Society of Illustrators

In January, I was booked to do a master class at Society of Illustrators called "Inside Bill Plympton's Head" (I don't make up these titles). I remember when I first moved to NYC, the Society was one of my favorite hangouts. In fact, I silently swore to one day have a piece of my art hanging on their august walls. So it was very satisfying to finally return as a guest lecturer.

It was a packed house with lots of fans that seemed to love my show. I did numerous live drawings of my famous characters plus a caricature of animator Dennis Dietrich. I showed the new cut of the "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger". They seemed to like the new ending. Yeah!
During the Q&A portion I was asked a question by famed illustrator Peter De Seve. I used this opportunity to promote his fantastic new book "A Sketchy Past". Definitely check it out, you'll love it.

Then a bunch of us went to the local bar to celebrate with Peter. I was joined by the wonderful illustrator Jenny Yip and Alexia Grace, who was one of my first illustrator friends when I moved to NYC. One of her claims to fame is that she drove all around New England with John Lennon, who apparently stalked her for quite a while.

Slamdance Film Festival

I've been going to Park City for a long time. In fact my first trip there was in 1989 with "How to Kiss" and that was the famous "Sex, Lies and Videotape" year that put Sundance on the map. The, two years later, I premiered my first feature, "The Tune", there and I got to meet and hang out with Quentin Tarantino. He knew more about my animation than I did!

This year, I was invited to show my short film "Santa, The Fascist Years" at the wonderful alternative film fest, Slamdance.

My short was screened before the feature "Down Terrace" by Ben Wheatly. This film had been picked up by Magnolia and it is one of the strangest, darkest, funniest films I've seen in a long time - a sort of sick "Sopranos" set in England. Another excellent film is called "And Everything Is Going Fine" - it's a documentary about Spalding Grey and his life leading up to his suicide, using only footage of his taped shows. It was created by his friend Steven Soderbergh, who couldn't be there but made an appearance via Skype.

I highly recommend Slamdance, send your films (shorts or features) to this wonderful festival. They really keep the indie spirit alive, and the festival is a great experience.

America's Greatest Caricature Artist, David Levine Has Died

In January I learned of the sad news of the death of America's greatest caricature artist, David Levine.

I can't remember when I first met him. Perhaps it was 25 years ago when I was making a living as a political cartoonist and caricaturist. I was one of many young artists influenced by his great style and humor - so I probably met him at some political or artist gathering, and he was always very friendly to me.

Apparently at one time he had ambitions to be an animator - in fact he once did an impromptu drawing of Goofy for me - (it wasn't bad!) So we bonded over animation.

I remember going to a Guernsey auction of all of Preston Blair's animation, back in the early  90s. (Blair is another of my personal gods), and I bumped into David and the brilliant Peter DeSeve - and we decided to pool our money and purchase a whole sequence from "Fantasia" of the alligator dancing to "The Dance of the Hours". I believe it was about 30 drawings. Then we decided to meet at his place in Brooklyn Heights and divvy up the drawings so we all had a continuous set. It was great fun because he got very personal about his art and creativity - he even opened up his caricature drawer and offered me a pick of any of the drawings. It was a tough choice, but I took the Jimmy Stewart.

I've just returned from the memorial for the great artist - and there I got to chat with Steve Brodner, Victor Juhasz, Arnold Roth and Jules Feiffer - and so many people referred to David as the greatest caricature artist of his generation, which I don't think is strong enough. To me he's the greatest American caricaturist ever - no one will ever surpass him. He's one reason I gave up caricaturing and moved into animation.

Annies Trip

My short film "Santa, The Fascist Years" got nominated for an Annie Award! The Annies is one of my favorite events because I can see everyone who's anyone in the Hollywood animation industry in one glamorous night. So I decided to do some meetings and make some appearances at the same time, maybe make a few bucks.

My first stop was Sony pictures where I pitched a couple of feature film ideas, "The Jester" and "Underearth", to Hannah Minghella. Fred Siebert helped set up the meeting and I think it went pretty well.

The next stop was at Woodbury College, a lovely campus nestled in the San Gabriel hills. The legendary Ric Heitzman met me - he's famous for designing all of the sets for Pee-Wee Herman's show. He's now an instructor at the well-known art college. I also did a quick masterclass at UCLA. Then in the evening I hosted a special screening of "Idiots and Angels" at the USC animation theater.

It was strange because right across the hall from me was the celebrated Russian animator Yuri Norstein. It was the battle of the indie animators - fortunately, my show was packed.

