Smudge Animation LLC

Smudge Animation LLC WHO am I? Many things, including a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology’s M.F.A. WHERE do I work? Wherever the work takes me. Or Bill Plympton.

computer animation program, an active member of the Toronto Animated Image Society, the current Membership Coordinator for ASIFA/Central, and part of the 30% of men who belong to the organization 'Women in Animation.'

WHAT do I work on? My body of work is primarily Forensic Animation for court cases and animation/video for museums and private clients who work in the field of historic reproduction

s. I'm based in East Lansing, Michigan, but my job has taken me from California, Michigan, Massachusetts, and New York, to as far away as England. WHY ‘Smudge Animation?’
Well, basically because I'm not John Lasseter. Or Walt Disney. Or Chuck Jones, Don Hertzfeldt, Mamoru Oshi, J.J. Seidelmeier, PES, BLU, or Peter Chung—pick just about any famous animator and it’ll fit. I don’t have their talent or filmography under my belt. And as most of my forensic animations get sealed by the courts, they are never seen by anyone outside of a few attorneys, clients, and a judge or two. Only recently have I started doing work for a broader viewing audience (museums, historical reproductions, etc). So I think it’s rather pretentious of me to bill myself as ‘Chuck Wilson Animation’ or something like that. If I had a fraction of the talent found in the previous list of titans, maybe I’d consider it. But for now… no, ‘Smudge Animation’ works. It’s cute, gets a little laugh when people see it on my business card, and they remember it. As to why the name ‘Smudge,’ well, when I was thinking up names back in 2000, my brother brought home a stray cat that was covered in fluffy, silky white fur—all except for this streak of grey fur that made it look like she walked under a car and got some axle grease on her forehead. So, we called her ‘Smudge.’ At the time, I thought it was serendipity—or at the very least, a funny story to tell people when they asked me about the name of my company. HOW do I produce my animations? Depends on the job. Though I love working old-school with the mark one pencil and paper, I'm an Adobe zealot. So most of my work uses Adobe's Production Premium suite of products (After Effects, Audition, Encore, Flash, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere and Soundbooth) but for the forensic work--when a level of scientific precision is required--I use Visual Statement's FX software.

This past weekend, I flew to New Orleans for my brother-in-law's 60th birthday party--what we all were calling "John Con...
01/28/2025

This past weekend, I flew to New Orleans for my brother-in-law's 60th birthday party--what we all were calling "John Con 2025" by the end of the weekend. Well, true to form, my sister selected our first meetup at the Café du Monde on the north side of town. Not the one by the waterfront where I had been before, no, this was the one a five minute walk from the New Orleans Museum of Art. So after getting sugared up on beignets, it was time to get moving and walk off some of that breakfast. The pre-planned walking tour of the French Quarter wouldn't be until the early afternoon, so I had time to walk across the street to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

This past weekend, I flew to New Orleans for my brother-in-law's 60th birthday party--what we all were calling "John Con 2025" by the end of...

"I have to wonder, five-hundred years from now, will people even know about all the art we created in the late 20th/earl...
01/14/2025

"I have to wonder, five-hundred years from now, will people even know about all the art we created in the late 20th/early 21st Century? Or will there be this huge cultural gap where art was being produced in physical format up until the 1980's and then it largely ceased..."

I had hoped to end the old year and begin the new with some art and peaceful introspection. The Flint Institute of Arts did not disappoint. ...

"I hadn't planned on going to Ottawa this year. But when a colleague offered me space in his hotel room, well, I couldn'...
10/24/2024

"I hadn't planned on going to Ottawa this year. But when a colleague offered me space in his hotel room, well, I couldn't pass up the opportunity. If you're going to make a nine-hour drive to Ottawa, you'd be hard pressed to find someone better than animator and ASIFA Secretary Jim Middleton to travel with..."

I hadn't planned on going to Ottawa this year. Too much going on, too much money going out--home repairs, car repairs, and the like. And it'...

Well, fall is here and with it the fall semester at CMU. Once again, the College of Art and Media graciously invited me ...
09/21/2024

Well, fall is here and with it the fall semester at CMU. Once again, the College of Art and Media graciously invited me to teach the History of Animation. This year, I did a number of things differently, foremost among them were starting my revisions in April.

