One recent afternoon, I got a call from some lady asking if I was the Bill Plympton who was the animator. I said, "Yes I am". Then she asked if I could talk to Kanye West. I said "Certainly." Hearing his name often enough, I knew he was big in the hip-hop music scene and also I’d seen "Jarhead" and loved his music for the film. A few hours later, he called me from some far away concert he was doing. He told me that he had seen my film when he was younger in those animation compilations that played on television and he asked if I’d like to do his next music video. I, of course, said yes knowing that the video would get excellent exposure. However, he said there might be a few problems.

The story was that MTV had contracted to premiere his new video "Heard 'Em Say". So Kanye had hired the famed music video director Michel Gondry. It cost about half a million to make and they closed down Macy’s for three nights to shoot the video. Except now Kanye said he wasn't too happy with the video and the MTV deadline was ten days away and the money was gone; do I still want to do it? I said yes even though I was thick in the middle of completing 15 minutes of animation for the History Channel’s premiere program for the year, "10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America". (My sequence is called "Shay’s Rebellion.") So, I immediately began sketching and storyboarding the Kanye West clip after hearing the song. He walked me through all the symbols and references inherent in the lyrics and he approved my ideas, though he did change the ending. He was even kind enough to pay my small fee out of his pocket.

To get more inspiration, I went to his sold-out Madison Square Garden concert and was amazed to discover what a showman and visual artist Kanye is. The concert was a real tour de force of music, lyrics and images that was totally compelling—it was like nothing I’d ever seen before, especially coming from a country-western background. As the MTV deadline neared, the whole studio worked over the weekend, with Kanye spending two days at my studio fine-tuning the images and animation. We felt we had something pretty unique and powerful. He even had a gallery exhibition of the art and opening for the video at a Chelsea Gallery. My brother, Peter, who was in town with the famed Portland band Pink Martini was able to join me, also my assistants Biljana Labovic, Lisa LaBracio, and Kerri Jaworski (see photo). I found Kanye to be a very generous, smart, and humble guy for such a big super star; in fact, at the opening he declared that I was the Michael Jordan of animation. I like that!

After completion of the Kanye West music video, I was able to finally finish the Shay’s Rebellion documentary. It’s actually a very unique approach for the History channel. Usually, as you know, most documentaries use archival film or photos, talking heads and reenactments. But R.J. Cutler, the producer of this half hour, wanted to use an entirely fresh approach. So he asked if I could do animation in the style of the famed "Hellboy" artist, Michael Mignola. I love that style, so I said yes. So, after getting Mike Mignola's permission, I dove into fifteen minutes of George Washington as "Hellboy" animation. And I must say it looks pretty cool. Traditional animation is rarely used in documentaries. Of course the most famous is the Disney feature "Victory Through Air Power" done in 1943, which I loved, so there is a precedent. Watch for this special with an April premiere. They even said it could get a promotion on the sides of the buses in New York!
Even though my new short "The Fan and the Flower", produced and written by Dan O’Shannon, was not accepted by the famed Sundance Film Festival, I was invited out to Utah to take part in a panel on the graphic uses of film, hosted by GenArt. I love the Sundance Festival, and I’ve been going there since ’89 when "Sex, Lies and Videotape" was such a discovery. I ran into a lot of friends such as R.J. Cutler (of "Shay's"), Geoff Gilmore and John Cooper (festival directors), Julie Talen (film writer and director), Dan Mirvish, Morgan Spurlock, and Spike (of Spike and Mike fame). I even got to meet Lea Thompson of "Back to the Future" fame in the green room before my GenArt panel. I was only there for three days so I only saw one film; it was mostly parties and visiting friends.

January 30th is usually a big day for me, it's the day the Oscar nominations are announced. Dan & I had a very good feeling about the chances of "The Fan & Flower" getting a nomination. A lot of people even thought it would win the Oscar. But alas, the academy did not pick our film. My feeling is that a number of voting members remembered me from last year's "Guard Dog" and perhaps felt they should let other animators have the opportunity, for whatever reason. Dan and I were very disappointed and I went out with him and his lovely wife Daphne for dinner and a good cry in our beers. We thought the life of the film was over.

