Footprints storyboard Part 4

Here's Part 4 of the rough storyboards for my upcoming animated short "Footprints" 

--Bill

    

Degenerate Art at Neue Galerie

I've been a frequent visitor to the wonderful Neue Galerie (gallery for German and Austrian art) and have always enjoyed their shows and made many discoveries.  But as much as I've loved their shows, there's never been any kind of excitement in any of their exhibition.

However, their new show is taking over New York like a blitzkrieg.  It's called "Degenerate Art: The Attack on Modern Art in Nazi Germany, 1937". 

There are two parts to this show - the first is the art that Hitler and the Nazis felt was degenerate, like Kandinsky, Otto Dix, George Grasz, Paul Klee and others.  The second part is Hitler's favorite art - and it's very enlightening to see the two styles side by side.  There were some wonderful revelations I had based on the work of artists like Ernest Bulbach, Emile Noble and Felix Nussbaum.

But the most curious thing to me was that a couple of the works by Nazi-accepted artists were quite nice.  It was very commercial, of course.  It could have been done by Norman Rockwell or NC Wyeth.  I liked it because it told a story, and technically the draftsmanship was excellent.  Very populist.

In fact, I found some of the "accepted" art more engaging than the banned art.  But for me, the coolest thing was the exposing of the Nazi regime's whole idea that artwork deemed not acceptable to the Fuehrer should be slandered and destroyed, and the artists responsible should either be forced to emigrate, or be killed.

And since I'm now working on a film about Hitler - and many people tell me that it's box-office poison to do that, I'm delighted to see how the name "Hitler" brings in mobs of people.  I believe that audiences love to see evil and sinister personalities, and that's why I believe my "Hitler" documentary will be a success.

Every time I do a show, people ask me what my next project will be.  I tell them about the Hitler film and the audience becomes fascinated, and they persist in asking questions about the upcoming film. 

So, if you live in the NYC area, definitely check out the Degenerate Art exhibition.  I give it an A-, but only because the show is too small.

Bill P.

http://www.neuegalerie.org/content/degenerate-art-attack-modern-art-nazi-germany-1937

Stuttgart Animation Festival

After the Paris premiere of "Cheatin'" ("Les Amants Electriques"), I went to the famed Stuttgart Trickfilm Festival, where I saw a lot of old friends, and also saw some great films - but the main reason I was there was to present the German premiere of "Cheatin'".

It was a rousing success - two jam-packed audiences, and prolonged applause (which I always love).  I had to suppress the applause or I wouldn't have had time to sign autographs and introduce the next show -

Also, while I was there I met with my good friend, Andreas Hykade, who did some live-action acting for my next mockumentary feature.  But for now, it's a secret - I'll make an announcement soon.  By the way, Andreas is a great actor.

                                     
Andreas Hykade with Bill (photo from Annecy, 2009)

I give the Stuttgart festival an A-.  The minus is because "Cheatin'" didn't win the big prize.  That went to "Garden of Word", a Japanimation film.  I talked to one of the judges and asked why "Cheatin'" didn't win - he said that it had too much sex and violence.  Yeah!! If I'm going to lose a prize, that's a great reason why.

--Bill P.

Footprints storyboard Part 3

Here's part 3 of the rough storyboards from my upcoming short "Footprints" - 

I hope these make sense to everybody!

--Bill

Paris Premiere

Thanks to E.D. Distribution, my films have been very popular in France.  I'm kind of like the Jerry Lewis of animation there.  And since I needed CHEATIN' (or as they call it over there, "Les Amants Electriques") to be a big international success in order to get a better U.S. release, I decided to make an appearance in Paris for the premiere.

As I entered E.D.'s office, I was handed a large stack of magazines with rave reviews and generous articles about my film.  I think it was the best press I've every enjoyed for any of my films.  The next night, as I went to the premiere, I expected lines around the block, searchlights, riots and the gendarmes trying to control things - and it seems I always have that fantasy.

