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Crazy about cartoons
Cartoon strips, music videos for Madonna, Kanye West and Weird Al, MTV fillers, features, shorts and children's films as well as adverts for anything from Trivial Pursuit to Taco Bell - it doesn't get much more diverse than this.
- By Kelly Crane, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:17 December 14, 2008
- Animator Bill Plymton shows off one of his sketches.
- Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News
Cartoon strips, music videos for Madonna, Kanye West and Weird Al, MTV fillers, features, shorts and children's films as well as adverts for anything from Trivial Pursuit to Taco Bell — it doesn't get much more diverse than this.
But face-to-face with Oscar-nominated animator Bill Plympton, it's hard not to get caught up and swept away by his child-like enthusiasm for everything that crosses his path, which explains why he finds it hard to say no to anything that allows him to draw.
It took less than 60 seconds for the 62-year-old to whip out his sketchpad and begin scribbling.
"This is the main character in my latest film," he said, resting the pad on his lap so that he could gesture during his next sentence. "He is a selfish, abusive, morally bankrupt man who hangs out at his local bar. He is not a nice man."
Resuming his sketch, slowly bringing the character to life, Plympton almost loses his train of thought. "One day, Angel mysteriously wakes up with a pair of wings on his back that allow him to do good things.
"They [the wings] are almost like his saviour, his soul trying to get out and make him a better man," he says, as the wings begin to fill the page. "They are a metaphor for everything good and he must learn to discover that side of himself and exercise it accordingly."
But unlike your run-of-the-mill feature presentation, Idiots and Angels, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April this year, is unique in that instead of words, its script consists of crochets and quavers.
"I believe that, more and more, animation and music go hand in hand. There is something about a melody that has the ability to bring cartoons to life without the need for dialogue."
Plympton has extensive experience of musical collaboration, having worked on music videos for Madonna, Kanye West and Weird Al Yankovic.
"It was a good few years ago [that I worked] with Madonna on Who's That Girl and since then I have worked a lot with MTV. But Kanye West is an interesting tale. He looked me up because he was a fan of my work.
"He said he used to watch my cartoons as a child and had always loved the characters. One day I was sitting at home and I got a call from Kanye who said (putting on his best gangster rapper voice) 'Hey, are you Bill Plympton? Wanna make a music video?'
"And it went from there. I did the animation for Heard 'em Say and am also currently working with him to produce a book. It features 12 of his favourite songs and explains why [he likes them] and is due out next year. It is also called Heard 'em Say."
Plympton is considered the first animator to have personally drawn every frame for an animated feature film — something which took three years in the case of the 80-minute Idiots and Angels. More than 25,000 drawings later, each taking around 10 minutes each, it was time for production and the layering process for the tunes.
"Making feature films is by far the most rewarding work, both financially and as an artist. I have been drawing since I was about three and I am so grateful I get to do what I loved as a child for a living.
"Some say Idiots and Angels signifies me growing up because it's more for an older audience — but I'm not having any of it. I don't want to grow up and I will fight it for as long as I can."
Further proving his insatiable need to sketch, Plympton took the time to do a personal drawing for everyone who attended the Middle East premiere of Idiots and Angels at Mall of the Emirates this weekend.
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