Then, later that night, my commercial agent, Ron Diamond, invited me out for a special dinner in Yuri's honor. All of the animation greats turned out: my producer Biljana Labovic, Bill Kroyer, Igor Kovalyov and Matt Groening. I got to sit next to Shane Acker ("9") and Mark Osborne ("Kung Fu Panda") and what's interesting is that they both complained about their troubles getting another project off the ground - what?? "Kung Fu Panda" was the most successful animated film of the year and he can't get another project? Weird!! We ended up drinking vodka pretty late. I walked Matt Groening to his Prius and we reminisced about our younger days in Oregon.

Continuing my odyssey in Los Angeles, I tried to make a few bucks by doing some masterclasses. I started Friday by doing a show at Nickelodeon Studio - with a good crowd and a great breakfast. Then I zipped over to nearby DreamWorks Studios. They have a lovely hacienda with a campus-like environment. I had a packed house there, and they seemed to like my show. I made some drawings, showed "Hot Dog", "Idiots and Angels" (a 5-minute excerpt), the "Cheatin'" pencil test (5-minute excerpt) and my new short "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger", and as usual I gave everyone a sketch. Then they invited me to a fabulous lunch, where I got to visit with old friends Ennio Torresan ("El Macho") and Sharon Colman (Oscar-nominated "Badgered").

Finally I shuttled over to the Disney Studios, where I repeated my show. However, I did do a large drawing of the "hubby" from my new film "Cheatin'" and it was really great, I hated to part with it. But they wanted to raffle it off to the animators at the studio.

Also while I was out in L.A., I did a long interview with Tom Sito and Ron Diamond for a book they're putting out about animated feature directors. I was also able to talk to a few people about the theatrical release of "Idiots and Angels". Finally, it looks like my film will be able to be shown all over the country. It's done pretty well overseas but I've yet to get a satisfactory deal domestically. Keep your fingers crossed and keep checking my web-site for new updates!

So finally it was the night of the Annie Awards, and I was all excited, mostly because I got to meet all the great artists and animators from the Mecca of Animation, L.A. Often referred to as the "Oscars of Animation", the Annies are my one chance to see all the greats of animation in one night.

My short film, "Santa, The Fascist Years" was nominated for best short film, and I like to get there early because there are so many people to talk to. First I did the red carpet, which is fun but a little embarrassing because nobody wants to talk to a New Yorker with only a short in competition. Then it was on to the cocktail party, where I got to meet the famous man behind Pixar's success, Ed Catmull, and Tom Moore, the director of "The Secret of the Kells". That is a fabulous movie that scored an Oscar nomination without a theatrical release. I figure next year maybe "Idiots and Angels" can slip in like "Kells". He's a nice guy and he's very talented. We all filed into the Royce Hall (on UCLA campus) for the awards. "Up" won best film and "Coraline" won four awards. "Santa, The Fascist Years" ended up losing to "Robot Chicken" by Seth Green.

I discovered that I was sitting in front of Chris Miller and Phil Lord, the two geniuses behind "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". Ironically, Chris Miller interned with me 12 years ago. Even then he was a very clever kid, except when he was sent to my tax lawyer and lost my important documents. He's come a long way and has a big career ahead of him. We chatted awhile, then his entourage carried him away. Another highlight was hanging out with the "Coraline" gang. Since I'm from Portland, I knew a lot of them from before, like Henry Selick, Mary Sandell, Claire Jennings, Mark Gustafson ("The Fantastic Mr. Fox") and Travis Knight.

Travis, who was nominated for best animation, is a super guy and he introduced me to his famous dad, Phil Knight. He's a great guy with no pretensions. He told me a story of the creation of the Nike Swoosh. Apparently he was teaching at Portland State (my alma mater) and walked past a girl in the art department and overheard her talking about needing money for her rent. So Phil offered her the design job for a logo for his start up company Nike shoes. She got paid $70 to turn his rough sketches into the world famous trademark.

Now you may think that she got ripped off but when the company went public she was paid a truckload of stock, which apparently she still hasn't cashed in. I think he said she's designing wallpaper now.

I recommend the Annies, it's a wonderful function and totally relaxed (unlike the Oscars).

"The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger"

I'm very excited because I've just finished a new short film called "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger". It's a very different film from my usual shorts for a number of reasons.

1.It's a children's fable
2.Its has a very different look
3.It has no dialogue or sound effects

It's probably best to discuss its origins to help explain why it's so different. The idea sprang from a drive I made a few years ago through the Oregon countryside. I noticed a herd of cows grazing on the grass. One cow was particularly intent on some serious grazing. It was like he actually wanted to make himself the perfect steak or the perfect hamburger. Voila! I had the idea for my next short film.

