[ Sep 12, 2000 ]
Meet Mitch Greenblatt: creator of 3-D sculptures, 2-D painted backgrounds animations, designs and other artwork. Most notable are his characters. His career was launched when he turned down his dad's generous offer to take over the family dental practice. But Mitch didn't completely turn his back on the teeth. His obsession with teeth is evident in his work. "All my characters have a hundred teeth. I started using whole used dentures from dad, now I use individual porcelain denture teeth." If you think that's peculiar wait till you hear about his career path.
He went to Colorado State University in lieu of a formal art school, because his parents weren't convinced of the seriousness of Mitch's passion. He soon ditched his college books and moved to Los Angeles to follow in the footsteps of a friend working on 'Nightmare on Elm Street Part IV'. He got his first Hollywood gig working as a production assistant on the low budget horror film 'Wedding Nightmare.' That's when Mitch's career path took a sudden turn. As with many ambitious low budget films 'Wedding Nightmares' financial well dried up. With two more weeks of shooting needed to finish the film and no crew to get the job done, 19-year old Mitch Greenblatt went from a humble PA to exalted art director. Quite a learning curve considering he didn't even know what a flat was. But Mitch was a fast learner.
Soon after Mitch landed what he considers to be his first legitimate job on PeeWee's Playhouse. "Pee Wee's Playhouse had a lot to influence on me. Mostly in my own personal work. Up until then my work was dark and kind of disturbed looking. The whole aesthetic of PeeWee's Playhouse had a big impact on me. That's when my work started having humor." A combination of humor and a pre-existing derangement seems to be his trademark. His client list includes MTV Absolut, Taco Bell and Lugz's shoes,
Sony Records, Warner Bros. Records, Budweiser.
Today, Mitch has reached his ultimate goal of having his characters animated
for a national Lugz shoe campaign. ÊHe is also currently working with an
animation studio and ad agency to develop an animated show for television. Alternative Pick spoke with Mitch in his studioÑthe birthplace of many creations and home to drawers full of teeth Ð which; by the way, he is more than happy to show you.
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How would you describe your style?
A lot of people call it dimensional illustration, but I don't. I just want to be considered an illustrator that has dimensional aspects to his work. My work is kind of a goofy style with a dark edge.
Did you start out drawing as a kid?
Yes. I was never taught how to paint or sculpt as a kid; it's all self taught. I drew like a fiend growing up. I did really scary stuff even then: devils and dragons. It must have seemed like I was a disturbed child. I think I was thirteen then. It seemed like your subconscience thrown up onto a piece of paper. It's a good thing my parents weren't psychologists. (Laughs)
When you start working on a character where do you get your ideas?
It's all in my head. I think of an expression and work out the shape of the head and hair and clothes. It's just style; I even look in the mirror. I do the expressions on my own face as I sit at my table. I develop everything on paper through sketches. Sometimes a client will say something like; "Oh we want him to look embarrassed but kind of sexy." You try and make a face that looks like that and it's hard. They will ask you to do a lot of weird combination of traits. And you just kind of move an eyelid here and little corner of a lip there.
When did you begin sculpting?
When I was on PeeWee's playhouse you either worked feverishly or you had a lot of down time. I found some of the animators were doing a scene for the opening of the show with the exterior of the playhouse. They all had this animators clay and I just found this piece of clay and started playing with it and thought it was fun.
Who or what influenced your work?
Screaming Mad George. He's a special effects guy in LA. That's where I learned about materials and that's the only reason I got into sculpting because of him and learning about materials, clays and molds. I started doing my own work and I was obsessed with little heads so I started sculpting heads by the hundreds.
What did you do with all of them?
I started making necklaces out of them in the early nineties. Then the first ever Lollapalooza concert was advertising for artist to exhibit their work. I sold them like crazy there and then I started selling them to stores in LA. I literally made a couple of thousands of these.
And then what happened?
My first illustration job at Restless Records was a result of the company art director seeing my heads and wanting to put them on an album cover. I never really thought about art as a job except in television and film. I thought it would be fun to get a job as an illustrator doing 3-D. The rest is history.
- Contributed by Mary Beth Holland
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