In the upstairs office of his Lawrenceville home, Julian Glander demonstrates to Pittsburgh City Paper how he makes his digital 3D artwork.
“Here’s something I used to do a lot,” the 33-year-old artist says, grabbing a nearby how-to guide by children’s book artist Ed Emberley. A page at the start of the book, Glander says, displays simple shapes and promises that, so long as an aspiring artist can draw those shapes, they can draw any of the animals in the book.
“This was kind of like a really unlocking, freeing principle for me, that everything in the world is made of shapes,” Glander says.
About 20 minutes prior, shortly after offering me a glass of water, he encouraged me to step outside to meet and feed frozen peas to his pet ducks, Sleepy and Sneezy. So, with ducks on his mind, he chooses that animal. With the computer program Blender, he uses a mouse to quickly create, reshape, and color three-dimensional shapes, which, after a few minutes, he turns into a long-necked pink duck.
This Pittsburgh-based artist — who, for over a decade, has made comics, video games, illustrations, and short films in his signature, colorful, and quirky 3D style — recently landed a roster of big-name voice talent for an upcoming feature-length animated film.
Originally from Michigan, Glander moved around a lot, eventually settling in Pittsburgh in 2019. He’s best known for his comics collection 3D Sweeties, published by Fantagraphics, the video game Art Sqool on PC and Nintendo Switch, and a series of animated shorts that air at odd hours on Adult Swim.
About two years ago, Glander appeared on Jeopardy! and went viral after reciting the alphabet in reverse on-air. Not backwards — in reverse. Host Ken Jennings jokingly declared that episode as being the only one directed by David Lynch.
In January, The Hollywood Reporter unveiled the cast for Glander’s upcoming film Boys Go to Jupiter, which will star, among others, comedian Joe Pera, Saturday Night Live cast member Sarah Sherman, and Eighth Grade lead Elsie Fisher. Glander remains tight-lipped, but, per IMDb, the film follows a teenager in suburban Florida who "desperately hustles to make $5,000 in this dreamy and surreal animated coming-of-age story.”
Despite being set in Florida, the film was shot almost entirely in Pittsburgh. Glander says he traveled to New York and Los Angeles for voice recordings but did all the animations alongside a locally-based cleanup animator. Silky’s Pub in Bloomfield served as the venue for a production meeting between the two.
“I’ve been working on it for four years and, generally, when I moved back here four years ago, that was why,” Glander says. “This feeling of, I need to do a big project, I need to do something that I have time for, that’s not going to earn me any money for a long time. I don’t think it would have been possible without living here, the quality of life, and just the balance that I’ve found here.”
Boys Go to Jupiter offers the same bizarre, endearing, and funny tone familiar to Glander’s work. Art Sqool, for example, allows players to explore a university campus made of colorful abstract shapes and complete simple art prompts, such as “Draw something that makes you smile” and “Without using reference, draw a bicycle. It’s very hard and may take several tries.” (Nintendo Switch players should use a rubber-tip stylus for the best results.) Professor Qwertz, described as an Ai who resembles a staticky “Q,” assigns the artwork a letter grade, based on qualities such as “composition” and “approach.” (The grading is “bullshit,” Glander confirms. It’s a bit.)
While Art Sqool — which, Glander says, started as a program for making sketches — received some praise, conventional video game reviewers generally did not know what to make of it.
“It turned into, I think, a really fun little special game that a certain kind of person really connected with,” Glander says.
All of his work across media has a distinct and enchanting vibe. Describing that vibe isn’t easy. When asked if his work has a thematic throughline, Glander seems a bit stumped.
“I think something that comes up a lot is isolation and loneliness. I don’t know what that means, though,” Glander says with a laugh. “I do feel like there’s something that I’m trying to crack, that there’s certain things that I keep going back to, but no, I don’t have a satisfying answer. I think if I did, I could retire.”
Video game designer, animator, Jeopardy! contestant: Meet Julian Glander
