Don Hertzfeldt

Don Hertzfeldt is an award nominated and a self taught animator, born in California 1976, studied at University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated in 1998. Hertzfeldt has done many animation shorts that have competed in festivals/competitions and is best known for his traditional pen and paper, stick figure styled animations my favourites being the more absurd humoured ones (that are slightly sadist) like 'Wisdom Teeth' and 'Billy's Balloon'.

Wisdom Teeth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W-VGUOiVDc 

Billy's Balloon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jksRQcI9NA

Other than stick figures, Hertzfeldt has done other animation shorts like answering The Simpsons' fans question of what would The Simpsons look like way into the future? 

Facts/achievements:

• Voted in 'Filmmaker Magazine' as one of the "top 25 directors to watch".
• Self taught animator
• Co-founder of the animation festival "The Animation Show" that put animated short films into more American movie theatres.
• His animations have been featured in over a thousand theatrical film venues and film festivals worldwide.
• Holds festival record for having seven films complete at the Sundance Film Festival. (Rejected, The Meaning of Life, Everything Will Be OK, I Am So Proud of You, Wisdom Teeth, It's Such a Beautiful Day, and World of Tomorrow).
• Winner of the San Francisco International Film Festival's Lifetime Achievement Award for his "unique contributions to film and animation" and for "challenging the boundaries of his craft."
• The only filmmaker to have won the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Short Film twice in 2007 for "Everything Will Be OK" and in 2015 for "World of Tomorrow".

Bibliography:

Information found at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0381116/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Videos found at: https://www.youtube.com/user/t1i1b