Skip to main contentPortland is going back to the drawing board.
Starting Monday, June 25, we're playing host to the first-ever Platform International Animation Festival, a Cartoon Network-sponsored convention that will bring together more than 300 inkers and computer whizzes from studios including Disney, Pixar, Nickelodeon and Aardman. There will be competitions between cutting-edge films, exhibitions of online gaming avatars, and even a "drink and draw" party that will invite artists to create a movie with the aid of alcohol. In keeping with the whimsical spirit of the event, there will be a picnic. (It's set for Sauvie Island.) For six days, Portland becomes the center of the animation universe (see page 37 for festival details, more must-see events and pricing).
But the presence of Platform merely confirms what local illustrators have long known: This is an animated city. If the Toon Town of Who Framed Roger Rabbit actually existed, Portland could give L.A. a run for its money as the true location. Forget roses and strippers: Portland gives America its cartoons.
This city has so many animation landmarks you'd need a map to find them all. So we've made one: Enlisting the knowledge of Platform supervising producer Marilyn Zornado and the sketching skills of Laika animator Robin Ator, WW has created a guide to the locations that made cartoon history, and the spots where the future is just starting to stir. We hope it inspires you to join in the Platform merriment. For in the immortal words of Mayor Quimby: "You are tampering with forces you can't understand. We have major corporations sponsoring this event."
Lew Cook. In the beginning, cartoons were formed from clay. More specifically, a newsreel maker named Lew Cook created a 35 mm nitrate film called The Little Baker around 1925. From his headquarters at Northeast 22nd Avenue and Pacific Street, Cook also created commercials for Weinhard's Blitz beer.
Mel Blanc. "The Man of a Thousand Voices" was born in San Francisco, but he honed his first impression—Woody Woodpecker—at the old Lincoln High School (Southwest Park Avenue and Market Street). Blanc would go on to create the voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn and Barney Rubble.
Teknifilm Labs. Frank Hood was an employee of the measurement systems company Tektronix, but he spent nights in his basement (Northeast 13th Avenue and Roselawn Street) tinkering with a film processing machine. By the 1950s, Hood's Teknifilm Labs was crafting an iconic series of animated commercials for local companies like Big O Tires.
Closed Mondays. Will Vinton, the godfather of Portland animation, also got his start at home (3285 NW Thurman St.). In his garage, Vinton and Bob Gardiner created a seven-minute clay comedy called Closed Mondays. It won the 1975 Oscar for best animated short. The Claymation craze was on, and Will Vinton Studios was at the forefront.
Bob and Elvis. Vinton and Gardiner parted ways after their Oscar win, and Gardiner took his clay work—he preferred to call it "sculptimation"—in experimental directions. When not teaching at the Portland Center for Visual Arts (Northwest 4th Avenue and Couch Street), Gardiner created film about Elvis for Rolling Stone.
Plymptoons. He would go on to national fame and countless tours, but Portland State University grad Bill Plympton began with a simple animated song called Your Face. Personally animating every cel—a trademark he continues to use—Plympton invented a strange singer whose visage mutates in alarming ways. It led to a 1988 Oscar nomination, and 30 years of equally warped ideas.
Vinton Hits the Grapevine. The California Raisin Advisory Board would have been just another agricultural marketing group if it hadn't sent Vinton Studios (Northwest 26th Avenue and Upshur Street) an idea for Marvin Gaye-crooning dried grapes with shades and saxophones. In 1987, the California Raisins debuted.
The Simpsons. In 1960, Matt Groening entered Ainsworth Elementary (2425 SW Vista Ave.). Twenty-seven years later, he introduced two more grade-schoolers: Bart and Lisa. The rest is history, written in doughnuts.
Laika. Vinton Studios begat Phil Knight-owned Laika (1400 NW 22nd Ave.), and in 1992 Laika begat the talking M&M candies.
Laura di Trapani. From her studio on Northwest Front Avenue, di Trapani created surreal collages and psychedelic Sesame Street segments.
Joan, Joanna and Jim. They share an office at 1801 NW Upshur St., but Joan C. Gratz, Joanna Priestley and Jim Blashfield are old hands at following singular visions. Gratz joined the ranks of Portland Oscar nominees with the 1992 short Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase. Priestley has used sand, rubber stamps and puppets to make 13 movies. Blashfield has spent the past 10 years on Bunnyheads, which debuts this week at Platform.
