I wanna pack cute little lunches then read Danielle Steel

About a month ago we finished making a film for North West Libraries. It's part of the Time to Read initiative, and seems to have gone down well, they've even written up a report on its implementation and success in the region! If you enjoy information, you can read it here.

And if you like watching things, you can see the film here:

We always have a laugh and then we all get in the bath

This Sunday we're in Manchester with a stall at the Victoria Bath Fanzine Fair. If you're in the neighbourhood, come check out our wares. Emily's recently added to her tattoo collection with some Arctic themed ones, including an orca, an arctic fox and some very pretty icebergs, ready and waiting for some happy buyers. See you there!

Strange Hill High

I've been working as an animator on a new CBBC show for the past year, and it's finally about to broadcast! The show is called Strange Hill High, and it's on Wednesday 8th at 5pm on the CBBC channel.

Josh Weinstein, who was one of the writers on The Simpsons, is one of the showrunners, and it stars Doc Brown, Richard Ayoade and Emma Kennedy.

I've been really proud to work on this programme, as it looks really different from everything else out there, and the scripts are very sharp. It was put together with a strange mixture of live action rod puppets, plus CGI animated mouths and facial expressions (that's me), which in itself is also an unusual way of working.

Because of its unique look, the show is getting a lot of promo before it airs, which is exciting. Here's an article from the Independent, and if you go here you can watch a bit from BBC Breakfast where Weinstein and Kennedy talk about the show.

Despite animating on it, I still haven't seen it all put together, so I can't wait to see it! Hurrah!

I wanna be a mole in a hole digging low and slooow

We were very excited to see 'Digging Deep: The Adventures of Sky the Reluctant Hero' at the Contact theatre on Saturday Evening. Nikky Norton Shafau (winner of the Flying Solo Commission 2011) led us on a beautiful immersive adventure touching upon issues of mental health, with incredible sound design by Martyn Ware (Heaven 17) and animation from us.. hooray! Our short animation was part of the production and was projected in parts during the show. At one point very creepily across the unmade bed, very eerie! A wonderfully imaginative performance and fairy jolly at times despite the serious subject. 

You can see the trailer just here:

Also if you wish to find out more abut Sky and how you can be a part of her story then follow this link below:

http://diggingdeep2012.wordpress.com/

I wanna publish zines part seventy two

Emily and I are doing another zine fayre, this Thursday. It's our first in ages! We'll be at Manchester Gallery in, er, Manchester, on the 31st from 5pm, selling delightful things. The night ends a bit before 9pm, so don't dally after work.

For more information, take a look here.

Girl get busy

Well, time flies. In the last two months Emily and I have moved house; we're now both based in Manchester, which is bad for National Rail/Megabus' profits, but good for us. It is nice to be in the same neck of the woods, and indeed the same flat!

We've been busy beavering away on animated adventures too. We are separately working on some television series. I am animating on a CBBC one, and Emily is illustrating on a CBeebies one. We've also got a couple of commissioned film projects which are almost done, so we shall certainly be shouting about them soonish. Soonish = in a month or two I guess.

But anyways, right now we have a screening coming up! Our old Poo film will be showing at Manchester's Cornerhouse cinema later this month, on the 15th, and Emily and I shall be both be there to introduce our film. The programme is called Filmed Up and features North West filmmakers. We are first on, so if you come along (and it would be lovely if you did) make sure you get there on time! That goes for me too; I don't often get to places on time. Here is a link from which you can purchase tickets and find out more: this link here!

Right, dinner time now. Here's a picture of a beaver.

Let's talk about movies

Don't forget Billy and I will be at Cornerhouse tomorrow to talk about the making of Hum. The discussion will focus in particular on the production side, and how to work with funders. There may also be babble.

You know how to get along humming

We have finished our third film! It's called Hum, and it's an abstract animation about sleep paralysis.

We developed the idea for the story after meeting with Nikky Norton, a playwright and poet based in Manchester. She's working on a big project with Contact Theatre, mixing sound, animation, illustration, theatre, poetry, and performance art, which Hum will have a part in.

That's not until next year though. In the meantime we have plans... We're pleased to announce that Hum will premiere at Exposures Film Festival at Cornerhouse in Manchester next month. The film will show on Tuesday 21^st at 5pm, along with a live action drama also commissioned by Cornerhouse at the same time as ours. Afterwards there will be a Q&A session with me and Billy (Hum's composer), as well as Mark Haig, who directed the other film. Emily can't make it unfortunately, but hopefully Billy and I will be enough. Tickets for the premiere and Q&A event can be purchased here: http://www.exposuresfestival.co.uk/programme

Hope to see you there!

I paint the things I want to see

I forgot to put these up sooner, but last week I did my final shift on the final day of Cornerhouse's Sketch-o-matic. Here are two of my favourite sketches from the day:

The second guy came in with the cigar, and just posed for the 5-ish minutes. Very prepared. 

There's talk of the Sketch-o-matic appearing elsewhere next year, so I hope to be involved then, because I really had fun!

