Annie Poon

Annie Poon’s cartoons and stop-motion paper animation take me to a time of living room blanket tents and Big Wheel “ice cream parlors.” (Recipe: Flip your bike over and churn using the plastic pedals. Season with flowers from the neighbor’s yard -- sorry Mrs. Hamilton.)

For this Manhattan-based artist, the swoop back into childhood wonder isn’t much of a stretch. Looney Tunes, Disney and X-Men all provided drawing fodder for her when she was a girl. Poon collected Mad Magazine so she could read Spy vs. Spy. And she doodled off of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cereal boxes.

While growing up in Connecticut, “kids in middle school would pay me to draw posters of my fantasy characters for them: dragons, fairies and gnomes,” Poon said. “I also loved painting cartoons on people's clothes. I remember my first painting on clothes was when I painted Bart Simpson on a friend's jean jacket.”

As a teen, Poon detoured into traditional, “serious” painting after taking trips to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. That led to her first sales. It also helped pay for college and formal painting training at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts.

Even so, the style didn’t fit, Poon said. “By my last semester my paintings were extremely conceptual. Their formal nature did not match my personality which is quite playful and impulsive,” she said. “My husband strongly recommended I consider finding a new style that would reflect my childlike fun energy. It didn't take more than half a second to remember the cartoons I would draw as a kid, and how spontaneous and giggly they made me feel.”

Poon returned to cartooning and started creating what she calls “The Paper Theater.” She cuts out paper characters and animates them by hand. This new-found, or should we say re-found, style led to success for Poon. Film festivals and big-name venues, such as the MoMA, the New Museum and the Brooklyn Museum of Art, screened her work.

Where can you find Poon now? Well, mostly working on two projects. First up: Puppy.

Puppy is a young, lovelorn lad who chronicles his life in New York by guest blogging on Fred Flare. Puppy has secret puppy love for his friend, Miss Duck. It’s a serious source of angst. “Commenters write in to the blog to give him encouragement or advice, usually on his love life. Puppy does take all the comments to heart, and even acts on commenter's advice so don't hold back your opinions, people!” Poon said.

Second is a short, black and white animation called “The Split House.” Poon says it’s a “moody piece about a girl who turns into an owl and tumbles down a hole, landing at the bottom of her subconscious.” Intriguing, m'thinks. (And not just because I have a house full of owls.)

Want to get your creative juices flowing, a la Annie Poon? She recommends the following:

+ Visit Printed Matter, which sells zines and limited edition art books. “It’s always a reservoir of inspiration,” Poon said.

+ Read non-traditional comic artists. Try Noah Lyons, Brian Chippendale, Jeremyville, Tokidoki and David Shrigley.

+ Photograph or create 'paste up' graffiti, which is currently popular in New York. Poon especially admires the work of Chris Uphues, whose cartoon hearts are peppered all over Manhattan and Brooklyn.

+ Attend the Outsider Art Fair and the American Folk Art Museum. Be sure to check out work by Howard Finster. Poon keeps some of his artwork near her worktable.

+ Listen to Peter Pezzimenti, “an amazing musician and artist who inspires me on many levels.”

+ Stop by Kinokuniya, a Japanese bookstore “where I find lots of ideas for cuteness and character design.”