The Metrograph cinema in New York is preparing to host independent animator Bill Plympton, who turns 80. The event will feature a friendly conversation alongside fellow animator Signe Baumane and the screening of seven short films, from the classic One of Those Days (1988) to Whale 52 (2025), his most recent work that won the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. Baumane described him as the most influential independent animator in history.
The handcrafted technique behind 120 uncompromising shorts 🎨
Plympton built his career far from major studios, drawing each frame by hand with colored pencils and watercolors. His method, based on limited animation and the use of static backgrounds, allows him to produce a short in weeks, not years. This handcrafted approach has given him a recognizable visual signature: thick lines, saturated colors, and a frantic narrative pace. Although he has collaborated with voices like Whoopi Goldberg and Paul Giamatti, he never delegated the main drawing, maintaining total control over his work.
Plympton at 80: more shorts than gray hairs and a Crystal Bear 🐻
While other animators his age are already retired or selling NFTs of their old sketches, Plympton continues to release shorts and win awards at the Berlinale. At 80, his routine remains the same: wake up, draw, and complain that studios won't fund a movie about a talking dog. With over 120 shorts and two Oscar nominations, it seems old age has only reached his ID card, not his hand holding the pencil.