Dean Hsieh is an American artist, writer, and animator.
In 2005, Hsieh worked as an animator for the feature film A Scanner Darkly. The film was directed by acclaimed director Richard Linklater based on influential sci-fi author Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name. Since its release, the film has gained a large cult following for its innovative use of rotoscope animation.
He worked with the co-director of Machete in Austin on concept art for a proposed film based on Metallica's music. He also created concept art for a proposed film based on the cult hit novel Tokyo Suckerpunch. He has also written several screenplays, one of which was a finalist in an Amazon Studios film contest.
Later he worked on the animated portion of the 2016 documentary film Tower, which tells the story of Charles Whitman's infamous 1966 UT Tower shootings from the survivors' viewpoints. The film was critically acclaimed and won several awards, including an Emmy for News & Documentary, Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW, and a Critics' Choice Documentary Award.
In 2018 and 2019, he worked as lead animator at Minnow Mountain to produce rotoscope animation for Undone, a new show from Amazon by the creators of BoJack Horseman . Upon release, season 1 of the series received near-universal critical acclaim [1] and season 2 is now in the works.
In 2020, he began work as Character Animation Supervisor for Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood , an original animated film by Richard Linklater. [2] The movie premiered during SXSW 2022 and then released April 2022 on Netflix. It was widely acclaimed for its animation style and nostalgia-filled subjects. Later in the same month Undone season 2, which he also worked on as Character Animation Supervisor, was also released to positive critical reviews.
Hsieh began his career in comics when he was only sixteen and still in high school. After writing a negative letter to Revolutionary Comics's Rock 'N' Roll Comics , he was hired by the fledgling company to "produce comics and stories that reflected the hard edge of rock 'n' roll." [3] He wrote and drew several stories featuring bands such Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Rolling Stones, and AC/DC.
While in college, he began working on a new comic, Athena, which was originally featured in Antarctic Press's short-lived anthology series Absolute Zero. Hsieh and fellow creator Will Allison decided to start their own independent comic company, A.M.Works, in order to publish their creator-owned series Athena and Pervert Club. Hsieh's Athena, described as "full of intriguing situations and neat near-future science fiction," [4] ran for fourteen issues and was collected into two graphic novels.
Antarctic Press released his next comic Westside which was a three-issue full-color mini-series Western story with an Asian twist. A special edition of the first issue comes with a CD soundtrack featuring local Austin bands and his own theme compositions.
In December 2008, Hsieh's entry Devil's Wake (originally titled Aeon of the Dead) [5] won the monthly online contest sponsored by Zuda Comics, DC Comic's webcomic imprint. [6] The full-color comic is written and digitally painted by Hsieh and ran for sixty pages on Zuda's website. [7] Devil's Wake is available in digital format through the publishing website comiXology.
Hsieh began playing guitar in the early nineties, and his band Teen Titans played "fast paced, nerd-core that looked up to the likes of the Pixies, Wire, and Huggy Bear." [8] They released two 7" singles and were heavily involved in the local fanzine Peek-A-Boo, which later became Peek-A-Boo Records.
His next garage rock band, The 1-4-5s, released a debut single on Peek-a-Boo Records and was then signed to Estrus Records. Their first full-length, Rock Invasion, was released on Estrus. [9] They released numerous 7" singles and toured the West Coast. The band also found some success in Japan where they toured and played with fellow Japanese garage rockers The 5.6.7.8's and Supersnazz. The band broke up shortly after releasing the 10" Rock 'N Roll Spook Party on Estrus.
After the 1-4-5s broke up, Hsieh formed a new garage rock band, The Wontons. They played for several years and toured America and Japan. The Wontons released several 7" singles under different record labels and contributed to numerous compilations. [10] Their only full-length album, Hex Appeal, was released by Bloody Banner Records. [11]
In December 1999, he was a part of Golden Millennium, a glam-rock supergroup featuring fellow Austin musicians from Spoon, The Kiss Offs, and Silver Scooter. [12] He also played in the short-lived electro-punk band The Weirding. [13]
Waking Life is a 2001 American animated film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, the meaning of life, free will, and existentialism. It is centered on a young man who wanders through a succession of dreamlike realities wherein he encounters a series of people who engage in insightful philosophical discussions.
Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action movie images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This projection equipment is referred to as a rotoscope, developed by Austrian-American animator Max Fleischer. This device was eventually replaced by computers, but the process is still called rotoscoping.
The Fleischer Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated superhero short films released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance.
