Christmas comes early to the Fire Fighter Charity...

Someone who works with the fire service asked me to design a set of Christmas cards for the Fire Fighter Charity, a task which I lept at and really enjoyed getting my head into the Christmas theme and mixing it with that of the fire service. I went with the idea of an Elf Fire Department, and the mischief and mayhem that can ensue from their Elf Fire Fighter training...

'Children of the Holocaust' in the Yorkshire Evening Post...

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/the-great-war/leeds-holocaust-survivors-stories-brought-to-life-in-film-1-6843622

The event for 'Children of the Holocaust' on Monday got us into the Yorkshire Evening Post, which is great to get more publicity for the series.

'Children of the Holocaust' launches in Leeds...

Today, 'Children of the Holocaust' had an amazing screening event at Leeds Hyde Park Cinema house, and it was amazing to not only see the series up on the big screen, but to meet all of the people that have been involved in the production who's names we've heard in the Fettle studio, but never met in person. And of course to meet the survivors who were interviewed and whose stories were told in the series was a great moment. The reaction we got back from those there was overwhelming, and it makes all of the hard work so much more worth while. To know that its a series that has the potential to teach and tell these stories and maybe make a difference is amazing, its one of those projects that doesn't  come around every 5 minutes, and I'm extremely grateful to have been a part of it.

'Children of the Holocaust' hits the small screen...

 Well there it is, up bright and early at 4:00am for the showing of 'Children of the Holocaust' which I was so lucky to be an animator on at Fettle Animation.

 It's quite odd to see something you've worked so closely on over the past year appear on the TV, and it's hard to watch it as an overall piece and story without thinking, 'I remember how hard that shot was' or 'I remember when that happened with that episode', even stopping yourself looking for mistakes is difficult...

..But it's a proud moment to see your name up there and know you were a part of something as special as this project, something that doesn't come around all that often. And I couldn't have asked for a better team and place of work to do it in. To go into work and not have it feel like work, to be around people that you feel comfortable with and can enjoy your time with, its a special thing and is something I feel so lucky and grateful to have been a part of.

Get set for 'Children of the Holocaust'...

Everything's set and ready to go for 'Children of the Holocaust' appearing on BBC 2 this Friday, 12/09/2014. It may be at 4:00am but to see something you've worked on for so long up there for all to see is pretty special... bring on Friday morning...

'Children of the Holocaust' gets a screening in Leeds...

With the showing of 'Children of the Holocaust' coming up this Friday, a screening event is taking place on Monday the 15th September at Leeds Hyde Park Picture House which will include a showing of the whole series, as well as a Q & A session with those involved.

I can't wait to meet everyone else that has been involved in the production outside of Fettle's studio, especially the survivors whose stories we told. It's going to be a very odd experience to meet the people face to face when we've worked with their stories so closely over the past year, but it's going to be amazing.

'Showtime' heads to Bristol for the Victoria Park Action Group festival...

Following 'Showtime' being included in the 'Show me the Animation' app, they are also including it in a family friendly screening for an event being run in Bristol on the 13th September, http://www.vpag.org.uk/

This is excellent news, and its nice that 'Showtime' is still getting about...

'Children of the Holocaust' hits the TV screen...

'Children of the Holocaust' is finally being given it's time to shine. On the 12th September at 4:00am on BBC 2, the full series of 6 episodes is being shown back to back. If this seems a little early, then the series will also be available for 7 days afterwards on the BBC IPlayer. I for one will be up at the crack of dawn for a front seat viewing, and it's great that after all this time its getting its time in the limelight. Well done to everyone at Fettle Animation for getting the project to this point...

'Poo at the Zoo' music video is flushed out to the world...

The latest music video that I've been an animator on at Fettle Animation is ready to go - 'Poo at the Zoo'. It's a great fun song that we had to animate to, it gave us so much to work with and gave us quite a few awquard conversations. But overall we're all proud again that the three of us that created 'Dog' were able to re-group and step up our game to create this. And beware, it'll get stuck in you head...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWUfN0lgo-Q

'Showtime' hits the 'Show me the animation' app

I'm thrilled that 'Showtime' is included in the 'Show me the Animation' app, which is now available to download from the IOS Store. It's great to have people behind the film and hopefully this will mean others can enjoy it.

Animation is complete on 'Children of the Holocaust'...

Well, after around 10 months of hard work and good times, the animation on 'Children of the Holocaust' is complete. The time seems to have flown by and I feel lucky to have been a part of such a great team of people that make work not feel like work. Can't wait to see the series go out into the world... Well done everyone at Fettle Animation...

'Children of the Holocaust' goes online...

The series I've been an animator on at Fettle Animation, 'Children of the Holocaust' has gone live on the BBC Learning website, http://wp.me/p2hDHu-dV 
It's exciting to see all the hard work finally making its way out to viewing eyes. Now to finish the last few episodes...

