Bill Plympton

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Bill Plympton (born April 30, 1946)<ref name=filmfestival>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Shout! Factory Announces Acquisition of Bill Plympton Library|Shout! Blog</ref>

Early life

Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Wilda Jean (Jerman) and Donald F. Plympton,<ref name="plymptonbio" /><ref name=wilda>Template:Cite web</ref> and was raised on a farm in nearby Oregon City<ref name=filmfestival /> with five siblings.<ref name=wilda /> 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<ref name="plymptonbio">Template:Cite news</ref> in New York City, where he majored in cartooning. He graduated from SVA in 1969.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref name=Tune>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1992, his self-financed, first feature-length animated film, The Tune debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.<ref name=Tune/> His work also appeared on the 1992–1993 Fox comedy series The Edge. In 1993, he made his first live action film, J. Lyle.

File:Bill and Sandrine at IADT.jpg
Bill and Sandrine Plympton in 2014

In 1995, he contributed animation and graphics to a computer game collection, Take Your Best Shot.<ref>MobyGames: Take Your Best Shot, September 17, 2000</ref> He also published a comic book in 2003, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton.

The actress Martha Plimpton, a distant relative of his,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 26 April 2008,<ref>Tribeca Film Festival Film Guide Template:Webarchive</ref>

In 2011, Alexia Anastasio completed a documentary on Plympton's life, Adventures in Plymptoons!,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> released in September 2012 direct-to-DVD and on video-on-demand.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Plympton has done extensive guest animation work for The Simpsons, producing eight opening couch gags for the show between 2012 and 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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2020, Plympton released a Kickstarter for a new animated comedy western, Slide. The funding was successful, raising $60,000 from 400 backers. The film premiered at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and was shown at several other film festivals through 2023 and 2024, though the film has yet to receive a wide release.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Plympton released a new animated short in 2024 called Duckville which had its world premiere at the 25th Woodstock Film Festival.

In 2025, Plympton announced a new animated short entitled Whale 52 - Suite for Man, Boy, and Whale which had its New York premiere in September at the IFC Center in New York City as part of a multi-day Plympton retrospective produced by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It then played in October at the Woodstock Film Festival.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Technique

By sometimes alternate the same drawings back and forth, it creates a shimmering effect that makes it look like the images are pulsating.<ref>Inside The Wild (And Hand-Drawn) World Of Bill Plympton</ref>

Legacy

A collection of more than 180 Plympton items is held at the Academy Film Archive.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The archive has preserved Plympton's films such as Your Face, The Tune, Guard Dog, and The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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).<ref>Animation Show of Shows</ref><ref>The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 44)</ref><ref>The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 20)</ref><ref>The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 23)</ref><ref>The Animation Show of Shows (Volume 11)</ref>

Personal life

On December 23, 2011, Plympton married animator/artist/illustrator Sandrine Flament.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Their son was born in September 2012.<ref name=filmfestival />

Influences

Plympton has stated he has many influences, the biggest being the work of the Walt Disney with others including Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Robert Crumb, Milton Glaser, Charles Addams, Charles M. Schulz, Frank Capra, Bob Godfrey, Tomi Ungerer, Quentin Tarantino, Jacques Tati, Don Martin, Harvey Kurtzman, Spain Rodriguez and Jules Feiffer.<ref>Template:Cite AV mediaTemplate:Cbignore</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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."<ref>Bill Plympton - 16 January 09-Part 2 at 06:26.</ref> He also included references to Jacques Tati,<ref>Bill Plympton's Top 10|The Current|The Criterion Collection</ref> Carlos Nine, and Milt Kahl.<ref>HAND DRAWN: Extended Interview #3- Bill Plympton</ref>

Awards

Filmography

Animated features

Documentaries

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

Live-action features

  • J. Lyle (1993)
  • Guns on the Clackamas(1995)
  • Walt Curtis, the Peckerneck Poet (1997)
  • Hitler's Folly (a mockumentary) (2016)

Animated shorts

Source unless otherwise noted:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>SND Films</ref>

  • The Turn On (1968; 2:00)
  • Lucas the Ear of Corn (1977; 4:00)
  • Boomtown (1985; 6:00)<ref name="cartoonresearch.com34">Template:Cite web</ref>
  • Love in the Fast Lane (1985; 3:00)
  • Your Face (1987; 3:10)
  • 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 (1991)
  • Dig My Do (1990; 4:00)
  • The Wiseman (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 (2002; 5:22)
  • 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)
  • Gary Guitar (2008) (episode of Random! Cartoons)
  • 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)
  • Summer Bummer (2011; 1:49)
  • Waiting For Her Sailor (2011; 0:30)
  • Tiffany the Whale: Death on the Runway (2012; 8:56)
  • Drunker Than a Skunk (2013; 3:30)
  • ABCs of Death 2 (segment-H is for Head Games)
  • Footprints (2014; 4:01)
  • The Loneliest Stoplight (2015; 6:18)
  • Cop Dog (2017) (fifth in the Guard Dog series)
  • Demi’s Panic (2021)
  • Duckville (2024)
  • Whale 52 - Suite for Man, Boy and Whale (2025)

Animated TV shorts

Compilations (DVD)

  • Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 1
  • Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 2
  • Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton (1992)
  • Bill Plympton's Dirty Shorts (2006)
  • Mondo Plympton (2007)
  • Bill Plympton's Dog Days (2009)
  • Bill Plympton's Dogs & Cows (2013)

Music videos

Commercials

References

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