Bill Plympton Explained

Bill Plympton
Birth Date:30 April 1946
Birth Place:Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Relatives:Martha Plimpton (cousin)
Field:Animation
Training:Portland State University
School of Visual Arts
Works:Your Face, Guard Dog, The Tune, Cheatin'
Module:
Child:yes

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 featuring a dog character starting with 2004's Guard Dog.[2]

Early life

Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Wilda Jean (Jerman) and Donald F. Plympton,[3] and was raised on a farm in nearby Oregon City with five siblings: Sally, Tia, Peggy, David and Peter. 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[4] in New York City, where he majored in cartooning. He graduated from SVA in 1969.[5]

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.[6]

In 1988, his animated short Your Face was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He also became known for other animated short films, including 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989) and Enemies (1991), the latter of which was part of the Animania series on MTV, where many of his other shorts were shown.[7]

In 1991, Plympton won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for Push Comes to Shove which was featured on MTV's animated series Liquid Television.[8] In 1992, his self-financed, first feature-length animated film, The Tune debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.[7] His work also appeared on the 1992–1993 Fox comedy series The Edge. In 1993, he made his first live action film, J. Lyle.

In 1995, he contributed animation and graphics to a computer game collection, Take Your Best Shot.[9] He also published a comic book in 2003, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton.

The actress Martha Plimpton, a distant relative of his,[10] 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.

Later works

Guard Dog (2004) was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2005, Plympton animated a music video for Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say" and the following year, he created the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song". Plympton contributed animation to the 2006 History Channel series 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America, to illustrate the events of Shays' Rebellion. Together with other independent New York City animators, he has released two DVDs of animated shorts, both titled Avoid Eye Contact.

Plympton's 2008 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels presented by Terry Gilliam, had no dialogue.[11] [12] The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 26 April 2008,[13]

In 2011, Alexia Anastasio completed a documentary on Plympton's life, Adventures in Plymptoons!,[14] released in September 2012 direct-to-DVD and on video-on-demand.[15]

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.[16]

Plympton animated the opening couch gag for the Simpsons episodes "Beware My Cheating Bart" in 2012, "Black Eyed, Please" in 2013, "Married to the Blob" in 2014, "Lisa the Veterinarian" in 2016, "22 for 30" in 2017, "3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage" in 2018, "Manger Things" in 2021 and "One Angry Lisa" in 2022; as well as the menus and packaging for the Season 19 DVD.

Plympton directed the segment "On Eating and Drinking" in the 2014 animated film The Prophet, adapted from Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet. In 2018, Plympton created a series of videos for The New York Times called “Trump Bites”. One of the series, Trump and Putin: A Love Story, depicts Trump and Putin kissing half-naked. Critics said the video implied that gay relationships were inherently comical and immoral.[17]

In 2020, Plympton released a Kickstarter for his new animated comedy western, Slide. The funding was successful and Plympton had planned on finishing the film by 2022.

Legacy

A collection of more than 180 Plympton items is held at the Academy Film Archive.[18] The archive has preserved Plympton's films such as Your Face, The Tune, Guard Dog, and The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger.[19]

His films have featured in the Animation Show of Shows including Your Face, Guard Dog, Eat (2001), The Fan and the Flower (2005), and Santa: The Fascist Years (2009).[20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

Personal life

On December 23, 2011, Plympton married animator/artist/illustrator Sandrine Flament at his sister's house in Oregon.[25] [26] Their son, Lucas, was born in September 2012.

Influences

Plympton has stated he has many influences, the biggest being the work of the Walt Disney studio with others including Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Robert Crumb, Milton Glaser, Charles Addams, Roland Topor, Quentin Tarantino, Frank Capra, Richard Lester, Bob Godfrey, Saul Steinberg, Tomi Ungerer, Jacques Tati,[27] Milt Kahl,[28] Carlos Nine, and Jules Feiffer.[29] He said I Married a Strange Person! "was influenced by Peter Jackson, some of his earlier films ... where he used gore and violence and blood as humor."[30]

Awards

Filmography

Animated features

Documentaries

Live-action features

Animated shorts

Source unless otherwise noted:[42] [43]

Animated TV shorts

Compilations (DVD)

