All That Glitters

As most of you know, my last feature film, "Revengeance" was a co-production between me and my L.A. buddy, Jim Lujan.  It was a terrific project, so much fun to work on.

But now, Jim has a new show online.  It's called "All That Glitters", with his same gonzo underground art style, which I've really grown to love.  The crudity of the art is so perfect for the characters and the situations.

But this time, the milieu is a different sleazy side of L.A. - the music business, with all the crime that surrounds it.  Of course, there's so much humor and conflict involved in the music biz, it's a perfect environment.

I talked to Jim about his inspiration for the characters, and thus the show - he answered that he'd been watching a lot of "Breaking Bad".  He also has plans to create 20 two-minute episodes (there are 10 posted now) and eventually he'll make a lot more, to finally put it together as an animated feature film.

Fortunately, Jim has a lot of Patreon support and that's how he's able to make all these hilarious episodes.  Naturally, the animation is somewhat static, but it's the voices, dialogues and music that are really the soul of this show.

Jim has brought in a bunch of his friends to help do the voices and music. But Jim is a very talented voice actor and musician himself - just check out his work on "Revengeance".

But he needs support to continue his ambitions to make the long version.  He can be contacted at:

https://www.patreon.com/jimlujan

and if you do support him via Patreon, you'll get a lot of cool extras, like artwork and music.

I'll post some of the artwork from "All That Glitters" here - and also there's a playlist of the episodes on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-vsMjocIYDws8TciyOtn5tIs5w706ZUc

Help keep this genius working!  Thanks,

Bill P.

Sky Hi

Dear Fans,

About 15 years ago, I came up with a wacky idea for a book that concerned a young artist (a bit like myself) who attempts to smuggle some drugs overseas - but unfortunately the drugs that he swallows somehow dissolve into his bloodstream, causing him to have wild hallucinations during his trip.

Now, I took a few drugs when I was in college, and as a young hippie in NYC, but now I'm pretty straight.  However, the imagery still resides deep in the back of my brain.

So, I decided to make the book an illustrated novel, not a graphic novel but a novel with numerous full-page illustrations - similar to those N.C. Wyeth books like "Robin Hood" and "Treasure Island", etc.

My hope is that the surreal artwork will be a wonderful counterpoint to the bizarre story. I've never seen this done before, so I'm curious to see how it works out.

Here are some art samples from the proposed book:

 I'll post updates here as the work on the book progresses, or if there's any interest in publication.

--Bill Plympton

Oregon Film History Conference & "Avengers: Endgame"

I just returned from my old home-town, Portland Oregon, where I attended a wonderful symposium organized by Anne Richardson and Dennis Nyback, of the Oregon Cartoon Institute.  It was a bit awkward for me, because of the a majority of the speakers talked about me and my work.

David Chelsea, an Oregon-based graphic novelist and expert on perspective, and Paul Harrod, design director par excellence ("Isle of Dogs") led a discussion titled "Brush Up on Bill", about some of my feature films, and Marne Lucas, an Oregon/NYC artist who also worked on one of my favorite short films, "The Operation", led another panel discussion.

with David Chelsea and Paul Harrod

Then the great animator and music video genius Jim Blashfield and I had a conversation about Oregon and independent animation, moderated by Chel White.

with Chel White and Jim Blashfield

This all took place on the beautiful Lewis & Clark College campus, high up in the forested hills overlooking Portland.

I remember 40 years ago, drinking in my favorite bar, the Veritable Quandary, when someone said there was an easy-access outdoor pool at Lewis & Clark College.  "LET'S GO!!"  So about 6 of us, male and female, jumped in a car and climbed the security gate, doffed our clothing and had a nice summer's night swim.  But if the campus police had caught us, we'd have dried off in the county jail!

Back to present day - I saw a lot of friends at the conference, the night before my talk there was a welcome reception at Black Hat Books.  Chel White, stop-motion genius, the great artist Mike Smith, the wonderful writer Mark Christensen - who after 40 years has moved back to Oregon.  It was a wonderful event and I had a great time.  Thank so much, Anne and Dennis!

with Mike Smith

By the way, right now Portland is probably the second largest scene for animated features in the U.S. Of course, Laika is in the middle of producing animated features, they just released "Missing Link" and are probably starting production on another one.  Henry Selick is producing his feature, "Wendell and Wild" there, and on top of that, Guillermo del Toro is in town, in production on his animated version of "Pinocchio".  It seems like Hollywood finally realized that there's something in the water or the air around Portland that produces great animators, so it just makes sense to open a studio there!

Also, last week I was able to watch "Avengers: Endgame", a much-anticipated film that I was really looking forward to.  Unfortunately, I left the cinema very tired and disappointed.  The first problem I had with it was the feeling that the directors, the Russo brothers, tried to cram every Marvel character, alive or dead, into the film - and my brain started to shut down from character overload.  At some point, more becomes less.

Also, when the Avengers finally rescue the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet, why weren't they able to defeat all the forces of evil?  But my biggest complaint is that, perhaps understandably, the main audience for this film is the gamers.  But can't they find a more peaceful way to resolve their issues than massive waves of good guys and bad guys punching each other to death?

This is a perfect film for the Trump era - we can't live together, so let's just pound the shit out of everybody.  For a 3-hour film, it seemed like 2 of those hours were fistfights and battles - and I'm the guy who makes films entitled "Sex & Violence"...

I give the film a C- and that's only for all the great special effects.

Now, here's my cartoon for the week...

--Bill P.