A Merry Christmas Card

Click here for a Christmas Cheer! Oh it does require a flash player so any problem click here. See how helpful I am. Well it is actually Mr Paul who is the helpful one, he sent me the links.

A Story Page

This is one of the pages from Driver Dan's books. This one is by miss Serena .

In the Style of Curtis

Here is another drawing by Mr Curtis. I haven't put any up for a while. This was for the yeti that was in an episode of Frankenstein's Cat.

Another Story Train Book Page.

This page is by the muscular mr Tom (the person not the nut bar). Look at the lill fishes!

A Different Book Page

Hello, sorry for the gap between posts, we are very busy here at the moment. Here is another page from one of the story books in Driver Dan's Story Train. This one is from miss Rachel

Congo Conga Storybook Art

Here is the first page of the Congo Conga storybook from Driver Dan's Story Train. This was painted by miss Leah. All the animals are hiding. You can actually purchase the Congo Conga story book from book shops!

Storyboard

Here is a page from the Frankenstein's Cat storyboard for the episode Tail of Tails we did. This was drawn by Mr Gordon. This was for scene 33A, so you have panels 1, 2 and 3. It's better to have as many panels as you can so you get a good idea for the timing when doing an animatic. It also saves time and money later on down the line when you have more planned out before you get to the animation stage.
Hmmm, I dont know the best way to visually represent animatics really. Maybe I should upload some animatic clips to you tube then link them here. As well as the Dusty animation test mentioned ages ago.
There are also action notes and dialogue notes at the bottom of the page. I think I mentioned before that this episode has won awards!

Another Post Card

Here is another post card I found, this one was for Captain Sarcastic which was a film made here by Mr Peter and Mr Tim.

Milo Dance

Hello! I thought it was time for another dance cycle! This time it is Milo from the Tweenies. This was animated by Mr Phil.

An Old Background

Hello, here is a very Old background from another OUP project called Cookie! It was all traditional 2D but scanned into Animo instead of cell painted. It was all following the style of an existing book.

100 Followers! Thank You!

Thank you very much! How very lovely, 100 followers. Here is a picture of another post card from ages ago featuring a still from Jonah and the Whale which was an animation for the series Dog and Duck. It was a story in Arnold Adler's cut out theatre! Which is why it is all in flat levels. It's a cut out theatre!

Another Studio Shot

Here is a picture of another of the CG rooms during production on Story Train. Two people missing from the seats! They did not in no way run off when I started to take photos, no sir.

Rubbish

I have been clearing out some boxes and found a Rubbish King of the Jumble post card. Here it is.

Encounters Festival

Morning. Here is a picture of the stairs of the Watershead which is one of the venues holding the Encounters Festival. The 'Cineman' design is Mr Paul's and if you remember in an earlier post I showed you a load of poses of the 'Cineman' we sent to them. Well you can see them here and on the posters, bags, billboards etc. If you go to the festival then have a look at the program, bottom right corner, there is a flip book from us in it. Encounters is running until Sunday.

Ink-Dot

Congratulations to two of our Directors here Mr Paul and Miss Jane for getting into the Ink-Dot show! Details above, will post the art up after the show.

Over 10,000 visitors! Thank you.

And Pedro and Frankensheep thank you too!

Characters and a Video

Hello and good afternoon. Here is a picture of some character designs we did for a project which you can watch here. You need to click on the video to play it. Our clients were EMO. They went for the number 10 designs in the end which you can see. 11, 12,14 and 15 will be appearing in something else soon which you will be able to see here. The video was made by Mr Phil, Miss Jane and Mr Paul.

Ice Ice Ice

Hello. Here are some images of some effect work we did that was inserted in a program about Global Warming for National Geographic. This particular one was to illustrate the break up of a glacier. Mr Duncan did the building and animation and Mr Paul did the compositing.

Canopic Jar

Here is a picture of the model sheet for Musty's canopic jar (Duamutef).
When a body was preserved as a mummy, the internal organs were taken out quickly after death, as they would rot. All the same, the ancient Egyptians believed that it was important to preserve them alongside the mummified body. The heart, the 'seat of understanding', was left in place. The liver, lungs, stomach and intestines were placed in four different containers.
The wooden lids of these jars represent the Sons of Horus, four minor gods who protected the organs that they contained. They are: the falcon-headed Qebhsenuef (intestines); the jackal-headed Duamutef (the stomach); the baboon-headed Hapy (the lungs), and the human-headed Imsety (the liver). These were named 'canopic' jars by modern Egyptologists.
There, bet you didn't think you were going to get a bout of knowledge today did you?

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

It's a bit cold outside isn't it?

Another BG

Afternoon. Here is a background from one of our recent projects. This was drawn by Mr Dave.

More Technomonster

Morning! I know this is another Technomonster picture (I posted a different one back in August) but now this one comes with a linkydink! Press here. You can see some of the other animations we did on the right of the you tube channel. These were all directed by Mr Paul for our client Lambie-Nairn.

Another Tweenie Dance Cycle

Morning. Here is another dance cycle from The Tweenies, this time it is Jake. He doesn't usually have stripes, it was just for a psychedelic dance number. Mr Phil did this.

The Brain Ticks

Here is a picture of the Brain Ticks from Pedro and Frankensheep. This was from the 11 min pilot we did. Here they are singing the song about trapped gas.

