Bill Plympton

Legendary animator Bill Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon in April of 1946. Raised on a farm in Oregon, he studied graphic design at Portland State University, and then transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City, graduating in 1969. His distinctive, pencil-drawn, almost scratchy style is clearly recognizable even in his early, non-animated work. After a number of years as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist contributing to a number of publications, his political cartoon strip "Plympton" began in the Soho Weekly News in 1975 and was syndicated in over twenty newspapers by 1981. In 1988, his short film "Your Face" was nominated for Best Animated Short at the Academy Awards. After the nomination, Plympton found himself in high demand, working on commercials for Taco Bell and Nike, while continuing to make short films for the festival circuit. "The Tune" (1992) is widely believed to be the first feature length animated film that was hand drawn by a single artist. Plympton's first live action feature was "J. Lyle" (1994). Plympton also made two quirky live-action documentaries, "Guns on the Clackamas" (1995) and "Walt Curtis: The Peckerneck Poet" (1997), but outside of that Plympton focused on his self-financed animation, as well as commercial advertising work. In 2005 he was again nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, this time for his film "Guard Dog." That film produced the sequels, "Guide Dog" (2006), "Hot Dog" (2008), and "Horn Dog" (2009). Plympton's seventh animated feature, "Cheatin'" (2013) was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Annie Awards.