Rose's Festivals. Since 2003, Rose Bond has gone off-camera to create installations that turn buildings into moving objects. Check out her work at Northwest 12th Avenue and Hoyt Street this week.
Bent. With projects like Chel White's Saturday Night Live parody "The Narrator That Ruined Christmas" and innovations including David Daniels' Strata-Cut clay technique, Bent Image Lab (2729 SE Division St.) has joined the city's cartoon elite.
FFAKE and Renegade. A year ago, Laika president Paul Golden jumped the Phil Knight ship to form his own animation production company. FFAKE is now making commercials for Nokia, and shares work and an office (221 SE Main St.) with Renegade Animation, the Portland branch of a California company. Renegade is currently working on a Cartoon Network project called The Mr. Men Show.
Coraline. In 2005, Henry Selick—yes, that Henry Selick, the stop-motion wizard behind The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach—arrived at an office at the corner of Northwest 14th Avenue and Kearney Street, where he began designing the characters for the $70 million Laika production Coraline. The film hits the big screen in 2008.
Creature Comforts. If you've been enjoying the latest loopy achievement by world-renowned animation studio Aardman on CBS this summer, thank Portlanders Teresa Drilling (Northeast 42nd Avenue and Fremont Street) and Bartek Prusiewicz, who contributed to character design and animation.
Platform. T-t-that's not all, folks. There's plenty more local (and worldwide) talent to be found at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts (1111 SW Broadway) and the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (1219 SW Park Ave.). For this week, those two locations are Toon Town Hall.
Toon Town Two: Five Platform events you just can't miss.
Tempting as it might be to skip work and watch cartoons all day—actually, that's pretty tempting even when there isn't an animation festival in town—most bosses wouldn't approve the plan. So it's necessary to pick and choose from the Platform International Animation Festival's huge buffet of goodies. Here are five must-see events:
1. The Opening-Night Competition
Sure, you can see Mayor Tom Potter do his best Quimby impersonation to open the festivities, but the real reason to see the first batch of 100 films in competition at Platform is a 10-minute rodent epic called
. Directed by Alex Weil, the founder of the New York City design studio Charlex, the computer-animated film is a breathtakingly detailed, deeply affecting tale of doomed love in a laboratory. It's the
of rat cartoons.
2. Films by Kids for Kids
The DIY children of Portland do not need to see
again. What they need to see is a four-minute interpretation of Plato's Cave Allegory. Made with Legos. By a 16-year-old. It doesn't come with a Happy Meal, but it might inspire some actual happiness.
3. Paint Your Own UniPo
What's better than getting the newest 12-inch sphere-headed vinyl toy from Northwest Portland designers UNKL? Getting to decide exactly what expression will go on its cute, trendy little face. UNKL's booth, open each day of the festival, is selling the blank UniPos at the discounted price of $30 and providing plenty of drawing implements. We plan on making our own tiny Pulitzer Prize-clutching Nigel Jaquiss.
4. Frederator Drinking and Drawing Party
Animation is a laborious, detailed process that requires intense concentration and boundless imagination. Animation plus alcohol is a party. A hundred professionals are getting together to down booze and doodle a section of a short movie. The result will be shown at the end of the party, and will inspire jaw-dropping awe. But only if you're drunk.
5. An Afternoon with Henry Selick
Who wouldn't want to spend the day with Henry Selick—or even just the allotted 90 minutes? You could ask him about designing Jack Skellington for Tim Burton's
. You could find out what inspired the Jaguar Shark that made Bill Murray cry in
. You might even get some precious details of Laika's closely guarded
project, an adaptation of the Neil Gaiman tale. Or you could just ask him how he likes living in Portland. Use your imagination.
runs Monday-Saturday, June 25-30. Events are being held throughout the city. Visit platformfestival.com for a full schedule of events, parties, panels and screenings. A full pass to all Platform events costs $175. Daily passes—which cover all screenings, parties and other activities—cost $50 each. Admission to individual screenings is $10.
WWeek 2015