Toon Zone Talkback - Toon Zone Interviews Indie Animator Bill Plympton on "Idiots & Angels"

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Marwa

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This is the talkback thread for Toon Zone Interviews Indie Animator Bill Plympton on "Idiots & Angels".

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I've been a fan of Plympton's work for a while, so it was a real kick to interview him about how he works. He's also one of the nicest people on the planet -- we ended up chatting briefly about cartoons we liked after the interview was over.

-- Ed
 
Great interview Ed. I've enjoying Plymton for the longest time. Probably since I was a little kid and remember seeing his Plymtoons special on Bravo I believe (or maybe MTV) and then when they showed his stuff on MTV's Liquid Television. He just has this style all his own that's completely weird and hilarious. I have to say I haven't seen any of his feature animations yet though. I need to do that.

Is there a collection of his old works on DVD? It would be something nice to own.
 
I didn't even know Plympton was coming out with a new film. Cool.

I seriously need to play catch-up with this guy's work. I still haven't seen J. Lyle, I Married a Strange Person, and some of his newer (post 2000) shorts. But I love his Liquid TV/Cartoon Sushi shorts and The Tune, which I still remember renting when I was a teen and loving how surreal and creative it was. Only thing I know of is Plymptoons: The Classic (also Early) Works of Bill Plympton, but some of those have been discontinued/OOP for some time now. The rest of his stuff on DVD is just on random "independent animation" DVDs with a bunch of other directors.
 
Great interview, Ed.

I don't have nearly enough Plympton in my collection. The most recently I got was a screener of "Bill's Dirty Shorts" to review. Unfortunately, there just wasn't any way of reviewing a short like "Gay Lion Tamer" without describing things that couldn't be described on a family-friendly web site ...
 
A lot of his older stuff is on DVD, and can be purchased straight from the Plymptoons website (there's another site at awn.com, but I don't know if it's still active). If he shows up at a con, he'll also sell stuff and usually give away sketches with a purchase, too. I understand he'll be at the MoCCA Art Festival in NYC this year, and will be getting some kind of award there this year as well.

There is a trailer for Idiots & Angels in Flash on the official site, along with some stills and the "Ani-Cam," where you get to see Plympton animating in time-lapse.

EDIT: Oh, yeah -- Bill Plympton animating something inspired by Touch of Evil? That's "TEH 4W3S0ME!!" right there.

-- Ed
 
Plympton is one of my favorite animators/directors of all-time. I was first exposed to his work through one of his PC games and later caught up with his shorts on Cartoon Sushi (the late 90's equal of Liquid Television). His movie, Mutant Aliens, has inspired me time and time again since I watched it endlessly in college.

He's done everything including TV specials, movies, commercials, shorts, and video games. Even if you haven't heard of him, chances are you've seen some of his work.
 
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