Bill Plympton

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Bill Plympton
9.16.13BillPlymptonByLuigiNovi1.jpg
Plympton in September 2013
Born (1946-04-30) April 30, 1946 (age 78)
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Nationality American
Education Portland State University
School of Visual Arts
Known for Animation
Notable work Your Face, Idiots and Angels, Guard Dog, Cheatin', The Tune

Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946)[1] is an American animator, graphic designer, cartoonist, and filmmaker 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.

Early life

Bill Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Wilda Jean (Jerman) and Donald F. Plympton,[2][3] and was raised on a farm in nearby Oregon City, with five siblings.[1] From 1964 to 1968, he studied Graphic Design at Portland State University, where he was a member of the film society and worked on the yearbook. In 1968, he transferred to the School of Visual Arts[2] in New York City, where he majored in cartooning. He graduated from SVA in 1969.[4]

Career

Plympton's illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and the 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 and guest at the 34th Annie Awards, in Glendale, California

As of 2012, Plympton had created over 40 animated short films and six animated features. He has also published a comic book, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton.

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.[5]

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,[6] 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.

A high point of the 2007 Platform International was the Abstract Against Funny face off between Plympton and Joanna Priestley. The Oregon Cartoon Institute covered the event and interviewed Plympton about it.

Plympton's 2008 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels[7] presented by Terry Gilliam, had no dialogue.[8] The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 26 April 2008,[9] and won a Special Distinction prize in the feature film category at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2008.[citation needed]

In 2011, Alexia Anastasio completed a documentary on Plympton's life, Adventures In Plymptoons!,[10] released in September 2012 direct-to-DVD and on video-on-demand.[11]

In 2011, Plympton collaborated with child film critic Perry Chen on Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest, a 2011 short animated film directed by Kevin Sean Michaels, about actress and Holocaust survivor Ingrid Pitt.[12]

Bill Plympton animated the opening couch gag for the Simpsons episodes "Beware My Cheating Bart" in 2012, "Black Eyed, Please" in 2013 and "Married to the Blob" in 2014.

Personal life

On December 23, 2011, Plympton married animator/artist/illustrator Sandrine Flament at his sister's house in Oregon.[13][14]

Awards

Filmography

Animated features

Documentaries

  • Fuck (2005; provided animated sequences)
  • Adventures in Plymptoons! by Alexia Anastasio (2011)

Live-action features

Animated shorts

Source unless otherwise noted:[18] Title, Year, Running Time in Minutes and Seconds

  • Lucas the Ear of Corn (1977; 4:00)
  • Boomtown (1985; 6:00)
  • Your Face (1987; 3:10)
  • Love in the Fast Lane (1987; 3:00)
  • Drawing Lesson #2 (1988; 6:00)
  • One of Those Days (1988: 7:50)
  • How to Kiss (1989; 6:35)
  • 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989; 5:00)
  • Plymptoons (1990; 6:45)
  • Tango Schmango (1990)
  • Dig My Do (1990; 4:00)
  • The Wise Man (1990: 4:30)
  • Push Comes to Shove (1991; 6:30)
  • Draw (1993; 2:00)
  • Faded Roads (1994; 2:30)
  • Nosehair (1994; 7:00)
  • How to Make Love to a Woman (1995; 5:00)
  • Smell the Flowers (1996; 2:00)
  • Boney D (1996; 3:00)
  • Plympmania (1996; 8:00)
  • Sex & Violence (1997; 8:00)
  • The Exciting Life of a Tree (1998; 7:00)
  • More Sex & Violence (1998; 7;00)
  • Surprise Cinema (1999; 7:00)
  • Life (1999, 6:10) (presenter, animator)
  • Can't Drag Race with Jesus (2000; 2:00)
  • Eat (2001; 9:00)
  • Parking (2001; 5:22)
  • 12 Tiny Christmas Tales (2001)[19]
  • Guard Dog (2004; 5:00)
  • The Fan and The Flower (2005; 7:10)
  • Guide Dog (2006; 5:45) (sequel to Guard Dog)
  • Shuteye Hotel (2007; 7:00)
  • Hot Dog (2008) (third in the Guard Dog series)
  • Santa: The Fascist Years (2009)
  • Horn Dog (2009) (fourth in the Guard Dog series)
  • The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (2010)
  • The Simpsons couch gags (s23e18 and s24e15)"" (2012)[citation needed]
  • "ABCs of Death 2" (segment-H is for Head Games)

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]

References

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  3. http://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?pid=168811462
  4. Visual Arts Journal. Volume 19, Number 1. Spring 2011. School of Visual Arts. Page 13.
  5. Moby Games: Take Your Best Shot, September 17, 2000
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  7. Sex, Death and Pragmatism: Bill Plympton's DIY cartoon cottage industry by Vadim Rizov LA Weekly Thursday, Oct 28 2010
  8. Animation World News (April 10, 2007): Interview with Plympton
  9. Tribeca Film Festival Film Guide
  10. Variety Film Reviews - "Adventures in Plymptoons!" Nov. 1, 2011
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  15. http://www.cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2011-awards
  16. http://www.burbankfilmfestival.org/Awards_honorees.html
  17. http://www.aoffest.com/pdf/bill-plympton.pdf
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External links

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