David Lynch Says it, So I don't have to...

Rory Aronski, a film critic for Film Threat magazine, once said about my films "Patrick Smith has the mind of David Lynch and the hand of Bill Plympton".. to this day nobody has ever paid me a higher compliment. I was reminded of that when my intern, Peter Ahern, posted this great clip on his facebook page. Enjoy.

Discussion with Mike Stuart...

Last month I began an exchange with Animator Mike Stuart based on my longstanding interest and obsession with the animation from "Pink Floyd's The Wall". Mike was the directing animator on practically all of the sequences, and the more I researched, the more I realized that Mike was simply "The Man" behind "The Wall". Here's bits of our exchange, Enjoy:

above: Master Animator Mike Stuart, photographed and obnoxiously watermarked by Richard Wolff. Who has an impressive collection of photos on his site of mostly british animation artists.

"THE WALL" gave me a lot of creative freedom and allowed me to move into direction as well as animation. The opportunity to 'forward animate' ie. to start with a drawing and draw from drawing to drawing instead of producing 'key' drawings and then have an assistant 'inbetween' them. The Flower Sequence is an example of 'forward animation'(psmith note: "straight ahead" to us americans). And I used it also in the 'Tumbling Leaf Man' sequence - which, incidentally, is the first bit of animation I did for Pink Floyd." -Mike Stuart

"THE WALL" was made in a very unconventional way. Very much 'on the hoof' as it were. Most of the animation for the live performances was 'recobbled' and used in the picture. The 'hammers' caused a big problem as they were initially designed for the circular screen - extra hammers had to be added on either end as, in the film, we used an 'anamorphic lens', It is really Roger's film (Roger Waters) in my opinion. Nick Mason (pink floyd drummer)occasionally came to rushes but it was Roger Waters that had the last word." -Mike Stuart

"I am working with a chap in the states who is writing a book on the making of the film. He has already produced a book on the making of the album." To quote G. Scarfe - "I don't understand why people like it so much" I think you'll find this comment on the DVD." -Mike Stuart

Above: Images depicting my obvious influence from "The Wall" from my films "Drink" and the music video "Moving Along"

"My last project was the 78 'KIPPER' series. It won a BAFTA and Annecy in 1998 plus something in Positano. I have just designed a float for the Viareggio carnival. I mainly spend my time painting and making jewelry". -Mike Stuart

Birthday Greetings!

I ran into a bunch of my old MTV friends at a party the other night, my birthday came up in conversation (it's next week) and I was reminded of all the cool art and cards I've gotten over the years. here's a small sample of them.This first one (above) is one of my favorites, Bill Plympton gave me this card four years ago, I had just finished my film "Handshake" and he had just finished "Guard Dog", so he threw the two characters together for this card! it's one of my treasured pieces of art. Bill also did a great thank you card for staying at my place in montauk, I will post it soon!
These two cards above are two of many I got while working at MTV. The studio had a tradition of giving cards to everyone on their Bday, it would get passed around and everyone would contribute a drawing. Then that person would get wods of paper whipped at them by everyone, which was occasionally pretty painful, but you'd get a cool card out of it!
This one goes all the way back to Beavis and Butthead, and The Head. Brian Moore was the artist I'm pretty sure.
This one was from when I was directing on "Downtown", a show that had a truly talented crew, the colorful image in the character "Goat" drawn most likely by Dave Vandervort.

Andrew Wyeth 1918-2009

One of my favorite painters of all time, Andrew Wyeth, who captured the melancholy of the landscapes and people of Pennsylvania in his brilliant paintings, died aged 91. I've often mentioned him within my writing and teaching, especially in terms of putting "movement" into his work, something us animators always like to point out. Wyeth was the first living US artist to be elected to the Royal Academy. It's a great loss. There just aren't classical painters like him anymore.

Christmas Inspiration: Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker...

I grew up with a massive Norman Rockwell coffee table book kicking around the house. By the time I was a teenager, this book was dog eared from me flipping through the illustrations. This image above still brings me back to when I was little, even then I was amazed at the brilliant artist/illustrator. I love the level of clarity and the use of a solid figurative silhouette in this piece. It's something every animator should keep in mind.. clarity above all. Clarity, proportion, weight, character... Norman would have been an epic animator. Every time I hang out at the society of illustrators here in New York, I think about Norman Rockwell and JC Leyendecker hanging out at the bar having a drink. Norman probably annoying JC with his fan boy questions. Rad. Enjoy the Leyendecker above, another one of my holiday favorites! I mean.. wha? that composition is just incredible... everything in a perfect place, working in complete harmony with the space. Wish I could have been there hanging out with those guys. Here's a great page of Santas, mostly by Rockwell and Leyendecker. Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!! I'm off to Wyoming to shoot more guns, see y'all in 2009!

MTV ID's from the 90's

If you read this blog, you've probably read that i got my start with an MTV ID commission, here's some others that were produced at roughly the same time.. some of my favorites. I'm currently working on getting together as many as i can get a hold of, i want to make a full res festival program out of it, some are really tough to track down. i've talked to a lot of the animators, I'll update this as they come in.



This one above is by the jail-bird Steve Dovas, it's a true classic that got tons of play.



This one above is my personal favorite, directed and animated by Dieter Mueller, *thanks danny



This one is by sir rockness, Danny Antonucci, inspired by his short film "Lupo the Butcher".



This next one above is by Olivia Ward and Miguel Martinez-Joffre, it came out the same week as my own ID. It won a BDA gold, beating me out, i won the bronze that year. Stay tuned, I'll keep posting as I get them.