The final cover design for Independently Animated: Bill Plympton featuring Chris’s “Plymptony” hand lettered title and three earlier iterations.

McD Workshop’s Chris McDonnell art directed and designed this book full of art from Bill Plympton’s career and films as well as his personal story written by himself and David B. Levy. It was an honor for Chris to work on a second book that focused on an important figure in independent animation (after Chris’s first book, Unfiltered: The Complete Ralph Bakshi). Working with Bill in his loft and studio in NYC, Chris dug through decades of archives, flat files, envelopes and books to cull the artwork for this book.

Above: A few very early cover idea rejects.

Above: Book design notes from Chris’s sketchbook.