Un-Advent calendar banner!

I was asked by the nice guys at Skwigly Magazine to create a banner for the Un-Advent Calendar, so i came up with this little homarge to Aadman co-founder Peter Lord, anitmed by my good friend Ben Mitchell . I also received some rather nice comments form some rather big names, which was great! 

Skwigly 2013

Well it's been almost a year since i started writing for the fantastic Skwigly online animation magazine. The Magazine it's self has come on leaps and bounds providing excellent content for there audience.

During this year I've had the opportunity to meet, greet and talk to some real legends of animation as well as some personal heros, I'm going to post some links to some of my favourite article and interviews i've conducted this year as i've not been updating this blog regularly enough. 

The excellent Ainslie Henderson was one of my first interviews, and it felt like i'd reached my goals already, now up for his second BAFTA, this talented stop-motion animator was joy and privilege to interview: Ainslie Henderson Interview.

During my Visit to Stuttgart International animtional festival (which Skwigly was one of my finance provders, securing me a press pass for the event) I was able to interview PIXAR director Saschka Unseld about his short film Blue Umbrella, a ground braking animation demonstration showcasing the highest level of CGI animation PIXar has to offer: Interview with Saschka Unseld 

One of the films that created a massive wave of excitement in 2013 was the felted stop motion animation  "oh willy". During my Stuttgart visit I was able to interview co-director Marc Roels, he was a extremely funny and genuine fella: Interview with Marc Roels

This was just very exciting altogether, combining the music i love with animation, Perfection. Queens of the stone age '...like clockwork' music video review. 

I was also asked to attend a preview screening of Dispicable Me 2, who doesn't love those little yellow guys: Despicable Me 2 Review

This was a fun, and kinda popular, article i wrote about the pit falls of working for free as a recent graduate: Should I Work for Free article

I also had the wonderful opportunity to interview Australian animator Michael Cusack, about his new film, which i swear is picking up every award going, he is genuinely one of the most lovely guy's I have ever met and he a can spin a yarn like no other, it was great to meet him also at encounter film festival in Bristol. Interview with Michael Cusack

And of course what year of writing about animation would be complete without my own interview with the Lord of stop-motion, Mr Peter Lord of Aadman animation studio on his recent Morph Kickstarter Campaign which I covered from start to finish. Interview with Peter Lord

I also had the pleasure of meeting other heros of animation such as Mackinnon and Saunders, Barry Purves and the wonderful Adam Elliot which I have to say I think may have been a highlight of my life! as well as this i've got to know and get far more involved with the Skwigly team as a whole and I believe I have met friends and colleges for life, it has really been a great adventure and I hope it continues in the new year! 

Fete de L'anim

Ok so a couple of weeks ago I too part in an animation Marathon with fellow CSA students Erika Lewis (

@ErikaCLewis) and Georgia Yorke (@georgialiannee) it was an amazing to say the least made some great contacts and even wrangled an article out of it not to shabby. 

This year’s Fete de L’anim proved to be an overwhelming success. The festival is based in the northern French towns of Lille and Tourcoing. The industrial buildings are over-run with animators from around the world, with an impressive line-up of guest speakers, screenings and workshops.

The international festival starts and finishes with the collective efforts of nineteen animation schools and one professional group, the teams come from across Europe including France, United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Eastern Europe were invited to take part in this fantastic challenge.

The Marathon

The excited young animators are gather together in La Teinturerie studio space to create 10 seconds of animation each, over a 48 hour period.

This is a massively collaborative project, which offered students a unique opportunity to experience both a creative challenge and to see a range of work from their peers across Europe. The studio was a hive of activity from 2pm on the 13^th March when the start image was unveiled (created by Belgium animator Raoul Servais) until 7pm on the 15^th March. Many of the teams worked through the night (one French team even slept on the floor) to create their animations. The stints are then edited together with sound and screened at the closing ceremony.

As well as this there was also a Graphic Battle; which encouraged students to pitch their skills against each other within two categories: a 2D digital drawn and 3D digital modelled (zbrush) competition, in a knock out round of talent!

The Master classes

Joanna Quinn, Serge Élissalde, Adriaan Lokman, Patrick Bouchard and Pixar animator Erick Oh all offered up their knowledge in these informative and incredibly intimate programs.

A heavily Pixar themed festival this year, with screenings of most of Pixar most loved feature films on show throughout the festival, master classes and screenings from the wonderful Erick Oh as well as the premiere of Oh’s exhibition His Chamber in Lille.

The master classes offered a fascinating insight in to each of the guests working practice. They discussed their films, storyboards and production photos, which left the audience of animation enthusiasts, students and experts alike far more knowledgeable on each of the speakers work, each presentation was followed by extensive and thought provoking Q&A session.

A personal favourite was the inspiring and charming master class by Mikey Please, in which he discussed his method of working, showing animatics and personal photos that inspired his BAFTA winning film The Eagleman Stag. The audience was given the amazing opportunity to see the ruff cut of his new filmMarilyn Myller, it received a great amount of accolade from the audience, a brilliant film from this amazing talent.

As well as this there was a range of activity for the younger audience in the Imaginarium. Which celebrated both Retro games (perhaps to co-inside with Disney’s Wreck-It-Ralph) but also offered workshops in stop-motion, storyboarding and much more, helping to make sense of the key principles of animation which will hopefully go on to inspire the next generation of animators.

And that’s not all from this jam-packed festival the 11pm to 4am duration of your visit offered Electro-animated night’s, with electronic music, digital art, dancing and drinking an energetic atmosphere was created, allowing for socialising and discussions to be made alongside the stimulating surroundings.

Screenings galore

As well as the Pixar films and each of the guest animators screening there was also The Best of Schoolscreening which showcased a selection of European best student films including the National Film and Television Schools Head over Heels and MOME’s Dipendenza. Through out the rest of the festival there was screenings from each school from the Marathons – which demonstrated diversity in style, influence/inspiration and teaching practices. Many contacts and friendships were made during and after these screenings.

There was full audience for the closing night which offered a fantastic selection of short films from top French directors including Amelie Harrault’s Mademoiselle KIKI et les montparnos and Bruno Collet’s Son Indochine, Michaela Pavlatova created a huge amount of laughter with the sensual short film Tram.  To night and festival was brought to a close with the premiere screening of the Marathon challenge film, the end result was a hugely varied melting pot of creative styles and ideas, often comical and surprising- but each stint was individually stunning. Each student represented there country with pride, and left inspired and ready to take on new work or continue their current course work with greater vitality.

Fete De L’anim had a distinctly student vibe to it, making it a great place for young animators to cut their teeth into the animation community. It also offered the guests, tutours and public a great opportunity to see new talent emerging, the future looks engorging for the animation industry.

List of competing groups for Marathon de L’anim 

France:  PÔLE 3D, Supinfocom, ESAAT, Encole nationale supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, E-Art Sup, Cellofan’-Lézards Hâchésb (pro team)

United Kingdom: National Film and Television School, Anglia Ruskin University, Southampton Solent University

Belgium: Howest, La Cambre, La KASK, Beaux-Arts Tournai, Haute Ecole Albert Jacquart.

The Netherlands: St Joost

Germany: Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen, Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln

Eastern Europe: FAMU, MOME