Drawn Animation Show

While Patrick Smith was in town we held our 2^nd annual drawn animation film festival on Thursday Aug 23^rd. But this time it was held in Manhattan at the roomy SVA Theatre on 23^rd st.

            

With only 2 weeks of publication we sold out the arena- (technically it wasn’t sold out, it was a free event). The audience was a wonderful mix of professionals, students and fans and by all accounts they loved the show.

            

Pat showed his classic “Drink” and I showed some of the colored scenes from my new work in progress “Cheatin’”.

But there were some other films that were knockouts. Of course Hisko Hulsing's “Junkyard” was a tourd force that amazed everyone. And the audience loved “Notes on Biology” By Dan Madden and “Songs of North America” by KristenLepore. Both very amateurish in drawing techniques but hilarious. It just goes to show you don’t have to be a Winsor McCay to make a great film.

But the grand prize deservedly went to Joy and Noelle Vaccese for their wonderful film “CC’s Bedtime Stories”.

           

So if you have a film that’s hand drawn and you think it’s pretty good, send it to Pat or I and maybe next year we’ll give you the prestigious “Scribble Junkie Prize”

 I want to thank Reeves Lehman and all the folks at the SVA Theatre for all their great assistance.

I give the event an A+

                       

                        -Bill 

Scribble Junkie's after party! 

From the left: Brett Thompson, Noelle, Me, Pat and Joy 

Tissa David: 1921-2012

"I'm a loner. I always was. It's a disciplined life in a way.  But I think anyone who does any kind of creative work has to have discipline"

Cheatin' Production Blog - Guest Episode - Signe Baumane Part 3

In this continuation of my visit to Signe Baumane's studio in Brooklyn, Signe shows off her stop-motion set and discusses limited animation. More about her film can be found on her blog here.

DRAWN Animation Film Festival!

Scribble Junkies Festival of DRAWN Animation! Come join us this Thursday! Join Pat Smith and Bill for a one-night festival showcasing a selection of hand-drawn animation. Presented by the School of Visual Arts BFA Film, Video and Animation Department THURSDAY August 23 at 7pm in the SVA Theatre, 333 W. 23 Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). This event is FREE and open to the public! Selections include the American premiere of Hisko Hulsing's "Junkyard" and a special preview of color sequences from Bill's upcoming feature "Cheatin'"

Visit the facebook event page here!  We will see you there!!

Jake and Ella 8

 Great murals by Cuban American artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, dig.

 

 

 

Paranorman

If you've been a fan of my blog scribbling over the past few years (and I hope you have) then you've probably noticed that I've been a bit tardy on my postings the last few months- of course there are lots of other cool goodies in our blog- Pat Smith's wonderful posts; my sketch a day feature and of course my Cheatin' production blog- but that's no excuse- I have a lot to write about: festivals, films, animation tips and gossip.

That's not the problem - The real problem is I'm trying to make my February deadline to finish my new feature "Cheatin'". So I've been working night and day to wrap the animation on this wonderful new feature. I've only got 10 more pages of storyboard (about 3 minutes of animation) plus I have to go through every shot to finish al the art. There are about 1,100 different shots - WHEW! And as I speak my studio is coloring and shading all of the artwork. So you can see I'm a busy little beaver.

However I was fortunate enough to go to the premier of "ParaNorman" over the weekend. What a delight, great visuals and characters in a wonderful horror plot. After the screening the directors Sam Fell and Chris Butler talked about the speed technology now involved in puppet animation. According to them, because of the digital mapping process each main character has the possibility of 1.5 million different facial expressions. That’s way too many (I make about 3). In any case it’s a wonderful film and be sure to check out the sequence where the zombies erupt from the graveyard. It was animated single handedly by Laika president, Travis Knight.

I give the film an A.

And I promise as soon as I finish animating Cheatin’ I’ll deliver more blogs. P.S. Don’t forget about our, “HAND DRAWN ANIMATION SHOW” at SVA theatre on 23rd st on Aug 23rd 6:30. It’s free- It will also count for the official NY book signing for my new Focal Press book - “Make Toons that Sell Without Selling Out” and each person who buys a copy will get a free Bill Plympton caricature.

See ya there- Bring your friends!

Jake and Ella 7

Jake and Ella 6

Skull and a pineapple..

This caught my eye.. Been doing a lot of pencil work lately in my sketchbook, a departure from ink, drawings like this one by Rémi Andron is very inspirational. Enjoy.

Jake and Ella 5

Jake and Ella 4

Jake and Ella 3

Jake and Ella 2

Jake and Ella

Cheatin' Production Blog - Episode Six

Cheatin' Production Blog - Episode Six - Character Design - "Ella" from Bill Plympton on Vimeo.

In this episode, I discuss my character design process by showing reference examples and sketches as well as a drawing demonstration.

Liqen, Mexican Muralist..

These pieces are mind blowing.  Mexico seems to be the place to be for murals. It's interesting that the rich mexican tradition of murals has morphed into more graffiti and street art.. not sure how accurate that observation is, but cool to think about what Diego Rivera would think of people like Liqen. Enjoy.

Body Types

Big Chin sketch

Eye

Heart

Faces