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Illustrating Reality
Bill Plympton on his life in animation
by Connie Blaszczyk
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 Cartoonist and animator Bill Plympton is a man with vision -- and his visions are truly bizarre. Whether body parts, internal organs, nose hair or orifices, Plympton gleefully contorts, distorts, twists and mangles human nature, turning a kiss into a surrealistic act.
Born and raised in Oregon, Plympton is proud to tell you he graduated from Oregon City High School, the same school that spawned the likes of Gary Gilmore and Tonya Harding. Armed with a degree in graphic design from Portland State University, Plympton quickly headed East to Mecca, aka New York City. There, in the late 1960s, during the era of freeing one's mind and body through legal and sometimes illicit means, his unique take on reality began to ferment.
Thirty years and tens of thousands of illustrations later, Plympton still works quietly at his drawing board each day, finding inspiration in everything from Kentucky Fried Chicken to mutant aliens. Fiercely independent, the 53-year-old artist is careful to retain the rights to every idea and drawing that comes out of his head. Consequently, Plympton has been able to work censor-free, creating a profitable market for his films, books and videos. And then there are shorts like "How To Kiss," "Your Face," and "25 Ways To Quit Smoking," which still circulate at animation festivals, generating income ten years later.
While one famous West Coast studio recently made him sweet offers, Plympton isn't much interested in the big time. He treasures too highly what his autonomy brings -- the chance to freely roam the badlands of good taste. His bizarre excursions have recently included I Married a Strange Person, and Sex and Violence in which breasts find a new place on the evolutionary chain, and lawnmowers take vengeance on suburbanites. But Plympton isn't worried about alienating his audience. As a recent visit to his New York studio showed, Plympton is just beginning to taste what real freedom of expression is all about.
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On video: Meet master animator, Bill Plympton.
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Bill Plympton
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