David Silverman

The Simpsons co-creator and cartoonist David Silverman will be joining the line-up at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival weekend in Kendal (12th – 14th October 2018).

David will be on stage during the weekend chatting with cartoonist and fellow animator Steve McGarry about his amazing career – and there are some other special events planned. Which include playing the tuba!

David began an earnest interest in animation and cartooning at age nine, and making Super 8 movies, drawing, and tuba playing eventually led him to the UCLA Animation Workshop. After a variety of freelance art jobs he became an animator on The Tracy Ullman Show in 1987. There he, along with fellow animators Wes Acher and Bill Kopp, began animating and developing The Simpsons with Matt Groening.

In 1989 The Simpsons was made into a primetime series, and David became a director, and later supervising director and a producer. His credits include The Road To El Dorado, co-director on Monsters, Inc. in 1998 and, of course, the Simpsons Movie in 2007.

The longest-running animated show in the world, The Simpsons has spawned a hit line of comics, published in the US by Bongo and under licence in the UK by Titan Comics.

“Comics and animation have always has a lot of crossover,” notes Festival Director Julie Tait. “We’ve often featured guests who’ve worked in both media, including Luke and Steve McGarry, to name but two.

“You can imagine our delight when David accepted our invitation to this year’s event, and we’re looking forward to hearing from him… and his tuba!”

Guests announced so far for this year’s Festival weekend are Steven Appleby, Yomi Ayeni, Sayra Begum, Elizabeth Breitweiser, Corey Brotherson, Stanley Chow, Guy Delisle, Alan Grant, Ottilie Hainsworth, Rian Hughes, Kripa Joshi, Joe Kelly, Ian Kennedy, Kaisa Leka, Victoria Lomasko, Steve McGarry, Graeme McNee, Mikiko, Emmi Nieminen, Ken Niimura, Ian Rankin, Orijit Sen, Seth and John Wagner.

Many more guests will be announced in the coming months from the UK and abroad, with an increase in the number of comic creators exhibiting in the Comics Clock Tower and other venues around the Lake District market town of Kendal.

The Festival is the only one of its kind in the UK, taking place in one of the the country’s most beautiful areas – the English Lake District, in the market town of Kendal. Modelled on European-style festivals, such as Angoulême in France, it takes over the whole town for a weekend of comic art. Its aim is to celebrate the whole spectrum of comic art, inspiring existing comic art fans and creators and, it hopes, generating new audiences and creators too. It invests in creators through a commissioning programme and has an emphasis on developing international collaborations.

• The Lakes International Comic Art Festival will be back in Kendal 12th – 14th October 2018

• Web: www.comicartfestival.com | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Podcast 

Introducing David Silverman

David Silverman was born in the wilds of Long Island, New York on the Ides of March, 1957, and grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. He began drawing at the age of 4 and couldn’t think of a good reason to stop.

David began an earnest interest in animation and cartooning at age 9, and making super 8 movies, drawing, and tuba playing eventually led him to the UCLA Animation Workshop. After a variety of freelance art jobs David became an animator on The Tracy Ullman Show in 1987. There he, along with fellow animators Wes Acher and Bill Kopp, began animating and developing The Simpsons with Matt Groening.

In 1989 The Simpsons was made into a primetime series, and David became a director, and later supervising director and a producer. After designing the opening title sequence, he directed the Christmas special, Bart The Genius (the premiere episode), and several significant early episodes. In 1996, David went to DreamWorks to work as a director on The Road To El Dorado. Then a call from Steve Jobs brought David to Pixar. There he reconnected with his friend Pete Docter, whom he had met years earlier, and became a co-director on Monsters, Inc. in 1998.

Talk of directing a Simpsons Movie came as early as 2001, and David returned to his yellow stomping grounds. He also worked as story editor on Blue Sky’s Ice Age (2002) and later as a board artist on Robots (2005). David did boards for Looney Tunes Back in Action (2003) before becoming supervising director of The Simpsons once again. He directed 4 of the Treehouse of Horror Halloween before taking on directing The Simpsons Movie (2007).

Since then, David has been developing several projects and continues as a consulting producer on The Simpsons. He has directed the Simpsons Coke Superbowl ad (2009), and most recently directed the theatrical short starring Maggie Simpson The Longest Daycare (2012), which was nominated for an Academy Award.

He also can be found performing the tuba with the Los Angeles band Vaud and the Villains, sometimes lighting it on fire. You know, the way people do…

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: Animation, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds

Tags: David Silverman, downthetubes News, Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2018, Steve McGarry, The Simpsons, Vaud and the Villains