Not so fast there, Bucky! I was out in L.A. with Dan to attend the Annies, ASIFA-Hollywood's animated version of the Oscars. So we both dressed up in suits and attended the Annies out in the valley – a veritable who’s who in animation was there; Bill Koyer, Bob Kurtz, Tom Kenny (voice of SpongeBob) was a great MC, Patrick Warburton, Mark Kausler, Henry Selick, Nick Park, Steve Box, and Brad Bird. It was no surprise that Wallace & Gromit cleaned up all the prizes, and when they came to the short film winner, they announced "The Fan & the Flower"! Dan and I were so dispirited about the failure to get an Oscar nomination that we never bothered to plan an Annie acceptance speech. We muddled our way through the speech and had a grand time the rest of the evening. Then we were contacted by Magnolia Pictures about their Oscar shorts show. They wanted to release all the films nominated for Oscars and included ours, even though it wasn't nominated. I like to think that’s because it should have been nominated. So watch for it at your local cinema--it’s a great program.

I spent the next day with a musician/singer (I’m not supposed to mention his name for some contract reason) that I’m working on doing a music video for. He’s a big star, but yet is a very modest guy. In fact, after having a nice lunch in Hollywood, some street bum recognized him and yelled out his name. And this big star was kind enough to chat with this guy, and he even signed his autograph on the guy's empty matchbook he found in the gutter. The music video is very exciting; I think it’s one of my best and it should come out this summer. So watch for it!

I’m working on two projects now—one is a pilot for Nickelodeon called "Gary Guitar" with music by Maureen McElheron and Hank Bones. And when I'm finished with that, I want to start my new feature about a stupid guy with wings. I had planned to begin animation on the first of April (April Fool's Day) but I’m still looking for a new space to move into, so that move may delay my start of production. It will be broadcast over the Internet as I draw it, as Hair High was.

I'm now writing this scrapbook on a plane returning from Oporto, Portugal. Fantasporto is one of my favorite festivals. It's in this charming town that produces all the Port wine that is so popular around the world. I was happy to be there because I had sold all my film libraries for release in Portugal and they brought me there to introduce the films, publicize the release of my films, and get a Grand Fantasporto prize. Since I don’t have a big studio behind me, I must travel a lot like a rock band to spread the word about my work and build an audience. So that is one reason why I travel so much to so many festivals, not to mention that I like to travel. It's a good vacation from the constant hours I spend in front of my drawing board.

I just saw the new Miramax film "Hoodwinked". I have a few thoughts about the film. It’s UGLY!!! Boy, what an ugly film! I heard they spent about 15 million on that film. Why couldn't they have spent at least $50,000 to get a good character designer?? It would have made the film a lot more enjoyable to watch. But apart from the ugly design and crude animation, it is actually a funny film with endearing characters, fun jokes, and a good concept.

I guess the fact that the film raked in 50 million and my film, "Hair High", has yet to find domestic distribution is part of my sour grapes. We had a few offers but nothing's really approaching what I paid for the film. So unfortunately it looks like I'll have to self distribute, which is a big pain in the keester. Now I have to make posters, flyers, press kits, and trailers; and also now buy ads on all the local papers. It's a ton of detailed work, but in the long run that means more money comes my way and I get to retain ownership and residuals of the film. So, if you want "Hair High" to come to a cinema near you, pester your local cinema and have them contact me at plymptoons@aol.com.

The feature opens at the Seattle film forum on March 23-29 . Tell all your friends and I'll be there on March 23rd, so I hope to see you there!

The cartoon for this edition is on page 34 of Sloppy Seconds (Plymptoons Publishing). This piece was commissioned by Michelle Urry, the cartoon editor of Playboy magazine. I can't remember if these were my ideas or if some other writer's ideas (it was so long ago!), but they seem like mine. Anyway, I like the art—it was in color and I think this is a very successful feature.