Music videos

Commercials

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: God of Indie Animation Bill Plympton at Gold Coast Film Fest . October 23, 2012 . Frank Lovece . Frank . Lovece . Film Festival Traveler . 2014-02-10 . Born April 30, 1946, in a Portland, Ore., hospital, Plympton grew up in a family of six kids on a farm in nearby Oregon City. ... [Plympton's son] Lucas [was] born about three weeks before this interview was conducted on Oct. 13, 2012..... February 10, 2014 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140210211106/http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/film-festivals/interviews/2231-god-of-indie-animation-bill-plympton.
  2. https://www.shoutfactory.com/blog/bill-plympton/ Shout! Factory Announces Acquisition of Bill Plympton Library|Shout! Blog
  3. Web site: Wilda Jean Plympton [obituary]]. OregonLive.com. June 14, 2019. September 30, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180930192534/https://obits.oregonlive.com/obituaries/oregon/obituary.aspx?pid=168811462 . live.
  4. News: Biography . Plymptoons (official site) . 2012-04-16 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120209014649/http://www.plymptoons.com/biography/bio.html . 2012-02-09 .
  5. Visual Arts Journal. 19. 1. Spring 2011. School of Visual Arts. 13. [title n.a.].
  6. Web site: About Bill Plympton – Plymptoons. www.plymptoons.com. en-US. 2018-12-03.
  7. Daily Variety. May 21, 1992. 2. October Wins 'Tune' Rights. Frook. John Evan.
  8. Web site: Bill Plympton. Cannes Film Festival. June 14, 2019. October 29, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171029013734/https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/artist/bill-plympton. live.
  9. http://www.mobygames.com/game/win3x/take-your-best-shot MobyGames: Take Your Best Shot, September 17, 2000
  10. Web site: Bill Plympton, Animator - Profile Interview Series Vol. #6 . Efilmcritic.com . February 28, 2005 . October 13, 2012.
  11. News: Sex, Death and Pragmatism: Bill Plympton's DIY cartoon cottage industry . Vadim . Rizov . . October 28, 2010 . January 28, 2013 . https://archive.today/20130128083154/http://www.laweekly.com/2010-10-28/film-tv/sex-death-and-pragmatism/ . dead . November 11, 2011 .
  12. News: Might Come Back From Dead Man's Curve: Bill Plympton's 'Hair High'. Animation World News. April 10, 2007. Taylor. Jessen. June 14, 2019. https://archive.today/20190614183926/https://www.awn.com/animationworld/might-come-back-dead-mans-curve-bill-plymptons-hair-high. live. May 15, 2016.
  13. http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/filmguide/Idiots_and_Angels.html Tribeca Film Festival Film Guide
  14. News: Film Reviews - 'Adventures in Plymptoons!. Variety. November 1, 2011.
  15. News: A Good Time to Watch 'Adventures in Plymptoons!' . September 28, 2012 . Ramin . Zahed . Animation Magazine.
  16. News: Wise Beyond His Years. Animation Magazine. PerrysPreviews.com. February 2012.
  17. News: New York Times under fire for 'homophobic' cartoon of Trump and Putin. Reuters. July 18, 2018.
  18. Web site: Bill Plympton Collection. Academy Film Archive. June 30, 2016.
  19. Web site: Preserved Projects. Academy Film Archive.
  20. https://www.animationshowofshows.com/collections/vendors?q=Bill%20Plympton Animation Show of Shows
  21. https://www.animationshowofshows.com/products/the-animation-show-of-shows-volume-44?_pos=1&_sid=29cf3d13b&_ss=r The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 44)
  22. https://www.animationshowofshows.com/products/the-animation-show-of-shows-volume-20?_pos=2&_sid=29cf3d13b&_ss=r The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 20)
  23. https://www.animationshowofshows.com/products/the-animation-show-of-shows-volume-23?_pos=1&_sid=cff21bb38&_ss=r The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 23)
  24. https://www.animationshowofshows.com/products/the-animation-show-of-shows-volume-11?_pos=1&_sid=17e29801a&_ss=r The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 11)
  25. Web site: Congratulations Bill Plympton and Sandrine Flament . Jerry Beck . Jerry . Beck . 21 December 2011 . . October 13, 2012.
  26. Web site: Bill . Plympton . What I did this Christmas . January 3, 2012 . Scribble Junkies (Plympton official blog) . October 13, 2012.
  27. https://www.criterion.com/current/top-10-lists/49-bill-plympton-s-top-10 Bill Plympton's Top 10|The Current|The Criterion Collection
  28. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l20pbvjh6Dc HAND DRAWN: Extended Interview #3- Bill Plympton
  29. Bill Plympton - 16 January 09-Part 2. January 18, 2009. One on One. Al Jazeera English. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/KtlrQvl0eT8 . 2021-12-22 . live. 06:57-07:46. June 14, 2019.
  30. Bill Plympton - 16 January 09-Part 2 at 06:26.
  31. Web site: The 60th Academy Awards 1988. Oscars.org Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. en. 2019-07-22.
  32. Web site: The Man Who Planted Trees Wins Animated Short: 1988 Oscars. https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/KUrE-PO5J0U . 2021-12-22 . live. .
  33. https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/push-comes-to-shove PUSH COMES TO SHOVE - Festival de Cannes
  34. https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award
  35. Web site: The 77th Academy Awards 2005. Oscars.org . en. 2019-07-22.
  36. https://annieawards.org/juried-awards/winsor-mccay Annie Awards - Winsor Mccay
  37. Web site: SLIFF 2011 Awards Major Filmmaker Awards . 2021-11-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111026000810/http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2011-awards . October 26, 2011 .
  38. Web site: 2011 Awards: Our Honorees . October 4, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111024223746/http://www.burbankfilmfestival.org/Awards_honorees.html . October 24, 2011 .
  39. Web site: 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award: Bill Plympton . Action on Film International Film Festival . 2021-11-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110909204400/http://www.aoffest.com/pdf/bill-plympton.pdf . September 9, 2011 .
  40. Web site: 51st Gijon International Film Festival Awards. November 23, 2016.
  41. Web site: 2023-12-11 . 2023 WINNERS – December 9-10 2023 . 2023-12-12 . en-US.
  42. Web site: Animated Shorts . Plymptoons (official site) . October 23, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121018180813/http://www.plymptoons.com/biography/anishorts.html . October 18, 2012 .
  43. https://www.sndfilms.com/?s=Bill%20Plympton SND Films
  44. Web site: Cartoons Considered For An Academy Award – 1984 -. cartoonresearch.com.
  45. Web site: Bill Plympton's 12 Tiny Christmas Tales To Air On Cartoon Network . Leigh . Godfrey . December 10, 2001. . March 30, 2015.

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