • 2006 Winsor McCay Award; Annie Awards by ASIFA Hollywood
  • 2005 2nd Oscar Academy Award Nomination for Short Animation "Guard Dog"
  • 2005 Life Time Achievement (Time Machine Award) SITGES Film Festival
  • 2001 Grand Prize for Short Films, Cannes Film Festival Critics' Week
  • 1987 1st Oscar Nomination Academy Award for Short Animation "Your Face"

Filmography

Animated features

Plympton and guest at the 34th Annie Awards, in Glendale, California.

Documentary

  • Adventures in Plymptoons! by Alexia Anastasio (2011)

Live-action features

Jenika and The Spoon (2009)

Animated shorts

  • The Great Turn On (1968)
  • Lucas the Ear of Corn (1977)
  • Boomtown (1985)
  • Drawing Lesson #2 (1985)
  • Love in the Fast Lane (1985)
  • Your Face (1987)
  • One of Those Days (1988)
  • How to Kiss (1989)
  • 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989)
  • Plymptoons (1990)
  • Tango Schmango (1990)
  • Dig My Do (1990)
  • The Wise Man (1990)
  • Draw (1990)
  • Push Comes to Shove (1991)
  • Nosehair (1994)
  • Faded roads (1994)
  • How to Make Love to a Woman (1995)
  • Smell the Flowers (1996)
  • Boney D (1996)
  • Plympmania (1996)
  • Sex & Violence (1997)
  • The Exciting Life of a Tree (1998)
  • More Sex & Violence (1998)
  • Surprise Cinema (1999)
  • Can't Drag Race with Jesus (2000)
  • Eat (2001)
  • Parking (2001)
  • Twelve Tiny Christmas Tales (2001)
  • Guard Dog (2004)
  • The Fan & The Flower (2005)
  • Guide Dog (2006) (sequel to Guard Dog)
  • Shuteye Hotel (2007)
  • Gary Guitar (2008)
  • Hot Dog (2008) (third in the Guard Dog series)
  • Santa: The Fascist Years (2008)
  • Horn Dog (2009) (fourth in the Guard Dog series)
  • The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger (2010)

Compilations (DVD)

  • Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 1
  • Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 2
  • Bill Plympton's Dirty Shorts
  • Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton (1992)
  • Mondo Plympton (2007)
  • Bill Plympton's Dog Days (2009)

Music videos

Commercials

[citation needed]

  • The F-Word Documentary (2005)
  • United Airlines "Signature" (2005)
  • Geico Direct (6) (1999)
  • Microsoft Windows '95 (1995)
  • Taco Bell (1993)
  • Nik Naks (UK) (1993)
  • Soloflex (1992)
  • Trivial Pursuit (3) (1990–91)
  • Nutrasweet (1991)
  • MTV public service announcement "Acid Rain" (1989)

References

  1. ^ The Brooklyn Film Festival: SANTA: THE FASCIST YEARS, June, 2010
  2. ^ Moby Games: Take Your Best Shot, September 17, 2000
  3. ^ efilmcritic.com (Feb. 28, 2005): Interview with Bill Plympton
  4. ^ Animation World News (April 10, 2007): Interview with Plympton
  5. ^ Tribeca Film Festival Film Guide
  6. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1691448/

Interviews

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