Scary Fairy, Hansel and Gretel.

BBC Radio twos Friday night is music night broadcast Hansel and Gretel on Friday. Link here.

Craig Charles and the BBC Philharmonic at their studio in MediaCityUK

Happy New year!

In less than two weeks I start as a director at the wonderful Studio Soi. I can't wait to meet the guys there and dive in. Lots to do before I leave for Germany. Very exciting!

Nella the Princess Knight

Nella The Princess Knight, the show I Series Directed, is set to premiere on Nickelodeon USA in February 2017. Not sure of the UK date yet. The official release image really doesn't do the show justice.

Scary Fairy

The last week or so Ive had a very rushed but fun job to do. Illustrating 30+ images for my friends Mackinnon and Saunders, for a project called Scary Fairy. An epic spooky poem written and performed by Craig Charles with the BBC Philharmonic. The images were projected at the concert last night. I couldn't make it unfortunately but the show will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Friday 6 January.

MAF: STORYBOARDING WORKSHOP

Many thanks to all at MAF for the invitation to run a Storyboarding Workshop and the super cool badge! I had a great time.

Storyboards

On Wednesday the 16th November ill be Running a Storyboarding for TV animations workshop at the Manchester Animation Festival. you can grab tickets here..... MAF

2016 toot toot!

It took a while to get back into gear after the Christmas break, but things are progressing full steam. By the end of the month, the crew will be double what it is now. We so need more biscuits!

Voice records have started in New York. Our cast is amazing! Next step is dropping the real dialogue into the animatic in place of the scratch track.

Also in the news our studio is in the top 50 creative companies in England.

And Ive even started on my Animex talk. No pressure.

Blimey!

That was quick! Christmas already!. The show is moving very fast and we are well into animatics. Brown Bag Films is building an amazing studio in Manchester with an awesome international crew. We have a new art director all the way from L.A, and a Spanish animation director due to start in the new year. We also have another American staff writer in house AND a studio dog called Jack.

Also in the new year I'll be speaking at Animex . My first public talk. Gulp!

The team grows.

A few months on and things are really kicking into gear at Brown Bag. While the show must still remain nameless the team continues to build. There's over twenty of us now installed in the Manchester studio with many more to come. We're very lucky to have attracted some truly amazing talent from all over the world.

With boards and voice records in the U.S about to start we are entering into a very exciting stage. And myself, I'm about to get very busy. I'm so proud of the guys at Brown Bag Manchester and feel very lucky to be directing such a big show.

Showrunner and Storyboard lead discuss cake

Brown Bag Films

Today I started as Director at Brown Bag films in Manchester. I can't say what show yet but I'm sure the name will be released shortly. Sad to leave the amazing guys at Mackinnon and Saunders after a great year making Wanda and the Alien, and excited to start work on a new show and team.

Fish Head Steve

Something related to a thing I directed, (I think I'm safe saying that) ... Our beautiful maquette's made it home safe for their photo shoot.

New pilot

We've just wrapped up the pilot film we were working on. Very short deadline as they often are. We completed animation about a half hour before going to online at Flix Facilities in Media City Manchester.

The chaps did an amazing job, using Anime Studio for the first time. A very funny show that I hope gets picked up. Over to you money guys! :)

Seyhun, David, James and Craig... top drawer animators in front of the secret wall!

Back to work

I'm back from New York where myself and Kendra were married. I can't describe how lucky I feel. Trying to remember what I was doing before our trip. Some very exciting projects lined up this week, that I apparently can't talk about for at least two years. Hopefully some of the teasers me and the guys at the MSD dev team have been working on will start to be leaked. Also have to finalise an alternative animatic for my own little show. Maybe Ill get to make that this year. I say that like its a new year, but this past week has kind of been like Christmas. Lucky lucky me!...

Done

Just received the final Wanda and the Alien Production Report from our Production manager Steve Levinshon. We've finished! Thanks of course to the whole team and especially Steve and Ellie for keeping us on track.

Working from home...

As the last Wandas roll through Im getting to work on some development stuff from home. Always fun. It's a joy to get drawing again. Self portrait warm-up from this morning. Testing out a few new brushes.

Wanda on Nick Jnr today.

Wanda airing on Nick Jnr today at http://www.nickjr.co.uk

Nick Jr. Africa To Premiere "Wanda and the Alien"

Link here. http://nickalive.blogspot.co.uk. Great to see Wanda and Alien heading out worldwide.

Crew photo

A great last pic of the Wanda team before most of them depart. January will see a smaller group of us seeing the last few shows out the door. Ive been so lucky to work with these guys.

Thumbnails

Before the episode goes to the storyboard artist I always draw thumbnails of the whole show. This helps me work out the business of the episode, and get what we need from our storyboard team. At the beginning of production these thumbnails can be pretty detailed but usually get lighter as everyone gets to know the shows style and limitations better.

I also often drop in little colour ideas to push an idea or design. Heres a handful.

Last Animation briefing

Final animation brief with team leads from left Graig, James and David and animation director Claire. Amazing bunch!