Bill Plympton is an independent animator, cartoonist, producer, and director, and is the only modern animator to personally hand-draw every frame in all of his work. Born and raised in Portland, Plympton worked in New York City for 15 years as an illustrator and cartoonist. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times,...More
Bill Plympton is an independent animator, cartoonist, producer, and director, and is the only modern animator to personally hand-draw every frame in all of his work. Born and raised in Portland, Plympton worked in New York City for 15 years as an illustrator and cartoonist. His illustrations have appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, The Village Voice, and Vanity Fair and his cartoons have been published in Rolling Stone, National Lampoon, Penthouse, and Glamour. By 1981, his political cartoon strip "Plympton" was syndicated in over 20 papers.
After a string of highly successful short films, including Your Face which was nominated for an Oscar in 1988 for Best Animated Short, he became highly sought after, with his work appearing on MTV and in numerous commercials for brands such as Taco Bell, Nike, AT&T, United Airlines, and Mercedes-Benz. Plympton then made The Tune, his first full-length animated movie consisting of 30,000 personally hand-drawn and colored cells. Needing a break from all that drawing, his next project was his first live-action feature film, J. Lyle. In 1998, Plympton again single-handedly drew an animated feature film, I Married a Strange Person. He was nominated for a second Oscar in 2005 for his short film, Guard Dog. He has also animated music videos including Kanye West's "Heard'em Say" and Weird Al Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song." In 2008, he released Idiots and Angels, a darker feature film including the music of Tom Waits, Moby, and Pink Martini. In 2011, Universe published a book called Independently Animated: Bill Plympton: The Life and Art of the King of Indie Animation.
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