Nancy Cartwright.

Born on Long Island, New York, and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, David Silverman started drawing at age 4, and he’s never found a good reason to stop. Winning various student film awards contributed to this inability to stop drawing. And going to the UCLA Animation Workshop definitely didn’t help much in getting off the drawing habit.

Much of Silverman's career has revolved around The Simpsons. After graduating UCLA in 1983, he freelanced illustration and animation until, in 1987, he landed a job animating on The Tracey Ullman Show -- where The Simpsons began. Animating on all 48 shorts led to directing the first shows of the series, the Christmas special in December, 1989, and the premiere episode the following month. He became supervising animation director, and a producer on the show. All told, he has directed 22 episodes and has won four Emmys along the way.

When no one was looking, he snuck away to work at DreamWorks (The Road To El Dorado -- co-director), Pixar (Monsters, Inc. -- co-director), and Blue Sky (Ice Age, Robots -- writing and drawing). But he came back to the show full-time at the end of 2003, and directed The Simpsons Movie, released in 2007. At present writing, he is a lazy slob. Kidding! Presently, Silverman has a number of projects in development, including directing a live-action feature.

Nancy Cartwright: I read that you grew up in New York and had very supportive parents. Tell us what your early years were like and how animation, art, culture, etc. influenced your later decisions about this art form.

David Silverman.

David Silverman: I was always drawing. From the time that I can recall being around, I was drawing. My parents were more than supportive -- they gave a wall for my brother and [me] to draw on. I was 4 or 5 -- and I couldn't believe it. "You guys can draw on this wall." Amazing choice on their part.

And we were always watching cartoons. The Warner classic cartoons, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Beany and Cecil, Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, etc. -- we watched them all. The comics page was another big influence, especially Walt Kelly's Pogo and Charles Schultz's Peanuts. As I got older, the art and humor of Mad Magazine got into the mix. And my mom working at The National Art Gallery meant a lot of visits to a lot of museums. My mind soaked up a lot of paintings from an early age.

My folks took us to see films of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Marx Bros. At an early age they took us to see live performances of Gilbert & Sullivan. So -- all I can conclude is this exposure had an impact on my drawing abilities. Specifically, I couldn't say -- perhaps in training the eye, and sharpening the ear for comedy.

NC: How did you get your "lucky break"? And what got you interested in directing for animation?

DS: My first lucky break came in 1980, while a UCLA student. Fellow classmate Charles Solomon (now a noted critic) worked as a stringer for the LA Times. Martin Bernheimer, the chief music critic, asked him if he knew a cartoonist who could lampoon classical musicians. Charles suggested me; I sent some examples, and they were published. This led to various other freelance gigs.

The Simpsons lucky break came through association as well. I was working on the animated sequences of "One Crazy Summer" in 1985-1986. This was due to my friendship with Bill Kopp, who was directing the animation. Wes Archer was also working on the project. So -- Wes had freelanced animation for the Klasky/Csupo studio; Klasky/Csupo won the contract to animate for The Tracey Ullman Show; Gabor Csupo asked Wes to recommend some animators; and Wes recommended Bill and me. We started in March 1987.

And after two years, The Simpsons became its own show, and I became a director. Directing animation was a goal of mine, though I didn't have a clear method of achieving that. I just tried different things, and did my best on every job.

NC: In animation production, the first element is obviously the script. After the voices are recorded, how much are you inspired by the actor's performances in contributing to the final product?

DS: The actor's vocal performance shapes the cartoon character's physical performances, there's no two ways about it. It surprises me when people ask if we record the voices after the animation; well, I suppose they don't know the techniques. But you'd never want to undercut the actor's performance and contribution by constraining it to lip-syncing finished animation.

Additionally, the rhythm of the line readings will help shape the editorial and camera choices. It's similar to how actors rehearsing a scene for film will influence the blocking and camera angles.

NC: You were the first director with The Simpsons creating the look of the show with ink-and-paint style animation. With the constantly changing technical industry, have you found it easier working with digital today? Or do you work harder and equally long because you can get more done in the same amount of time?

DS: Now, now, I was one of the directors setting the look of the show! Wes Archer, Rich Moore and Brad Bird were equally involved. Everyone of us brought something unique to the development.

Every technical advance makes things easier and faster; but we fill up the time making it harder on ourselves. We can make the shows more polished with the digital painting and compositing, and save time with the use of computer storyboarding. These advances also allow us to be more inventive in camera moves -- which start to take up more time! D'oh! We can't help ourselves.