beim deutschen Schulpreis - Erich Kästner - Schule

LEBENOrtizKästnerforum 35-12/13although we had been nervous because ofthe English questions we were supposedto ask Phil Ortiz.The cartoonist began to talk about hiswork, how he reached his status and for meit became clear: He isn’t as far away fromreality than I thought he would be. Only afew moments later he pronounced whatI thought: “Remember rich & famous –I’m still working on the rich part”. Isn’tthis quote a sign of still being human, beingpart of the normal society? Phil beganto tell that he has been drawing since hewas in the kindergarten and that he madehis first comic scripts at grammar school.After waiting and working and waiting andworking he was engaged by some differentstudios and created for example theMuppet-babies for the Muppet Show. In1993 he was asked by the Fox - Studiosto work for the Simpsons and he eagerlytook the job. He explained with a smileon his face that he liked the Simpsonstill the first two seasons and that it was apleasure for him to create new characters.He finished working for Fox and recentlystarted his own project which he calls“Sketchonizing”. He sketches people makingthem resemble a Simpsons’ character.People love being drawn by him.The message from this interview was notto promote himself and his new work,which resembles the Simpsons charactersa lot, no; it was that we have to be whatwe want to be. We should love what we doand this is what will make us successful.Finally, I left the room with a smile on myface, because to experience from a popularcartoonist that.everybody starts fromscratch gives me energy and determination!Julia Nedden, 13. Jg,Be creative - Be original!On Monday, 14 th January 2013 Phil Ortizvisited our school, the Erich Kästner Gesamtschule.He is a famous cartoonist, who is knownall over the whole world for the creationof some characters of the Simpsons,Garfield (Christmas special), Alvin andthe Chipmunks and children’s books forDisney. He even won some of the mostrespected prices in his genre like e.g. anEmmy Award.The main statement he wanted to pass on tothe students was: “You have to be creativeand original!” In his own life, Phil Ortiz hastaken this motto to the heart. He alreadystarted in kindergarten and later improvedhis skills at grammar school developingto a professional cartoonist in adult life.Today he is happy to have the chance toearn his money with something he enjoysand this is also the impression he made onus. He seemed to be a smart man, whodid not have any problems to answer ourquestions on his personal feelings and hisjob. For example, we asked him about theyellow color of the Simpsons and got toknow that the reason for this is that Philliked yellow and Matt Groening, the inventorof the Simpsons watched a TVshow on a damaged TV, where everyonewas yellow, what inspired him. He freelycarried on talking about the salary of acartoonist that is not big enough to getrich.Of course, Phil Ortiz ended his talk withsome sketches. He portrayed one of thestudents in a cartoon style which he calls“Sketchonizing”. The person drawn verymuch resembles a Simpson cartoon.Benedikt, the drawn student, could takehis picture home and was very proud ofit.We enjoyed his visit very much. He is avery interesting person who has a highUNTERRICHTEN25