'Dog' is unleashed...

Here's the fruits of our labour at Fettle over the past few weeks, a music video to accompany the beautiful song 'Dog' by Nat Johnson. It gave me and my other colleagues the chance to take the helm and see the video through from initial ideas to final polishes. It was great to try out different styles and ways of working and we are so proud of the finished outcome.

Now, 'Dog' is unleashed and set wild on the public, so treat yourself and enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWg7-AfoLAY&feature=youtu.be

'Showtime' is off to the Royal Television Society Wales Student Awards...

Tomorrow is the big day... the Royal Televison Society Wales Student awards, and 'Showtime' is nominated! Just a nomination is absolutely fantastic, and I couldn't ask for nicer people to be up against, so whatever the outcome it's going to be an amazing night and I can't wait to get on down to Cardiff and let the good times roll...

Talking with Frank Spencer...

The main aim when starting the little side project of Frank Spencer was to end up with a piece of lip sync material for my showreel. So before getting into the main animation of the character, I took a small clip of audio from an episode of 'Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em' to animate to. I feel that it went well and am happy with the end result, so hopefully when I do more I can piece lip sync to action and have a full scene going...

Betty, I've been articulated...

'No man who never did nothin, never made any mistakes' as Frank Spencer would say.  And mistakes are just a part of the learning process when creating a character that's going to work well when animated, So whilst completing Frank's character and posing him up in various ways, adjustments became clear that were needed in order to make it possible to animate him well. For example, the arms were extended, and different pieces were made to be used when the character is flipped so that the shading can be kept on the correct side throughout. At the minute, he is only able to be used from the one angle, so the next stage may be to create the character in different view points- from the direct side view, the front view, maybe even the back view, so that animation of the character could be more flexible...

Betty, I've been animated...

Now that Frank is all cut up into separate pieces, he is ready to animate and move about. To begin, and test the character, I wanted to try a couple of poses, hopefully that are recognisable for the character...

Showtime gets a Royal Television Society Wales Student Award Nomination...

A shocking yet amazing piece of news came through today, that my third year film 'Showtime' has been nominated for a Royal Television Society Wales Student Award! Came a little out of the blue to say the least, but so great-full and happy, and hoping that I can get down to Cardiff for the ceremony. Whats even better is that one of my partners in crime from University, and an extremely talented stop motion animator has also been nominated, Jasmine Hedger, for her film, 'Dr. Mandala', so congratulations to her, as well as another extremely talented stop motion animator, James Carlisle, for his film 'Fishing for the Future, a great film and great guy! So all in all, pretty darn excited about the whole thing!

some animator's do 'ave 'em...

Another little bit of a free period at work means another little project. Looking back at my show reel it seemed to be missing some lip sync material, so my mission is to get some done, based on one of the comedy worlds biggest legends- Frank Spencer! I love 'Some Mother's Do 'Ave 'Em' so when trying to think of a piece of audio to base a character on he seemed just perfect. So today began the process of designing the character and trying out a small portion of lip sync on just his still head...

playing in the snow for 'Do It In Ten'...

Whilst we had a little free time at work, to keep myself occupied I decided to try 'show me the animation's' 'Do it in ten' competition, where they give a new word for each month with the aim to create a 10 second animation around. February's was 'Snow', so I came up with the idea of using a cute little yeti character playing in the snow with his penguin friend. Unfortunately due to other things with the main project coming up, it never got passed animatic stage, but hopefully some day it'll make its way to being made. But this was a little bit of concept art done for it, a way of me getting back into drawing on Photoshop more than anything...

Things a looking a little sheepish for BAA...

During the main production at Fettle, we've been lucky enough to have the odd bits of time here and there in between the chaos to dip our toes into other projects of our own. One such project was to create a sting for the British Animation Awards 2014. The brief was to create a piece of between 4 and 25 seconds that had to contain sheep in some way, and if possible, references to Britain. The idea that I decided to go with from the several that were developed was inspired by the short Bird Box film, 'Wildebeest' and focused on two sheep, attempting to come to a decision on what a little tuft in the ground could be?...

http://vimeo.com/85575588

Fettle continues...

Well hello again. It's been a while. So lets get things going again with a little catch up. Since September I've been working in Marsden at Fettle Animation, working on a series production. Unfortunately I can't say much else than that at the moment, but it's all being produced in Adobe Flash, and so far we're past the half way mark and its all going rather well :) I've been lucky enough to take on a major chunk of the animation on the episodes so far, and it really has brought my skills on Flash right up. It's been fantastic, allowing me to do what I enjoy and a lot of it, and I couldn't have asked for a better team around me to be doing it with, they've all been great people to work with and become friends with.  I'm just not sure where exactly the time has gone. I can't wait for the time to come when I'm able to show what we've been doing, so keep an eye out in the coming months.