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Dean Hsieh is an American artist, writer, and animator.


Career


Animation and film

In 2005, Hsieh worked as an animator for the feature film ''A Scanner Darkly''. The film was directed by acclaimed director
Richard Linklater Richard Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American filmmaker. He is known for making films that deal thematically with suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. In 2015, Linklater was included on the annual ''Time'' 100 li ...
based on influential sci-fi author Philip K. Dick's novel of the same name. Since its release, the film has gained a large cult following for its innovative use of rotoscope animation. He worked with the co-director of ''Machete'' in Austin on concept art for a proposed film based on
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
's music. He also created concept art for a proposed film based on the cult hit novel Tokyo Suckerpunch. He has also written several screenplays, one of which was a finalist in an Amazon Studios film contest. Later he worked on the animated portion of the 2016 documentary film ''Tower'', which tells the story of Charles Whitman's infamous 1966 UT Tower shootings from the survivors' viewpoints. The film was critically acclaimed and won several awards, including an Emmy for News & Documentary, Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW, and a Critics' Choice Documentary Award. In 2018 and 2019, he worked as lead animator at Minnow Mountain to produce rotoscope animation for ''Undone'', a new show from Amazon by the creators of ''
BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in ...
''. Upon release, season 1 of the series received near-universal critical acclaim and season 2 is now in the works. In 2020, he began work as Character Animation Supervisor for '' Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood'', an original animated film by Richard Linklater. The movie premiered during SXSW 2022 and then released April 2022 on Netflix. It was widely acclaimed for its animation style and nostalgia-filled subjects. Later in the same month Undone season 2, which he also worked on as Character Animation Supervisor, was also released to positive critical reviews.


Comics

Hsieh began his career in comics when he was only sixteen and still in high school. After writing a negative letter to
Revolutionary Comics Revolutionary Comics was an American comic book publisher specializing in unauthorized profiles of entertainers and professional athletes, as well as a line of erotic comics. Its flagship series was '' Rock 'N' Roll Comics''. Founded by Todd Lo ...
's '' Rock 'N' Roll Comics'', he was hired by the fledgling company to "produce comics and stories that reflected the hard edge of rock 'n' roll." He wrote and drew several stories featuring bands such
Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...
,
Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Hollywood, California, in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, with guitarist Mick Mars and lead vocalist Vince Neil joining right after. The band has sol ...
,
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
, and
AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock and Heavy metal music, heavy metal, although the band calls it simply "rock and roll". They are cited as a formativ ...
. While in college, he began working on a new comic, ''Athena'', which was originally featured in
Antarctic Press Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes " Amerimanga" style comic books. The company also produces "how-to" and "you can" comics, instructing on areas of comic book creation and craft. Beginning in ...
's short-lived anthology series ''Absolute Zero''. Hsieh and fellow creator Will Allison decided to start their own independent comic company, A.M.Works, in order to publish their creator-owned series ''Athena'' and ''Pervert Club''. Hsieh's ''Athena'', described as "full of intriguing situations and neat near-future science fiction," ran for fourteen issues and was collected into two graphic novels.
Antarctic Press Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes " Amerimanga" style comic books. The company also produces "how-to" and "you can" comics, instructing on areas of comic book creation and craft. Beginning in ...
released his next comic ''Westside'' which was a three-issue full-color mini-series Western story with an Asian twist. A special edition of the first issue comes with a CD soundtrack featuring local Austin bands and his own theme compositions. In December 2008, Hsieh's entry ''Devil's Wake'' (originally titled ''Aeon of the Dead'') won the monthly online contest sponsored by
Zuda Comics Zuda Comics was DC Comics' webcomics imprint from 2007 until 2010. Some of the imprints series won awards and nominations from comic industry's Glyph Comics Awards and Harvey Awards. ''Bayou, Volume 1'' was also named one of the 2010 Great Graph ...
,
DC Comic DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book ser ...
's
webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...
imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...
. The full-color comic is written and digitally painted by Hsieh and ran for sixty pages on Zuda's website. Devil's Wake is available in digital format through the publishing website
comiXology Iconology Inc., d/b/a ComiXology (styled comiXology), was a cloud-based digital distribution platform for comics owned by Amazon, with over 200 million comic downloads . At its height it offered a selection of more than 100,000 comic books, g ...
.


Music

Hsieh began playing guitar in the early nineties, and his band Teen Titans played "fast paced, nerd-core that looked up to the likes of the
Pixies Pixies may refer to: * Plural of Pixie * Pixies (band) The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim ...
,
Wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...
, and Huggy Bear." They released two 7" singles and were heavily involved in the local fanzine Peek-A-Boo, which later became
Peek-A-Boo Records Peek-A-Boo Records is an Austin, Texas based independent record label. Current (active) bands * Peel * The Octopus Project * Palaxy Tracks Alumni (previous bands) * The 1-4-5s * Black Lipstick * Drake Tungsten * Golden Millennium * Junior ...
. His next garage rock band, The 1-4-5s, released a debut single on Peek-a-Boo Records and was then signed to
Estrus Records Estrus Records is an independent record label from Bellingham, Washington that makes surf, garage and trash rock music. They have released such bands as Mono Men, The Drags, The Mummies, Supercharger, Impala, Man or Astro-man?, the Makers ...
. Their first full-length, ''Rock Invasion'', was released on Estrus. From the radio interview. They released numerous 7" singles and toured the West Coast. The band also found some success in Japan where they toured and played with fellow Japanese garage rockers
The 5.6.7.8's The 5.6.7.8's are a Japanese rock band from Tokyo with a retro-inspired sound that draws heavily from the 1960s garage rock scene. They first started performing as a quartet in Tokyo, and recruited guest performers during their Australian tour ...
and Supersnazz. The band broke up shortly after releasing the 10" ''Rock 'N Roll Spook Party'' on Estrus. After the 1-4-5s broke up, Hsieh formed a new garage rock band, The Wontons. They played for several years and toured America and Japan. The Wontons released several 7" singles under different record labels and contributed to numerous compilations. Their only full-length album, ''Hex Appeal'', was released by Bloody Banner Records. In December 1999, he was a part of
Golden Millennium Golden Millennium was a glam rock revival supergroup formed in 1999 composed of Dean Hsieh, Travis Higdon, Tom Hudson, and Britt Daniel. Overview To commemorate the end of the 2nd millennium, Peek-A-Boo Records released the ''Golden Millenni ...
, a glam-rock supergroup featuring fellow
Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
musicians from
Spoon A spoon (, ) is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a table setting, place setting, it ...
, The Kiss Offs, and Silver Scooter. He also played in the short-lived electro-punk band The Weirding.Chamy, Michae
This Is Electroclash: The 'nu wave' of Euro-influenced synth music
Austin Chronicle Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...
, April 25, 2003


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hsieh, Dean 1973 births 2000s webcomics American comics writers American rock guitarists Living people 21st-century American guitarists