Yes, there were a few autograph seekers and hints of a big premiere event, but the theater just barely was packed.  The good news was the terrific applause at the end of the film and the wonderful unsolicited comments from the audience.

Also, strangely, films open in France on Wednesdays, so maybe over the weekend they had the searchlights, lines around the block, the riots and the gendarmes.  The feature is opening in many cinemas around the country, so I hope to reap a rich harvest of press and box office.

I'll keep you updated.

--Bill P.

                                              Hanging out with Serge Bromberg in Paris.

Kodak's Eastman House gala

For most of my film career, since 1985, the cost of making a short of feature was extremely expensive.  Up to 40% up my budgets would go toward film-related costs - rostrum camera, film stock, processing, negative cutting, etc.  Plus, shipping big, heavy film reels was ultra-expensive. 

Since the digital revolution, I now spend only a small fraction of my budget on making digital prints.  I can now spend that extra money on other things, on making a better movie. 

However, becaues of this major shift in film production, the Kodak company is just a shell of its former self, and almost went into bankruptcy. 

Three years ago, I was asked to come up to Rochester, home of Eastman Kodak, and present my feature "Idiots and Angels" at the prestigious George Eastman House.  They were really great to me, they gave me a tour of the museum and the famous archives.

So, last year, when I decided to clear away all of my old 35mm and 16mm prints, I called the archives at the Eastman House and decided to store my prints in their highly-professional film vaults for safekeeping. 

This week, they had a fund raiser in NYC to get the firm on a more stable financial footing, and I was asked to be a presenter.  I didn't know what to expect - would it be a room full of geeky film archivists and rich financial tycoons? 

On the contrary - I discovered a number of my old friends.  Leonard Maltin was there to get a Lifetime prize, as was Alexander Payne ("Nebraska") who we hung out with last year at Telluride.   I sat next to Steven Soderbergh - he was very preoccupied with something, maybe his new film.  He dashed out after his speech before I could talk to him.

Then, I spotted my old friend, Paul Giamatti - 10 years ago, he did the voice for one of my favorite shorts, "The Fan and the Flower", and since then he has shot to fame and stardom (no doubt from his appearance in one of my films...)  He was very friendly, and we talked about old times and how he originally wanted to be an animator in Seattle, but got into the acting profession instead and never looked back.

I was very happy to help out the George Eastman House.  They're a great organization, and I wish them the greatest success.  If you're ever in Rochester, please visit the museum.  I give the museum an A+.

--Bill P.

Footprints storyboard Part 2

Here's part 2 of the rough storyboards from my upcoming short "Footprints" - 

--Bill

Footprints

Now that "CHEATIN'" is done, and doing very well in France, I've moved on to some new projects, like "Hitler's Folly" and "Revengeance".  But in-between, I have time to create a new short film called "Footprints".  I love the concept (story) so I want to make the animation very cool - I'm drawing with a ballpoint pen and it looks great!

Unlike Disney or Pixar, I don't hide my new projects or keep the process super secret, I want to share my projects with my fans and animation students -

So, I'm going to do something I've never done before - I'm going to show my rough storyboards, and then after I exhibit those I will show you the finished storyboards, so you can see the way I create.

So here's the first part of the preliminary storyboard - enjoy!

--Bill

Kansas City Film Festival

The last time I was in Kansas City was about 35 years ago, when I had just signed up to do my political cartoon strip "Plympton" for Universal Press Syndicate.

Now that I've abandoned print cartoons for animation, the city has welcomed me back for the Kansas City Film Festival to show my film "CHEATIN'" and receive their Independent Pioneer award.  I thought it would also be a great opportunity for me to experience historic Kansas City, so here are some of the highlights...

1. I had some great barbecue at Arthur Bryant, a 50-year old ribs restaurant - delicious!  A+

2. I received a personal tour of the famed Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, where I saw a large collection of representational art: Grant Wood, Andrew Wy

eth, James Whistler, Frederic Remington, Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper.  I was in heaven! 

