68. Spencer Morin

In honor of our Mastermind genius awards (we’re accepting submissions until January 7), Cultist proudly presents “100 Creatives,” where we feature Miami’s cultural superheroes. Have suggestions for future profiles? Email cultist@miaminewtimes.com with the whos and whys.

68. Spencer Morin

The next time you see a crowd at News Lounge, sipping on cocktails and scribbling on lightboxes, keep an eye for the benevolent overlord behind this hive of activity: Spencer Morin. The 21-year-old started Drinking and Drawing, a kind of animated jam session, continuing the tradition of Frederator Studios in New York. The enthusiastic dude, who’s head of animation at Miami World Cinema Center, is the 305’s bona fide cartoon guru.

Son of Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist Jim Morin, Spencer graduated from New

World School of the Arts in 2007 and attended Hunter College in New

York. He’s worked on the sets of Taking of Pelham 123, Project Runway,

Burn Notice, 50 Cent: The Money and the Power, Law & Order, and the

Oscar-winning short “The New Tenants.” In Miami, he was one of the

founders of the Borscht Film Festival, a group of filmmakers committed

to harnessing and showcasing local cinema talent. Morin recently

co-directed “500 Feet and Rising,” a Borscht short, which screened at the

Tribeca Film Festival.

Through MWCC and Borscht as well as his solo pursuits, Morin is yanking

animation into the center of the Miami arts scene. Along the way, he’s made some

bad-ass cartoons full of that swagger that characterizes life in the 305. Exhibit A:

1. List five things that inspire you.

-Planes flying across the sky from MIA
-Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville)
-Italian (listening to it spoken makes me weak and giggly)
-The Borscht Film Festival
-Whiskey, gin, or barley wine with a cigarette

2. What was your last big project?

Completing a music video for Diablo Dimes entitled “The Mudhat Blues.” It’s in its final stages and still a work in progress. Here’s what I have so far:

Cleaning my room and making a cut-out animated music video for Jill Hartmann. Also completing a series of shorts including a visual dub of the Mel Gibson rants, and an ode to Bank of America’s former overdraft fee policy (I started making it before Obama cracked down on them).

I’ve never been a fan of logic or proper reality and I always enjoy the escape. When I’m making a film or animating something I get to be God for a while and immerse myself in the creation of something tangential, fun, illogical, and whimsical. People tell me I have patience. Patience is when you’re doing something tedious and agonizing. There’s nothing agonizing about the process when you play back your work and see what you’ve accomplished. I also love to collaborate and the feeling of unity between other artists. It’s like sex.

5. What’s something you want Miami to know about you?

Dear Miami, I like long walks on the beach, drinking, smoking, but above all, quality art work. We need to stop agonizing interns for free, and start giving artists incentive unless it’s something we enjoy doing. Exposure will only get more people to ask you favors. It won’t pay your bills and what good is a starving artist if he can’t breathe or think due to lack of proper nourishment?

What’s something you don’t want Miami to know about you?

I’m single, and I love cartoons.

The Creatives so far:

69. James Anthony
70. Jim Drain
71. Claudia Calle
72. Kevin Arrow

73. Andrew Hevia
74.

Ana Mendez
75.

Michael McKeever
76.

Diana Lozano
77.

Ricardo Pau-Llosa
78.

Agustina Woodgate
79.

Tarell Alvin McCraney
80.

Jennifer Kronenberg
81.

Farley Aguilar
82.

Colin Foord
83.

Karelle Levy
84.

Matt Gajewski
85.

Shareen Rubiera-Sarwar
90.

Kyle Trowbridge
91.

Clifton Childree
92.

Jessica Gross
93. Danny