Bill Plympton

Bill Plympton studied at School of Visual Arts, Portland State University and Oregon City High School. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is animation. Residence is recorded at New York City. Works named in the authority record are Your Face. Distinctions recorded are Inkpot Award.

Plympton was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Wilda Jean (Jerman) and Donald F. Plympton, and was raised on a farm in nearby Oregon City with five siblings. From 1964 to 1968, he studied Graphic Design at Portland State University, where he was a member of the film society and worked on the yearbook. In 1968, he transferred to the School of Visual Arts in New York City, where he majored in cartooning. He graduated from SVA in 1969.

Plympton's illustrations and cartoons have been published in The New York Times and the weekly newspaper The Village Voice, as well as in the magazines Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse, and National Lampoon. His political cartoon strip Plympton, which began in 1975 in the SoHo Weekly News, eventually was syndicated and appeared in over 20 newspapers. In 1988, his animated short Your Face was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. He also became known for other animated short films, including 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989) and Enemies (1991), the latter of which was part of the Animania series on MTV, where many of his other shorts were shown. In 1991, Plympton won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival for Push Comes to Shove which was featured on MTV's animated series Liquid Television. In 1992, his self-financed, first feature-length animated film, The Tune debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. His work also appeared on the 1992–1993 Fox comedy series The Edge. In 1993, he made his first live action film, J. Lyle. In 1995, he contributed animation and graphics to a computer game collection, Take Your Best Shot. He also published a comic book in 2003, The Sleazy Cartoons of Bill Plympton. The actress Martha Plimpton, a distant relative of his, served as associate producer on Plympton's animated feature Hair High (2004), doing much of the casting. The movie's voice cast included her father Keith Carradine and her uncle David Carradine.

Guard Dog (2004) was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. In 2005, Plympton animated a music video for Kanye West's "Heard 'Em Say" and the following year, he created the music video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song". Plympton contributed animation to the 2006 History Channel series 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America, to illustrate the events of Shays' Rebellion. Together with other independent New York City animators, he has released two DVDs of animated shorts, both titled Avoid Eye Contact. Plympton's 2008 80-minute feature, Idiots and Angels presented by Terry Gilliam, had no dialogue. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 26 April 2008, In 2011, Alexia Anastasio completed a documentary on Plympton's life, Adventures in Plymptoons!, released in September 2012 direct-to-DVD and on video-on-demand. In 2011, Plympton collaborated with child film critic Perry Chen on Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest, a 2011 short animated film directed by Kevin Sean Michaels, about actress and Holocaust survivor Ingrid Pitt. Plympton's seventh animated feature, Cheatin' (2013), was partly financed through a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $100,000. Plympton personally drew more than 40,000 frames for the film. Cheatin' won the Jury Award for a Feature Film at the 2014 Annecy International Animation Film Festival, as well as the ANIMAFICX Award at the 2013 Gijón International Film Festival. Plympton directed the segment "On Eating and Drinking" in the 2014 animated film The Prophet, adapted from Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet. In 2016, Plympton completed two feature-length projects. Hitler's Folly was conceived as a satirical mockumentary, while Revengeance was made in collaboration with animator Jim Lujan. Lujan wrote, designed and voiced Revengeance, while Plympton produced, co-directed and animated the film. Revengeance received the Grand Jury Prize in the Animated Feature Competition at the 2017 Nashville Film Festival. In 2018, Plympton created the animated series of shorts Trump Bites for The New York Times. One installment, Trump and Putin: A Love Story, depicting Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in an intimate relationship, drew criticism for relying on imagery that some commentators described as homophobic. In 2019, Plympton received the Pulcinella Career Award at Cartoons on the Bay in Turin, recognizing his career in independent animation. His 2021 short Demi's Panic, written by Danny Leonard and inspired by experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, marked an unusually dramatic departure from Plympton's predominantly comic work. In 2020, Plympton launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new animated musical western, Slide. The campaign raised approximately $60,000 from 400 backers. The film screened at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival and at other festivals during 2023 and 2024. Plympton's studio states that the production officially wrapped in late 2024. In November 2025, the film was released theatrically in France as Duel à Monte-Carlo del Norte. In 2023, the National Cartoonists Society awarded Plympton the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award for his career as a cartoonist. In August 2025, Plympton announced a new animated short entitled Whale 52 - Suite for Man, Boy, and Whale, which had its New York premiere the following month at the IFC Center during a multi-day Plympton retrospective presented by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Another Plympton short, Duckville, also had its New York premiere during the retrospective. Whale 52 subsequently screened at the 2025 Woodstock Film Festival and was among the animated shorts that qualified for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. Although it was not nominated for an Academy Award, in February 2026 Whale 52 received the Crystal Bear for Best Short Film at the Berlin International Film Festival. In April 2026, Plympton received the Romics d'Oro at the 36th edition of Romics in Rome, in recognition of his career in independent animation.

On December 23, 2011, Plympton married animator/artist/illustrator Sandrine Flament. Their son was born in September 2012.