But the topper was their wonderful selections of Thomas Hart Benton.  They had some of his most magnificent paintings - and just recently I've become very influenced by his work.  If you'll notice, in some of my recent films I've started to distort perspective and really distort the human anatomy - two ideas I've stolen from Mr. Benton. 

What really bugged me was that I couldn't find an art book with his collected works.  What's going on?  Is there such a prejudice against representational art in this country that there's no coffee table book about the great Thomas Hart Benton?  It's a shame, a travesty, it's criminal - please, someone make a Thomas Hart Benton book!

3. And my final tourist stop was the old Laugh-O-Gram building.  Back in the early 1920's, when Walt Disney was just starting to create animation, he and Ub Iwerks set up a studio in Kansas City to make their films.  For a number of reasons the venture was not a success and they moved the studio to L.A.

However, this historic building is still standing (barely) and local artists and cartoonists are raising money to salvage the 2-story building and recreate the famous beginnings of my hero, Walter Elias Disney. 

Accordingly, one great thing about the Kansas City Film Festival is their love of animation - they showed one of the largest selections of animation I've ever witnessed at a film festival - PLUS, they had a wonderful retrospective on the Godfather of adult animation, Ralph Bakshi.  And after the screening of the notorious "Coonskin", he did an interview via Skype.  I was in heaven! 

I give the Kansas City Film Festival a B+

--Bill Plympton

Upcoming Society of Illustrators Exhibit

As a youth, I was crazy about cartoons and animation, and now that I'm a successful filmmaker, I wanted to celebrate some of the people who are my heroes.  I call them "The Icons of Animation".

Peter de Seve, William Joyce and Carlos Nine are, to my mind, the greatest artists living today, and it's especially cool that their artistry is all over the film screen. 

Animation today is a multi-billion dollar industry.  Four of the top ten box-office hits last year were animated films.  And these artists are like the kings of animation. 

So, I felt it was about time we honored the greats of character design and animation artistry with a collection of their amazing work at the mecca of illustration art, The Society of Illustrators.

The exhibit is called "The Art of the Movies: William Joyce, Peter de Seve, Carlos Nine, and Bill Plympton" and it will run from June 4 to August 16, 2014 at the Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd St., in New York City.  So be sure to check this out!

For more details:
http://www.societyillustrators.org/The-Museum/2014/Movies/The-Art-of-the-Movies--William-Joyce,-Peter-de-Seve,-Carlos-Nine,-and-Bill-Plympton.aspx

--Bill Plympton

 

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

I just returned from the wonderful Florida Film Festival, where I showed "Cheatin'", and one afternoon when I had a few spare hours, I decided to catch up on my film screenings.  "Mr. Peabody & Sherman" was playing at the local multiplex, and I felt compelled to see it.

Of course, like most people of my generation, I loved the "Rocky & Bullwinkle Show", which the Mr. Peabody cartoons were a part of.  So I was curious to see how Dreamworks was able to expand that show into an animated feature. 

As I walked into the cinema, I saw I was the only one in the theater.  That alone kind of reflects the failure of this film to connect with the audience.  This meant I could talk on my phone or smoke a joint, and no one would complain - but of course, I'd never do that.

The film was directed by Rob Minkoff, and I thought that it was pretty successful  - it's got great visuals (computer animation, of course).  The only problem for me was that the film seemed more concerned with including as many historical figures and events as it could fit into 90 minutes, and less concerned with story and relationships.   I would have preferred fewer famous characters and more personality development.

I give this film a "B".

--Bill Plympton

Johnny Cash Lost Interview Animated..

Another episode of Blank on Blank for PBS. Johnny Cash is one of my all time favorites, so it was fun to animate to his voice.. He is very humble and sincere.. and says things like "I just hope I die with my boots on, because I've been in hospitals." Enjoy this most recent episode:

MoCCA Arts Festival

Sometime last year, the wonderful Society of Illustrators purchased the floundering MoCCA (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art).  This is a good thing, because MoCCA always had problems keeping afloat financially, and the Society of Illustrators has deeper pockets and the expertise needed to run a museum (they've been doing it for over 100 years). 