I visualized it as a sort of a fairy-tale gone bad, almost like "Ferdinand the Bull". I wanted to use a more child-like design and colors. So I went to the Vasily Kandinsky show at the Guggenheim and was amazed by the brilliant colors with bold black outlines seen on some of his earlier children illustrations.

So I ripped off Kandinsky! So what! I'm always ripping off artists I admire, I admit it. I then thought I might use a "farmer Jones" type voiceover for the storyteller. But the more I got into the storyboard, the more I realized that a voiceover would be superfluous and then when I began to think about the sound, I had the idea of using musical instruments for the animal sounds and even the sound effects.

As a kid, I loved the Disney film "Peter and the Wolf" and the way they used different instruments for the different animals. So I challenged my music team of Corey and Sharon Jackson to use their musical repertoire for all of the sound effects.

Another interesting quality about the film is the use of a sharpie for the finished art. In fact the field was quite small, a 3 to 4 field. Thus the sharpie line is very bold and kinetic. And of course my production team of Biljana Labovic and Kerri Allegretta did a masterful job with color and design.

I remember twenty years ago, after the surprise success of "Your Face" I thought "How to Kiss" would also be a big success. So I invited about a hundred friends and business associates to my loft for the world premiere of the film and showed it on my small TV. The film and premiere were both somewhat successful but for some reason I stopped doing that with my shorts.

Jump ahead to 2009 when I had my first year of the Bill Plympton School of Animation and as an instructional tool I made a short film so people could follow my work process. The class and I decided to gather for a drink after one session and went to a BBQ place to imbibe. The topic came up that this would be an appropriate venue to show "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger" or maybe even have a premiere to celebrate the film - Eureka! The world premiere event was hatched!

That place is a wonderful country western bar called Hill Country BBQ Market. They serve wonderful brisket, sausage, ribs (but alas no burgers). The big event was on March 2. We had over three hundred people (most invited by Facebook). My close friend and collaborator Maureen McElheron played some classic country songs ("Tumbling Tumbleweeds", etc) and Nicole Renaud brought out her glowing accordion and sang some fantastic French ballads. Then I invited the crew that worked on the film onstage - Biljana Labovic, Kerri Allegretta, John Holderried, Sandrine Flament , Celeste Lai, Judy Lee, and Che-Min Hsiao. Other celebrities showed up, cartoonist Mark Alan Stamaty, famed writer Richard Smith and "Ren and Stimpy" artist Bob Camp.

The "Cow" film went over very well with lots of applause but to me the surprise of the evening was that there weren't a lot of laughs. I guess the film is more of a visual and dramatic piece than a laugh riot. In any case, the film is quite popular and is setting the festival circuit on fire. If you get a chance to see the film, check it out. I think you'll like it.

Trip to Animated Exeter

My feature film "Idiots and Angels" is doing moderately well all over the world, selling in around ten territories. But there are two countries that I find almost impossible to sell to - Japan and the U.K. I don't know why that is. I know they both love animation but I always have a hell of a time trying to sell my films there. Perhaps my films are too adult? I don't know.

So I decided to visit "ole Blighty" to try and make a connection with the U.K. I took off one day in February after a 10-inch snowfall blizzard and worried that my flight would be cancelled because of the snow on the runway. So I invented a solution to clear off the snow (see sketch).

Well the plane took off on time, and I landed in Bristol and got a ride to Animated Exeter, which takes place in the Exeter Phoenix (an arts community center).

Susannah Shaw and her wonderful staff were very helpful in helping me with my shows. I started out acting like Simon Cowell in an event called "One minute pitch", where students presented their projects in hopes of getting funding. I tried to be fair and helpful and not too mean. There were some fun projects. Then I did a presentation of "Idiots and Angels" that the audience seemed to like a lot. The next day I did my masterclass, which are always fun, lots of students.

The next day, Claire Violet was kind enough to drive me down to the village of Plympton, where my ancestors came from. It's a typically quaint little town and we visited Plympton Castle, which my folks always claimed as theirs. Except it's basically a pile of rubble on a hill with two to six foot high mounds of rock and plaster. I guess I won't be moving in soon.

I then traveled to Bournemouth by the sea - a lovely town. I took a tour of Bournemouth University with Peter and Astor Parr, old friends from Annecy. I did my masterclass there to a full audience and they seemed to like the new stuff, especially "The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger" and "Cheatin'".

I stayed in a very posh Sea Cliff hotel by the beach, it reminded me of Santa Monica - but with very cold water (I had to go in!).

But unfortunately I couldn't get distribution for the U.K. if anyone can help me out, I'll give them a free drawing. By the way, what does "blighty" mean?

Animated Oscar Nominations

Ok let's talk about the best-animated feature Oscar.

