David Blumenstein

David Blumenstein (born 1980) is a service designer, writer, cartoonist and animation director based in Melbourne. He is a founding member of Squishface Studio, a co-share workspace for comic artists.

Animation

Blumenstein's film Shit Party was a selection of the 2002 Melbourne International Film Festival.[1]

He directed the short animated film Herman, the Legal Labrador in 2004; it starred Shaun Micallef, Katrina Mathers, Loc Nghe and Santo Cilauro.[2] He later directed the music video The Happiest Boy for The Bedroom Philosopher,[3] segments of the C31 anthology series Take One and the animated series Be A Man.

He worked as a storyboard artist on the children's series Wakkaville and Jar Dwellers SOS, and as an animator on the children's series Dogstar and the adult animated series Pacific Heat.[4]

In 2014 he was one of a group of animators selected for the Designing Dreams Studio, an initiative of ACMI and Dreamworks.[5]

Comics

In 2012, Blumenstein co-founded Squishface Studio, Australia’s first open comics studio, which functions as a workplace, retail space and classroom.[6] It supports itself through workshops and memberships.[7] He was also part of the Caravan of Comics, a cartoonist tour of North America.[8]

In 2013, he won an award for Graphic Short Story in Melbourne's Lord Mayor's Creative Writing Awards for a piece called The Bolt Report. Blumenstein wrote the piece in epistolary voice, as his school-aged younger brother, Tristian, completing a media studies assignment.[9] The piece was subsequently attacked by its subject, conservative commentator Andrew Bolt.[10] Blumenstein later continued writing in Tristian's voice for pieces published at Daily Review and The Lifted Brow.[7]

He also illustrated a comics piece written by Paul Owen covering the Australian federal election for Guardian Australia.[11]

In 2015, Blumenstein wrote #takedown: My evening on a pier with pick-up artists and protesters, a book about professional pickup artist Julien Blanc, who was heavily protested, and eventually ejected from the country, while on a controversial tour of Australia.[12][13]

After submitting a piece by Tristian to the Senate inquiry into George Brandis' funding cuts to the Australia Council for the Arts in 2015, Blumenstein was warned that making a submission purporting to be from a non-existent person could find him in contempt of Senate.[7] He withdrew Tristian's submission but made one himself on behalf of Squishface Studio.

Blumenstein wrote Free Money, Please in 2019 and released it simultaneously on Medium and zco.mx.[14] It is a graphic essay about cryptocurrency and passive income.

He is currently serving as deputy president of the Australian Cartoonists Association.[15] In December 2019 a complaint was made against him by member Rod Emmerson following a cartoon/Twitter thread Blumenstein published drawing a link between News Corp's vilification of minorities and the atrocities that follow.[16]

In January 2020 The Guardian published Why Los Angeles is Scientology's perfect city – an illustrated guide, a non-fiction comic about the city of Los Angeles and the Church of Scientology.[17]

Other media

In 2014 Blumenstein was interviewed by comedian/writer Justin Heazlewood for the book Funemployed, which is about the financial challenges that face artists working in Australia.[18] He also appeared on the subsequent ABC radio series of the same name.[19]

Blumenstein co-hosted a podcast in 2017 called Pitchface in which he and co-host Adam Wajnberg pitch creative and business ideas.[20]

Design career

Currently Blumenstein works as a service designer and visual communicator.[21] He was hired in 2015 as a founding designer in the IAG Labs, and spoke about his drawing, prototyping and design work at the UX Australia conference in 2017.[22]

Bibliography
  • Sciensatics, Going Down Swinging, no.30, 2010, p. 72-75 (ISSN 0157-3950)
  • Showman? : the Bret Braddock adventures (2011), Nakedfella Productions
  • Tristian Oversees : France, England and America Thru the Eyes of Australia's Youngest Political Journalist (2016), Nakedfella Productions, ISBN 9780987391223
  • #takedown: My evening on a pier with pick-up artists and protesters (2015), Pikitia Press, ISBN 9780987391223

Personal life

Blumenstein is married to Squishface Studio artist Sarah Howell.

References
  1. "MIFF 2019 | Festival Archive 1952-2017". MIFF 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  2. "Herman, The Legal Labrador (2004) - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia". www.screenaustralia.gov.au. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  3. The Bedroom Philosopher (24 July 2008), The Bedroom Philosopher: The Happiest Boy, retrieved 22 April 2019
  4. "David Blumenstein". IMDb. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  5. "Designing Big Dreams | ACMI". 2015.acmi.net.au. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  6. "David Blumenstein - UX Australia". www.uxaustralia.com.au. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  7. "Comics and Contempt: David Blumenstein, and Tristian, on Arts Funding". The Australian Comics Journal. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  8. Ziffer, Daniel (22 May 2012). "Comic artists pursue the American dream". The Age. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  9. rules!, My media (18 June 2014). "A Comical Life". My media rules!. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  10. "How to win $1000 from a Liberal Lord Mayor and make Melbourne a "city of literature"". Herald Sun. 2 December 2013. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  11. Davidson, Helen (7 September 2013). "Australian election 2013 - polling day as it happened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  12. "Cartoonist's #takedown goes behind the enemies' lines". Daily Review: Film, stage and music reviews, interviews and more. 12 May 2015. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  13. TW, Reviewer (20 June 2015). "#takedown". The Saturday Paper. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  14. "Free Money, Please – David Blumenstein". Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  15. "David Blumenstein". NCSFest. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  16. "Drawn-out dispute at the Australian Cartoonists Association". Crikey. 3 February 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  17. Blumenstein, David (10 January 2020). "Why Los Angeles is Scientology's perfect city – an illustrated guide". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  18. Heazlewood, Justin (1 June 2014). Funemployed. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781922213426.
  19. "Funemployed: The Black Cat". Radio National. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  20. "Pitchface by David Blumenstein & Adam Wajnberg on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  21. "SDNOW4 | Past Events". sdnow.co. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  22. "Release the cartoonists - UX Australia". www.uxaustralia.com.au. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
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