Richard Stuart Linklater is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies Slacker (1990) and Dazed and Confused (1993); the Before trilogy of romance films, Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), and Before Midnight (2013); the music-themed comedy School of Rock (2003); the adult animated films Waking Life (2001), A Scanner Darkly (2006), and Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood (2022); the coming-of-age drama Boyhood (2014); and the comedy film Everybody Wants Some!! (2016).
Peter Chung is a Korean American animator. He is best known for his unique style of animation, as the creator and director of Æon Flux and Reign: The Conqueror .
A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 American adult animated science fiction thriller film written and directed by Richard Linklater; it is based on the 1977 novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick. The film tells the story of identity and deception in a near-future dystopia constantly under intrusive high-tech police surveillance in the midst of a drug addiction epidemic.
Estrus Records is an independent record label from Bellingham, Washington that makes surf, garage and trash rock music.
Dash Shaw is an American comic book writer/artist and animator. He is the author of the graphic novels Cosplayers, Doctors, New School, and Bottomless Belly Button, published by Fantagraphics. Additionally, Shaw has written Love Eats Brains published by Odd God Press, GardenHead published by Meathaus, The Mother's Mouth published by Alternative Comics, and BodyWorld published by Pantheon Books.
Corey Sutherland Lewis is an American comic book creator. He is primarily known as the creator of Sharknife, published by Oni Press. Other works include PENG for Oni, and providing back-up comic strips for the Darkstalkers and Street Fighter comics for UDON. Rey also had a brief stint as the artist and writer of the Rival Schools comic book. He participated with a short story in Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Stories comic published by Dark Horse Comics. He created a series of self-published zines that were later published by Image Comics as the anthology Sun Bakery. Rey recently started Coastalvania where he sells books and other merchandise made by him.
Bob Sabiston is an American film art director, computer programmer, and creator of the Rotoshop software program for computer animation. Sabiston began developing software as an undergraduate and then graduate researcher in the MIT Media Lab from 1986 to 1991. While at MIT, and also after moving to Austin, Texas, in 1993, Sabiston used his 2D/3D software to create several short films, including God's Little Monkey (1994), "Beat Dedication" (1988), and "Grinning Evil Death" (1990). "Grinning Evil Death" was widely seen on the first episode of MTV's "Liquid Television" show. "God's Little Monkey" won the Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica award for 1994.
Tommy Pallotta is an American film director and producer.
Bob Ray is an American independent filmmaker based in Austin, Texas.
Walter Daniels is an American musician and harmonica player noted for introducing the instrument into a number of styles of music not usually associated with the harmonica, including punk rock, and avant-garde free improvisation.
Zuda Comics was DC Comics' webcomics imprint from 2007 until 2010. Some of the imprints series won awards and nominations from comic industry's Glyph Comics Awards and Harvey Awards. Bayou, Volume 1 was also named one of the 2010 Great Graphic Novels for Teens by the American Library Association.
Golden Millennium was a glam rock revival supergroup formed in 1999 composed of Dean Hsieh, Travis Higdon, Tom Hudson, and Britt Daniel.
Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows, and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show.
Jason Archer is an American artist living in Austin, Texas. He is the creator of a variety artworks as a director, animator, painter, and muralist both collaborative and solo. His work includes political satire and Texas inspired characters including Jesus Cornbread & the Alcoholics and Stray of the Dead. Archer’s early career in animation earned him a Grammy and an MTV Video of the Year Award for directing and animating "Frijolero", a music video for the Mexican rock band Molotov. Currently, Archer co-owns Show Goat Mural Works, a company that installs large scale murals such as Daniel Johnston’s ‘Love is the Question. Love is the Answer’ and his very own ‘Conservatorium of Infinite Wisdom, Sustenance and Guidance.’ Archer has participated in numerous art shows, exhibitions and events ranging from SXSW, East Austin Studio Tour and the inaugural Pop Austin International Art Show.
Justice League vs. Teen Titans is a 2016 American animated superhero film directed by Sam Liu from a screenplay by Alan Burnett and Bryan Q. Miller. It is the 26th film of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies and the seventh film in the DC Animated Movie Universe. The film features the voices of Jon Bernthal, Taissa Farmiga, and Jason O'Mara.
Robert Valley is a Canadian animator and visual graphic artist. He has a distinct visual style that is influenced by Peter Chung and Gorillaz creator Jamie Hewlett. Valley was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1969. After completing a four-year animation program in Vancouver, he moved to San Francisco in 1992.
Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood is a 2022 American animated coming of age comedy-drama film set during the events preceding the Apollo 11 Moon landing, loosely based on the childhood of writer, director, and producer Richard Linklater. It presents a fictional tale of a fourth-grader who becomes the first person to land on the Moon and stars Glen Powell, Jack Black, Zachary Levi and Josh Wiggins.