Well, fall is here and with it the fall semester at CMU. Once again, the College of Art and Media graciously invited me to teach the History...

As time marches on, I've been watching more and more Anime television series. More often than not though, before every s...
07/05/2024

As time marches on, I've been watching more and more Anime television series. More often than not though, before every season starts I'll make a list of six or seven shows that I want to take a look at and see if they're worth following through to completion. My plan allows for viewing the first two (maybe three) episodes to see if they're worth my time and the list gets culled as the season progresses...

As time marches on, I've been watching more and more Anime television series. On the upside: the stories are usually more engaging, mor...

"Back in 1994, on the first day of classes that Fall quarter, Erik and Marla gathered us first-year grad students togeth...
07/01/2024

"Back in 1994, on the first day of classes that Fall quarter, Erik and Marla gathered us first-year grad students together in a room and went over what the program entailed and what the next three years would look like (back then it was a three-year M.F.A. program and R.I.T. was on the quarter system).

During his lecture, Erik made a statement that has stuck with me over the past thirty years..."

Back in 1994, on the first day of classes that Fall quarter, Erik and Marla gathered us first-year grad students together in a room and went...

Friday's events were mostly mixers and meet-and-greets. When I heard that there was going to be limited numbers of passh...
06/16/2024

Friday's events were mostly mixers and meet-and-greets. When I heard that there was going to be limited numbers of passholders allowed to these events, I took a pass...

Friday's events were mostly mixers and meet-and-greets. When I heard that there was going to be limited numbers of passholders allowed to ...

Thursday morning arrived a little sooner that I expected. I awoke to the sounds of cars, construction, and people--the t...
06/16/2024

Thursday morning arrived a little sooner that I expected. I awoke to the sounds of cars, construction, and people--the typical sounds of a big city. Was immediately reminded that I still need to finish watching Walter Ruttman's Berlin: Symphony of a Great City before the Fall semester...

Thursday morning arrived a little sooner that I expected. I awoke to the sounds of cars, construction, and peop...

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Ottawa this year. 2024 is a Presidential election year here in the States and...
06/16/2024

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Ottawa this year. 2024 is a Presidential election year here in the States and the last one was pretty crazy. Am still not sure if I should leave the country two months before a national election, even if it's only across the border into Canada. But fortunately, the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International was in the Spring and it has been far too long since I've experienced TAAFI in person. So I exercised a couple of vacation days, rented a car, and off I went to the Great White North.

I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to Ottawa this year. 2024 is a Presidential election year here in the States and the last one w...

"It was Spring and time to make a drive down to the Detroit Institute of Arts in order to see the Academy Award Nominate...
04/24/2024

"It was Spring and time to make a drive down to the Detroit Institute of Arts in order to see the Academy Award Nominated animated short films program. My typical plan for this event is to show up a couple hours early and wander the museum drawing inspiration by the art, then have a nice meal, and finally watch the films..."

It was Spring and time to make a drive down to the Detroit Institute of Arts in order to see the Academy Award Nominated animated short f...

"It was tax time and my accountant works an hour away in Grand Rapids. So it was time for my yearly pilgrimge to see the...
04/17/2024

"It was tax time and my accountant works an hour away in Grand Rapids. So it was time for my yearly pilgrimge to see the butterflies at the Frederik Meijer Gardens... oh, I mean drop off my taxes binder to my accountant--then go back and sign documents, submit paperwork, and pick up the binder. Yeah, you won't find any real substance or epiphanies in this post, just a bunch of photographs that I took during a period of the year where it's a lot of busywork and maintenance to keep my LLC going and not much else. Fortunately for me, there are opportunites to appreciate some (natural) art, if you're willing to look for them."

It was tax time and my accountant works an hour away in Grand Rapids. So it was time for my yearly pilgrimge to see the butterflies at the F...