Frankenstein's Cat Background

Here is another rough for one of the backgrounds for Frankenstein's Cat. This was for the end of the episode 'HayDay' where Lottie and Nine get carried off into the sunset by the ants!
As you do!

Pedro

Here is a still from the Pedro and Frankensheep short we did for the Manchester science fair. It was for a treasure hunt and the prize at the end was to get his video on your mobile.

Lotties Head Shot

Here is a picture of Lotties head shot. She got them made when she got a part in a film. The one on the right was after Nine drew on it after he got relegated to Lotties stand in. He was a bit miffed really.

New Design?

Hmm, shall I do a new design for this blog or leave it alone? I have left it nice and simple for a reason, so as to not distract from all the lovely artwork. I have added a new devise on the side so you can see another picture everyday and also Driver Dan's twitters. What do you think? ... anyone?

A Tweenies Cycle

Morning. Well as the previous Goat cycles and The Tweenies pictures has proved popular, here is a Tweenies cycle! Genius!
This is a dance cycle for Bella from one of the animated inserts we did. This was animated by Mr Phil.
We worked on most of the series so any animation or effects that appeared in it, that was us. Way back when we were A for Animation.

More Designs

Afternoon, here is another design sheet from Dusty and Musty. This was Stuffy and Rusty's den made from bamboo sticks! Such detail! Made the sword fighting very special.

National Geographic Earth

Afternoon! Here are two images from some effect animation we did for a program for the National Geographic Channel. It was about global warming and shows the rate of ice loss on the planet over the years. Mr Duncan did all this.

Another Invite

Here is another invite to something from quite a few years ago that Mr Paul found. This was drawn by Mr Ian and Mr Louis.

Big Banners

Here are some photo's taken of the banners for the Encounters festival in Bristol! Look how big Mr Paul's characters are! How exciting.

Frankenstein's Cat Board

Hello, sorry for the lack of posting, I have been away. Anyway here is a page from the story board for an episode of Franks Cat. This was from the episode Tail of Tails, which won an award dont you know! This was drawn by Mr Gordon.

Driver Dan Screen Shot

Morning, here is a shot of Driver Dan being animated. This was Miss dani's screen and she would like to point out that I took the photo before she had the chance to make Driver Dan hold the book. We use 3dstudio to animate the show.

Dusty's Car

Morning. Here is the model sheet for Dusty's car in the series we did for Cog and HIT called Dusty and Musty. This is showing the computer model but there were situations when the car was animated in Flash. So we have to make sure the Flash animated car matches the computer model of the car. It was rather complicated as you can imagine. Especially the sequence where Dusty was in the car jumping it over a very big pile of books.... in perspective!! Mr Tom animated that sequence. It was rather special.

Community Champions

Here is a still from the advertising videos we just animated for the brilliant Heavenly company for the Community Channel Champions Awards. Clicky here to watch it and hear the lovely Esther.
The broadcast picture has a nice chalky look to it like the still above which you can't see on the you tube vid. Animated by Miss Jane (me) in Flash and composited by Mr Paul (not me) in After Effects.

Just for Jez

Here is another Rubbish King of the Jumble picture just for Mr Jez.
This is a sheet to explain what to do with shadows. This series was made in the days of cells and painting on each individual cell. So when the character goes into shadow a different colour paint needs to be used on that part of the character. Its a lost art I am afraid.

Story Train

Here are some more prop paintings by miss Rebecca for Driver Dan's Story Train.

Rusty Collar

Morning. Here is a model sheet for Rusty's dog collar from Dusty and Musty. When he put the collar on he behaved like a dog!

New Encounters Trailer

Morning. Click here to see the new trailer made by us.

The dani Request Corner!

Here you go dani. A turtle playing the drums especially for you from Mr Phil. I did think to myself this morning when Phil gave this to me "He is playing the drums! Ok, how strange, I would never have thought about that". Then I read your request. mehehe

Fish

As promised, here is a fish! (this in no way took me 10 seconds to draw due to me being busy, no sir)

Itsa' Crab!

Here is a crab.
It is by miss Leah. Tomorrow..... a fish!

New Encounters Trailer

Here is a little teaser image from the new Encounters Festival Trailer that Mr Paul finished over the weekend. They are launching it today in London. I helped a bit but Mr Paul did the late nights. And Mr Ian did the music. I will link to it soon.

Nine and Lottie

Aww best friends forever! We were hoping to do another series of Frankenstein's Cat. Unfortunately it didn't happen. Making an animated series is very expensive. Think of a number... now triple it... now quadruple it .... then add £84. Now double it.
I miss the cat from a kit.

More Rubbish Sheets

Here is the penultimate character sheet from Rubbish King of the Jumble.

Little Fish Cardboard Box!

Another Mr Curtis design for the Frankenstein's Cat series.

Early Bibles

Here are two different covers for the Rubbish King of the Jumble bibles. The one on the right was a year before the one on the left. Rubbish the cat is different and so is the King of the Jumble font. It's interesting to see the development. Mr Andy, Mr Wayne and Mr Phil would have been heavily involved in this.

more studio

Here is another studio picture. A dart board! Essential.

More Franks Cat Props

Because they are so great here are some more props from Frankenstein's Cat