Jim Ludtke (January 28th 1954 - March 26th 2004) was an award-winning American visual artist and computer animator. His art was featured in major publications including Playboy, MacUser, Newsweek, Wired and Forbes, and his animation clients included Nintendo, Nickelodeon and Time Warner.[1]
In the 1990s, Ludtke became known for his work with The Residents, most notably the animated "Harry The Head" music video, and the group's interactive CD-ROMs Freak Show, Gingerbread Man and Bad Day on the Midway.
Ludtke's prolific output slowed in his final years, due to the collapse of the CD-ROM industry and a heroin addiction which would ultimately cost him his life;[2] he died March 26th 2004 at the age of 50.
History[]
Background[]
Ludtke as a young artist
Jim Ludtke was born in Sioux City, Iowa, on January 28th 1954. In the mid-1970s, he studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art in Chicago, Illinois, becoming a talented and capable illustrator and airbrush artist. Around this time, he began working as an illustrator for several local newspapers, and his artwork also appeared in Playboy Magazine.[1]
After completing college in 1977, he moved to San Francisco, later moving to New York City in 1984.[1] An avid user of Apple computers (particularly the Macintosh), Ludtke was a contributing artist for MacUser magazine in the mid-1980s.[3] In 1987, he resolved to "[throw] his airbrush away" and create art exclusively on Macintosh computers. By 1990, he was using the programs Swivel 3D and MacroMind Director to create animations for clients such as Nintendo, Nabisco and Nickelodeon.[4]
In 1991, Ludtke returned to San Francisco to pursue his interest in computers and new technologies.[1] That year, he won first place in animation in Macworld magazine's "MacMasters" competition, for his three minute animation Domestic Blitz, which combined Macintosh animation with live video backgrounds.[4] He won the same prize again the following year. He also won the Pantone Color Award for his 1991 Nintendo Calendar, a "colorful oversized calendar" with graphics based on popular Nintendo games.[1][4]
By 1992, Ludtke had founded a company, Ludtke, Inc., which operated as a beta site for Macromedia products, and had become a faculty member of the Kodak Center for Creative Imaging in Camden, Maine. That year, he was a guest lecturer at the AIGA More Conference in Dallas, Texas, had several illustrations featured in a San Francisco group show, Add Noise, and in October, had his animation work shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.[1]
Work with The Residents[]
Screenshot from Ludtke's video for The Residents' "Harry The Head"
Some time after returning to San Francisco in 1991, Ludtke was introduced to The Residents.[5] The group were impressed with the artist's work, quickly hiring him to create an animated music video for their song "Harry The Head", which Ludtke created using the short-lived 3D computer modelling software MacroMind Three-D.[6] In the same year, Ludtke created computer-to-video transfers for John Sanborn's documentary featurette about The Residents, The Eyes Scream.
In 1993 Ludtke appeared in The Voyager Company's Macromedia Director 3.0 CD-ROM, as part of an interactive presentation based on The Residents' 1979 album Eskimo. In the same year, he was hired by The Residents to co-direct, animate and design their first interactive CD-ROM, Freak Show, which was released in 1994.
Immediately after this, Ludtke worked as a designer and animator for The Residents' next project, another interactive CD-ROM, Gingerbread Man. In 1995, Ludtke designed, animated and co-directed the group's ambitious CD-ROM video game Bad Day on the Midway.
From 1996 to 1997, Ludtke worked on a CD-ROM game based on the horror anthology TV series Tales From The Crypt, which The Residents were briefly contracted to score; this game was ultimately never released, as the developer declared bankruptcy before it could be completed. In 1998, Ludtke created the cover art for The Residents' I Hate Heaven EP.
Ludtke and The Residents had conceived a number of possible CD-ROM projects following the success of Bad Day on the Midway, however these were ultimately abandoned following the decline of the industry in the late 1990s.[5] In 2001, Ludtke created a short Bad Day on the Midway "concentrate" video for The Residents' retrospective DVD Icky Flix.
Final years, death and legacy[]
A dedication to the memory of Jim Ludtke, featured at the end of the "Loss of Innocence" music video on The Residents' Commercial DVD, 2004
Ludtke's final years were spent in the grip of a serious heroin addiction, which caused his once prolific output to decline, and cost him his marriage.[2] In early 2004, Ludtke and The Residents began developing an animated Freak Show DVD, however the project was abandoned when Ludtke died from a heroin overdose on March 26th 2004, at the age of 50.[2]
Months after his death, Ludtke's animated video for The Residents' "Loss of Innocence" was featured on the group's Commercial DVD; the video closed with a dedication to the late artist's memory.[5] Segments from the unfinished animated Freak Show adaptation, featuring the characters Harry The Head, Jelly Jack, Herman and Benny, were later released in 2006 on the DVD included with the 2006 Mute Records reissue of Freak Show.
Credits on Residents releases[]
- The Eyes Scream: A History Of The Residents VHS (1991) - computer to video transfers
- Freak Show Video Press Release VHS (1991) - director
- Twenty Twisted Questions laserdisc/VHS (1992) - director ("Harry The Head")
- Freak Show CD-ROM (1994) - co-director, artwork, animation, design
- Freak Show Soundtrack (1994) - artwork
- Freak Show CD-ROM Video Tour VHS (1994) - co-director, animation, design
- Gingerbread Man (1994) - artwork, design, animation
- Bad Day on the Midway CD-ROM (1995) - co-director, animation, design
- Have a Bad Day (1996) - character design
- I Hate Heaven EP (1998) - artwork
- Icky Flix DVD (2001) - director ("Harry The Head"), design
Posthumous[]
- Commercial DVD (2004) - animator ("Loss of Innocence")
- Freak Show Mute reissue DVD (2006) - animation
- Twisted Cabaret (2010) - director ("Harry The Head")
See also[]
- Ty Roberts
- The Voyager Company
- iNSCAPE
External links and references[]
- Official website
- Jim Ludtke demo reel, 1991 (via YouTube)
- Domestic Blitz - 1990 animated short (via YouTube)
- Jim Ludtke on Computer Chronicles (via YouTube)
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Jim Ludtke 1992 Bio" at Ludkte's official website
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 David Biedny, "Jim Ludtke - Artist in Residents", EFX Art & Design no. 41, June 2004
- ↑ MacUser, August 1986, pg. 21
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Jim Ludtke 1990 Bio" at Ludtke's official website
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Jim Knipfel, Brian Poole, et al., Faceless Forever - A Residents Encyclopaedia, Cherry Red Books, 2022, pg. 154
- ↑ David Biedny, "In Memory of Jim Ludtke", Analog Digits, December 21st 2008