As an academy member I must see all of the films. However I missed a few of them, like "Planet 51", "Astro Boy" and "A Christmas Carol". But I've seen all of the Oscar-nominated films. I first would like to complain about a couple of films that should have been nominated. "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" is a wonderful creative, imaginative film. Also I thought "Ponyo", by the great Hayao Miyazaki, should have gotten nominated but alas, it was a tough year.

As for the nominated films let's start with "Up", the Pixar blockbuster that is the odds on favorite for the gold statuette. I love all the Pixar films, and this one is excellent, though not my favorite.

Then there's Disney's "The Princess and the Frog", a retro 2D tale that's filled with charm and great music. Any other year, I'd vote for this film because it's traditional animation and also wildly entertaining, although the frogs are badly designed.

"The Secret of the Kells" by Tom Moore, is a real dark horse candidate from Ireland. I met Tom in Zagreb and I fell in love with the film. With absolutely no promotional budget it has an extremely slim chance to win the Oscar. But it's a feast for the eyes.

"Coraline" by Henry Selick is another of my favorites. It has a great style, imaginative story, and darker than usual Oscar nomination. But I loved it!

And lastly and least is "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" by Wes "The Quirk" Anderson. Not only is the story totally bland but also the style is very dull and anti-visual. I hated the character and background design.

Oscars

Ok - so I just saw the Oscars and I have some comments.

Hurray for "Up"! It's a charming film, with great humanity and heart! Although I was rooting for "Coraline." At least the "Fantastic Mr. Fox" film didn't win.

As an academy member, I got to watch all the shorts and docs and one of the best films was "Music by Prudence," the documentary about a hugely deformed girl from Zimbabwe who is the leader of a band - the music is so wonderful and her spirit is so positive, it broke my heart. I'm so glad the film won. But if you saw the Oscar telecast you remember the director took the stage to accept his award, and some fat lady grabbed the microphone away from him and started blathering away about nothing - she pulled a "Kanye West."

Apparently she was the lady who instigated the documentary and now she wasted her 15 minutes of fame - unfortunately, she's probably ruined her career forever - though maybe that's fortunate.

In the short animated film category, the Oscar went to "Logorama", a funny take on commercial trademarks. The film is wild and outrageous, but it must have cost a fortune - yet the digital graphics look very cheap. I was hoping Cordell Barker's wonderful "Runaway" could be nominated, because I felt it was the best film of the year, but no such luck.

And the weird thing was that the producer took home the Oscar and the directors couldn't even take the stage because of the academy rules.

Of course the big story was "Hurt Locker" by Kathryn Bigelow upsetting her ex-husband James Cameron's hugely successful "Avatar." Now, I like "Hurt Locker." It is a very powerful story with excellent direction and acting - but even though it's a powerful film, I believe it will eventually fade into obscurity while 10 years from now, "Avatar" will be an even more popular classic.

Tim Burton Exhibit

There has been a real explosion of Tim Burton mania recently. The head of the film department at MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) invited me to a private viewing of the large Tim Burton exhibition on the day it was closed to the public.

It was necessary because the crowds were so big, it was impossible to really study the art. And what art it is! From his earliest drawings to his most recent work, it's a wonderful overview of his career. In fact, there are some similarities between his work and mine. I saw early examples of his illustrated stories, his caricatures, gag cartoons and animation. Of course the similarities stop there, since he became a superstar and I'm still a struggling independent animator.

Some of the highlights are his very early films (very macabre). There were sculptures from a lot of his films, "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Batman", "Mars Attacks", but of particular interest to me were his personal drawings of monsters. He should really think about doing a drawn animated feature film of monster stories. The designs and artwork are so beautiful.

Then to cap off the Tim Burton week some friends of mine (they remain anonymous) got stoned, en masse, and went to see "Alice in Wonderland" but not the 3D version because my posse was afraid of headaches.

The film is a total smash hit. 117 million on the first weekend, so I'm surprised to report it wasn't the total delight I expected. Sure Johnny Depp was great and Helen Carter was terrific but it lacked a real sense of humor and pushed the surrealism to its limits. Take a look at the CGI scenes in Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Dr. Paramus" - now that's imaginative imagery. Maybe I'm jaded because "Avatar" was such a great leap of surreal storytelling and now I expect all films to take me on a magical trip. But the trip to "wonderland" wasn't so magical.

Cartoon - Page 47 of "Sloppy Seconds"

This is an idea that spawned on the streets of New York. Every day I hear firetrucks and police cruisers making a racket as they barrel through the crowded streets. They seem very macho, like they've got hard-ons, and they're on their way to a rendezvous - so that was the idea for this cartoon, which appeared in National Lampoon, and is one of my favorites.