Well, work has quieted down I've finally got some time to edit and upload the backlog of blog posts, starting with my re...
04/13/2024

Well, work has quieted down I've finally got some time to edit and upload the backlog of blog posts, starting with my review of Signe Baumane's latest film "My Love Affair With Marriage."

Having done promotional work on both of Signe's features, it's a real rush to sit in the theater and see the final product--even moreso to see your name in the credits as one of the financial backers of the film. And I have to say it was a very enjoyable movie, but more than that, it was very thought provoking. Given the litany of "advice" family and friends have given me about marriage over my lifetime, I spent more than a little time pondering issues raised by the movie on the drive home.

Well, I saw My Love Affair With Marriage at the Flint Institute of Art. Having done promotional work on both of Signe's features, it's a...

"It's January and ASIFA Hollywood has has released their listing of films nominated for the 51st annual Annie Awards.Wit...
01/27/2024

"It's January and ASIFA Hollywood has has released their listing of films nominated for the 51st annual Annie Awards.

With the second season of Arcane still months away and not having seen many of the features or television series, I'm a little out of sorts on who to cheer for."

It's January and ASIFA Hollywood has has released their listing of films nominated for the 51st annual Annie Awards . With the second seaso...

"On more than one occasion, I've stated that I want to make more films that are fun and uplifting. A lot of this comes f...
01/06/2024

"On more than one occasion, I've stated that I want to make more films that are fun and uplifting. A lot of this comes from my work as a forensic animator. The rest comes from my trips to Ottawa. The Ottawa International Animation Festival is a very inspiring experience and yet at the same time it's a very humbling experience. I see the works of filmmakers like Michèle Cournoyer and Andreas Hykades. They are entertaining on one level, thought provoking on another, but overall they make me confront the fact that I don't yet have the ability to handle serious topics with the skill and delicacy that they do."

The year has come to an end and once again I find myself looking both backward and forward. What projects have I completed? What would ...

Well Miku Expo 2023 VR was last weekend and I have to say that it did not disappoint. Afterwards, I was left with a lot ...
11/20/2023

Well Miku Expo 2023 VR was last weekend and I have to say that it did not disappoint. Afterwards, I was left with a lot of fond memories of seeing Miku for the first time at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit back in 2014 and then the full Expo in Toronto two years later...

Well Miku Expo 2023 VR was last weekend and I have to say that it did not disappoint. Afterwards, I was left with a lot of fond memories o...

It was October. The leaves were red, orange, and gold here in Michigan.I had handed out midterms on Friday and they star...
10/31/2023

It was October. The leaves were red, orange, and gold here in Michigan.

I had handed out midterms on Friday and they started to drift in -- a number of my more diligent students finished and turned in the exam the very next day. But as we headed into the holiday season, I knew that time was going to be more precious than ever.

I had to face the very real fact that I wouldn't get to visit the Detroit Institute of Arts until January.

It was October. The leaves were red, orange, and gold here in Michigan. I had handed out midterms on Friday and they started to drift...

Fall was here.The travel restrictions had ended. And yet I was on the fence about going back to the Ottawa International...
10/23/2023

Fall was here.

The travel restrictions had ended. And yet I was on the fence about going back to the Ottawa International Animation Festival...

Fall was here. The travel restrictions had ended. And yet I was on the fence about going back to the Ottawa International Animation Festival...

So it's Fall and I'm back teaching again. One of my colleagues said that I should consider working on a film during my s...
09/20/2023

So it's Fall and I'm back teaching again.

One of my colleagues said that I should consider working on a film during my spare time and then showing it to my students on the last day of class. Sort of a "hey, I did this over the past four months in my spare time, think about what you could accomplish." Well, as I was shuffling through the backlog of stalled ideas and "y'know, if I ever get the time" sketches, I came across this little gem from my former professor Carl "Skip" Battaglia. Back in 2008, I was toying with the idea of an abstract animation but it didn't fit into the mold of narrative animations that I was used to using when designing films. As Skip is an accomplished animator who is very knowledgeable about experimental techniques, I reached out to him:

Carl "Skip" Battaglia, Stephanie Maxwell, Marla Schweppe, Me. (l to r) So it's Fall and I'm back teaching again. One of my colleagues said ...

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