Biography
I'm an artist based in Los Angeles, California. I work across media — as a writer, a cartoonist, an animator, and a musician — to observe, illuminate, poke fun at, and reimagine how human beings navigate contemporary life. Sometimes, these human beings masquerade as animals, tapping the power of metaphor to bridge the unique and the universal.
I got my BA from Harvard, in English and American literature, immersing myself in our cultures' most enduring and powerful storytelling. More recently, I earned an MFA in animation at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, focusing on story development for 2D animation. At UCLA, I created three animated shorts, two of which won Matt Groening Animation Production Fellowships. I am developing my most recent short, DEAR DEATH, as a graphic novel and an animated series, featuring a variation on my longtime comic-strip character, Stewball.
Recently, I did an interview for the film blog We Are Moving Stories, about Stewball and DEAR DEATH. Here's a snapshot of that conversation, and of my vision for Stewball in the world of animation:
"Stewball is Hamlet, Ulysses, and a grown-up Charlie Brown, in bipedal animal form. He is an equine Little Prince, in an animated world of iPhones and reality TV. He is an equine everyman for our time. He is each of us when we believe we are greater than our current circumstances reflect, and when we are afraid to risk those real circumstances for an idea that may or may not come to fruition. Stewball's drama is the same drama that animates many of our lives. We need stories, like [my film] DEAR DEATH, to confront it, to reimagine it, and to inspire ourselves for our own struggle.
"Stewball provides something that's missing in adult animation: nuanced character-driven narrative. Currently, an aesthetic chasm divides most adult animated series (sex, drugs, and violence) from kids' series (saccharine, saturated with neon emotions). [Stewball's] aesthetic is something new: visually childlike and emotionally sophisticated, with the elegant simplicity of a New Yorker cartoon. Stewball is for smart adults who appreciate both wonder and satire, humor and emotional dilemma. It's for audiences who want to see contemporary consciousness reflected in animation, with blank space in the design and room for interpretation in the characters. My prospective viewers want more than the pat quality found in most animated films. They want to laugh, to feel, to be entertained, inspired, and even changed by what they see." (Read full interview)
At the rare moments when I am not dreaming up new adventures for Stewball, I dream up new adventures for myself. My editorial cartoons have appeared in national magazines including The New Yorker, The New Republic, and Alta. From time to time, I provide clients with freelance creative services as a writer, editor, or illustrator. Since 2018, I have taught animation to full-time MFA students and summer students at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. My work with these students includes teaching them how to add sound to their animations, a topic that draws on my experience as a songwriter, composer, and audio editor.
I got my BA from Harvard, in English and American literature, immersing myself in our cultures' most enduring and powerful storytelling. More recently, I earned an MFA in animation at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, focusing on story development for 2D animation. At UCLA, I created three animated shorts, two of which won Matt Groening Animation Production Fellowships. I am developing my most recent short, DEAR DEATH, as a graphic novel and an animated series, featuring a variation on my longtime comic-strip character, Stewball.
Recently, I did an interview for the film blog We Are Moving Stories, about Stewball and DEAR DEATH. Here's a snapshot of that conversation, and of my vision for Stewball in the world of animation:
"Stewball is Hamlet, Ulysses, and a grown-up Charlie Brown, in bipedal animal form. He is an equine Little Prince, in an animated world of iPhones and reality TV. He is an equine everyman for our time. He is each of us when we believe we are greater than our current circumstances reflect, and when we are afraid to risk those real circumstances for an idea that may or may not come to fruition. Stewball's drama is the same drama that animates many of our lives. We need stories, like [my film] DEAR DEATH, to confront it, to reimagine it, and to inspire ourselves for our own struggle.
"Stewball provides something that's missing in adult animation: nuanced character-driven narrative. Currently, an aesthetic chasm divides most adult animated series (sex, drugs, and violence) from kids' series (saccharine, saturated with neon emotions). [Stewball's] aesthetic is something new: visually childlike and emotionally sophisticated, with the elegant simplicity of a New Yorker cartoon. Stewball is for smart adults who appreciate both wonder and satire, humor and emotional dilemma. It's for audiences who want to see contemporary consciousness reflected in animation, with blank space in the design and room for interpretation in the characters. My prospective viewers want more than the pat quality found in most animated films. They want to laugh, to feel, to be entertained, inspired, and even changed by what they see." (Read full interview)
At the rare moments when I am not dreaming up new adventures for Stewball, I dream up new adventures for myself. My editorial cartoons have appeared in national magazines including The New Yorker, The New Republic, and Alta. From time to time, I provide clients with freelance creative services as a writer, editor, or illustrator. Since 2018, I have taught animation to full-time MFA students and summer students at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television. My work with these students includes teaching them how to add sound to their animations, a topic that draws on my experience as a songwriter, composer, and audio editor.
ABOVE LEFT: Kate Isenberg (photo by Megan Krause). RIGHT: Q&A at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival, February 2017.