The Tune (1992) I Married a Strange Person! (1997) Mutant Aliens (2001) Hair High (2004) Idiots and Angels (2008) Cheatin' (2013) Revengeance (2016) Slide (2024)

Walt Curtis: The Peckerneck Poet (1997) Fuck (2005; provided animated sequences) Adventures in Plymptoons! by Alexia Anastasio (2011)

J. Lyle (1993) Guns on the Clackamas(1995) Walt Curtis, the Peckerneck Poet (1997) Hitler's Folly (a mockumentary) (2016)

Source unless otherwise noted: The Turn On (1968; 2:00) Lucas the Ear of Corn (1977; 4:00) Boomtown (1985; 6:00) Love in the Fast Lane (1985; 3:00) Your Face (1987; 3:10) Drawing Lesson #2 (1988; 6:00) One of Those Days (1988: 7:50) How to Kiss (1989; 6:35) 25 Ways to Quit Smoking (1989; 5:00) Plymptoons (1990; 6:45) Tango Schmango (1991) Dig My Do (1990; 4:00) The Wiseman (1990: 4:30) Push Comes to Shove (1991; 6:30) Draw (1993; 2:00) Faded Roads (1994; 2:30) Nosehair (1994; 7:00) How to Make Love to a Woman (1995; 5:00) Smell the Flowers (1996; 2:00) Boney D (1996; 3:00) Plympmania (1996; 8:00) Sex & Violence (1997; 8:00) The Exciting Life of a Tree (1998; 7:00) More Sex & Violence (1998; 7;00) Surprise Cinema (1999; 7:00) The Exciting Life of a Tree (1999, 6:10) (presenter, animator) Can't Drag Race with Jesus (2000; 2:00) Eat (2001; 9:00) Parking (2002; 5:22) Guard Dog (2004; 5:00) The Fan and The Flower (2005; 7:10) Guide Dog (2006; 5:45) (sequel to Guard Dog) Shuteye Hotel (2007; 7:00) Gary Guitar (2008) (episode of Random! Cartoons) Hot Dog (2008) (third in the Guard Dog series) Santa: The Fascist Years (2009) Horn Dog (2009) (fourth in the Guard Dog series) The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger (2010) Summer Bummer (2011; 1:49) Waiting For Her Sailor (2011; 0:30) Tiffany the Whale: Death on the Runway (2012; 8:56) Drunker Than a Skunk (2013; 3:30) Footprints (2014; 4:01) The Prophet (segment, On Eating & Drinking) (2014) ABCs of Death 2 (segment-H is for Head Games) (2014) The Loneliest Stoplight (2015; 6:18) Cop Dog (2017) (fifth in the Guard Dog series) Demi’s Panic (2021) Duckville (2024) Whale 52 - Suite for Man, Boy and Whale (2025)

12 Tiny Christmas Tales (2001) ChalkZone “That Thing You Drew” Random! Cartoons - Gary Guitar The Simpsons couch gags (2012–2022; Beware My Cheating Bart, Black Eyed, Please, Married to the Blob, Lisa the Veterinarian, 22 for 30, 3 Scenes Plus a Tag from a Marriage, Manger Things, One Angry Lisa)

Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 1 Avoid Eye Contact Vol. 2 Plymptoons: The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton (1992) Bill Plympton's Dirty Shorts (2006) Mondo Plympton (2007) Bill Plympton's Dog Days (2009) Bill Plympton's Dogs & Cows (2013)

Peter Himmelman – "245 Days" (1990) Kanye West – "Heard 'Em Say" (2005) "Weird Al" Yankovic – "Don't Download This Song" (2006) Parson Brown, "Mexican Standoff" (2008) "Weird Al" Yankovic – "TMZ" (2011) Cousin Joe Twoshacks (Joe Cartoon) - "Deep End" (2014) "Weird Al" Yankovic – "Polkamania" ("Shape of You" segment) (2024) Jon Bellion – "Rich and Broke" (2025) Wendy Maybury — The Vagina Song (2026)

MTV public service announcement "Acid Rain" (1989) Trivial Pursuit (3) (1990–91) Nutrasweet (1991) Soloflex "Transformation" (1992) Oregon Lottery "Blackjack" (1992) Taco Bell "Fuddy Duddy" (1993) Nik Naks (UK) (1993) Microsoft Windows '95 (1995) AirTouch Cellular (1996) AT&T "Longshot" (1996) AT&T Wireless "Map-O-Rama" (1997) NBC "Peacock Bumper" (1997) 7-11/PBS "Head" & "Explore" (1997) The Money Store "End of the World" & "Rollercoaster" (1998) Geico Direct (6) (1999) Wilson Tennis (3) (2002) United Airlines "Signature" (2005) Ford Motor Company (2016)

A collection of more than 180 Plympton items is held at the Academy Film Archive. The archive has preserved Plympton's films such as Your Face, The Tune, Guard Dog, and The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger. His films have featured in the Animation Show of Shows including Your Face, Guard Dog, Eat (2001), The Fan and the Flower (2005), and Santa: The Fascist Years (2009). On June 1, 2026, Plympton was inducted into the Animation Hall of Fame.

Plympton has stated he has many influences, the biggest being the work of the Walt Disney with others including Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Robert Crumb, Milton Glaser, Charles Addams, Charles M. Schulz, Frank Capra, Bob Godfrey, Tomi Ungerer, Quentin Tarantino, Jacques Tati, Don Martin, Harvey Kurtzman, Spain Rodriguez and Jules Feiffer. He said I Married a Strange Person! "was influenced by Peter Jackson, some of his earlier films... where he used gore and violence and blood as humor." He also included references to Jacques Tati, Carlos Nine, and Milt Kahl.