So, this year they were the backers of the MoCCA Arts Fest (April 5-6), and they really did a fantastic job.  First of all, it was superbly organized.  They had a ton of motivated and eager interns, who were always asking me how I was doing, and if I needed anything. 

                                            Hanging out with an incognito John Leguizamo
                                                        at the MoCCA Arts Festival

Secondly, they had a real star-studded cast of great artists doing signings, like Art Spiegelman, Joost Swarte (look him up on the net) and the great Robert Williams.  Mr. Williams is one of my favorite painters - besides publishing the great magazine "Juxtapose", he single-handedly brought back representational painting. 

One of the things I hate about most modern art is the fact that it's usually so obscure and intellectual that my brain has a hard time getting involved.   However, Mr. Williams' paintings tell stories with humor.  They're like the pulp comics from the 1950's, the graphics just suck you into their plots and characters - I love them!

                                        Chris Stein, co-founder of the band Blondie, visiting
                                                     Bill's table at MoCCA Arts Festival

And finally, one of the coolest things about the MoCCA Art Fest was hanging from the ceiling of the historic Lexington Ave. Armory - a giant Macy's Thanksgiving Day balloon of Charlie Brown.  And he was looking right down on my table as I drew sketches for the fans!  It was like Charles Schulz ("Sparky") was judging every drawing I was creating - talk about pressure!

I want to thank everyone at the Society of Illustrators, especially Annelle Miller, for doing such a fantastic job - I give the MoCCA Arts Festival an A+!

And if you're around next year, you should definitely attend, and bring all of your friends.  I'll see you there!

--Bill Plympton

Atlanta Film Festival

The last time I was at the Atlanta Film Festival was a dozen years ago, when my good friend Ann Hubble was the artistic director.  CHEATIN' got into this year's festival and I thought it would be fun to return to that wonderful Southern city in the Peach State. 

They kindly set up an entire day devoted to animation.  The first event was my Master Class, attended by a lot of members from ASIFA's Atlanta chapter and artists from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network.

Then, the next event was the screening of the animated shorts program.  Among my favorites were:

"The Scarecrow" by Moonbot Studios' Limbert Fabian and Brandon Oldenburg, a wonderful visit to the farm, sponsored by Chipotle

"Crime" by Alix Lambert and Sam Chou, a funny, profane story of a guy trying to retrieve his stolen car

and "Monkey Rag", a delightful music video by Joanna Davidovich to the song by Asylum Street Spankers. 

And the third and crowning event of the day was the screening of CHEATIN' - we had a great audience with a partial standing ovation.  There's that famous Southern hospitality for you.

The day was capped off by a visit to the famous Cleremont Hotel Strip Club.  Now, this was not some fancy-schmancy platinum gentleman's club like you find in Manhattan.  No, this was a real lowdown, sleazy place where everyone knows the strippers on a first-name basis.  One was called Blondie and her specialty was crushing beer cans with her ample breasts.  Sorry, I have no pictures of that display, because no photography was allowed. 

On my film festival scale, I give the Atlanta Film Festival an A-.

--Bill Plympton

Hendrix stills..

So the PBS Blank on Blank episode featuring Jimi Hendrix was pulled due to some legal stuff, the producer David Gerlach says it will be back up, but until then I thought I would share some stills from the piece before it's been completely forgotten.  Enjoy.

 Hendrix went through so many changes over the years, illustrated here.

 We used a lot of vintage gig posters in the backgrounds, matter of fact the entire palette of purples and blacks was inspired by one of these posters.

 Jimi had a great laugh, a crazy laugh.

 A lot of the imagery was based on his dialogue discussing his ability to be everything from songwriter, to guitarist to vocalist.. jimi of all trades.

 He also discussed bringing people of different types together with music.

 colorful guitar solos.. all the chords were just made up because I have no idea how to play the guitar.. I did however stay true to his left handed playing.