Channel Frederator Blog

“Does a Ross Bolinger animate in the woods?” Yes, yes he does. Here’s the scoop on your new favorite animated web series, Pencilmation.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Ross Bolinger: I’m going into my senior year at the School of Visual Arts.

CF: What has influenced your style the most?

RB: Graphically, I would say a lot of early animation has influenced my work…the early Mickey Mouse and Felix cartoons–back when Ub Iwerks would sit down and whip out an entire Mickey cartoon single handedly, drawing straight ahead and not planning so much. Capturing that spontaneity interests me.

Buster Keaton sought to preserve that same spontaneity in film, and I try to aim for some of that as well since my style is so simple and because I am working alone. I also get a lot of influence from listening to music and reading. I read ten times more than I watch cartoons or draw. (Maybe now you know why my characters are stick figures…)

CF: What gave you the idea for the Pencilmation series?

RB: The Chuck Jones cartoon, Duck Amuck. That’s the Looney Tunes episode where Daffy Duck is being screwed with by the artist that turns out to be none other than Bugs Bunny. I think I was about sixteen, saw that cartoon and thought I’d do my own rendition. It wasn’t until recently that I decided that maybe I should try to do more of them in sort of a blog format.

CF: Do you have any cool projects coming up that you can talk to us about?

RB: I’m trying to do a new Pencilmation every two weeks, so if that works out you can expect to see a new one of those every couple weeks. I’m also doing a lot with music. (Leaping around on stage by night provides a nice balance to sitting in my room doodling by day). Check out The Dead River Company, and if you’re in New York, come see us! Back on the animation front, I’d like to do more collaboration. I’d come up with some ideas and let someone run with their own totally different style; sort of an R. Crumb/Harvey Pekar relationship. That’d be fun.

Also, I want to get a houseboat.

CF: The world is crazy - if you could erase one thing and draw in something else, what would it be? I’d pencil in some wings on myself.

RB: I agree, the world is crazy! I would say that I’d erase television, but that’s already being erased by the computer! I would erase every mini mall in the country and replace them all with spaceships, fully prepared for intergalactic travel. Woohoo!

CF: FINALLY! Someone who gets it.

Thanks for the interview, Ross!

You can watch “Pencilmation #3: MC Hammered” right here on Channel Frederator!

-Bailee DesRocher