Their models drawn on a charcoal sketch

I think I may have forgotten to mention this...but this week I am taking part in a really cool project at Cornerhouse in Manchester. It's called Sketch-o-matic! I am one of several artists taking part, and the idea is that we have 5 minutes to draw someone who sits in front of us, in a booth. It's a bit like a passport photo booth type thing. The booth is really cool, it looks like this:

 

I did my first shift on Tuesday, and it was very fun. I sit on one side, and the sitter sits on the other. There is glass between us, but the glass is one way so they cannot see me! The put £1 in a slot, and I turn a dial as I draw so that the sitter knows when I have finished the drawing. I pop it outside, and they take it, and everyone is happy. 

I did 15 drawings on Tuesday. Here are three of them, because I only remembered to take photos of three of them...

 

 

 

I was really happy with the first one especially, of the mother and baby. I don't think I've drawn a baby on location before, in fact I don't think I've drawn many babies at all ever. This baby was especially happy and gurglely and was laughing and smiling the whole time. Each drawing took about 5-10 minutes.

I am going to be back at Cornerhouse for some more Sketch-o-matic fun this Sunday 4th from 6-7pm and again from 9-10pm, so please come and let me draw you! Here is a nice link with some more information.

When mama was moth

We finished our stop motion shoot today, and we actually managed to do all the shots we planned. We then started working on a few experimental, unplanned shots when our new strobe light broke. Stupid strobe light. However, before it broke the strobe light did help us light this linetest of a moth, which we are quite pleased with:

Here is a photo of the moth model when he is not flapping about:

I didn't enjoy making the moth much. I hate moths a lot, and to make this one I had to look at a lot of pictures of moths in close up. It was disgusting.

I'll take the high road from factory to factory

This week we've been doing some stop motion work, using the green screen studio at Factory in Manchester. I am pleased to say that I didn't mess up the oil pastel animation - well there's a bit of a funny bump, but we've decided it is part of the charm! We've been doing lots of paper cut out animation too, and some experiments with a strobe light which we are very pleased with.

Does this drawing here look scary to you? I hope it does at least a little.

Got me a movie, I want you to know

Very happily, Emily and I have won funding to make a new film. It will be our third film, and the second to be funded, which is great. Cornerhouse, Mackinnon & Saunders and Vision & Media are the generous people helping us out. We've been working on it for quite a few weeks, but didn't want to post something until we were a bit further down the line. The film's story was partly inspired by our colleague Nikky Norton, who is a poet and playwright also based in Manchester...but the exact narrative details will be a surprise! However I will say that it is an abstract, experimental film.

I will try and post regular updates in between the actual animating, and here is the first: a little linetest. Don't blink or you'll miss it. (I probably should have put it on a loop!)

You win gold medals for when you're with me

On Saturday Billy and I went to Screen Stockport Film Festival, and guess what! We won three awards! We won third place in the Best Animation category as chosen by the jury, plus Most Original Concept and Most Original Soundtrack as chosen by the Festival Selection Committee, all for Spin Spun Span. As you can see from the picture below, I am very pleased about this, as is Billy and Emily. 

As Emily took possession of the last award we won, I will keep the medal, and probably wear it around the house as I please. As an extra piece of fun, we also got to take home a couple of Screen Stockport mugs. They look like this:

IT'S CHARLIE FROM LOST! As soon as Billy and I arrived at the Festival, we spotted Charlie on their poster. We later found out that Dominic Monaghan's image is appropriate as he grew up around Stockport: it makes so much sense now! A Lost-related endorsement just makes Screen Stockport even cooler, and I love the medal, and three awards is just amazing. Thanks to the judges, and especially John, Joe and Rosemary for creating such a great event!!

On a street that comes and goes by the name of buy and sell

Emily and I are going to do a stall at the Sunday Market sometime in the next couple of months. It's a monthly craft fair at the Islington Mill in Manchester. In the meantime please enjoy this lovely poster:

You can put on your bathing suits

In a stroke of promotional genius I have utterly neglected to mention that we will be at another zine fair this weekend. Not that I think this blog is a guide to the hottest tickets in town, but it is good to talk about things you are going to do, in the hope that some people may come along.

So anyway, this Saturday I will be at the Victoria Baths Fanzine Convention in Manchester with a stall of Emily&Anne zines and stuff. Sadly it will be only me on the stall as Emily is at a party and Billy is working. Hopefully some people will talk to me. The Convention is from 10am til 4pm and you can find out more if you click on this.

We will have our usual badges, zoetropes, flipbooks and whatnot for sale, plus a new batch of Poo zines as the last lot sold out at the London Zine Symposium! Also...a new zine, just by me...maybe. At the moment I have a load of animating to be doing and zines to be binding, and this new zine isn't really a physical thing at the moment. Plus I have hurt my neck. I have made a neck brace out of Billy's scarf.

The event's got a good poster:

I'd pay to visit you on rainy Sundays

The night before I flew off to Chicago, Emily and I attended the private view of Spin Spun Span at Bolton Museum & Archives. It was really interesting to see the new gallery complete and with our funny little film showing as one of the exhibits. Would you like to see it? Well you can now, and I think if you go the Museum's website you are bound to find instructions on how to do so.

Here are some photos we took on the night:

Some people watching the film.

Some of our merchandise in the Museum shop. Badges, flipbooks, letter writing sets, jewellery and postcards too, although you can't see the postcards here.

Emily and I, looking a little bedraggled, but at least we are colour co-ordinated. It was yellow that day. We are happy because we have read our names. Simple pleasures.

Well I just had to laugh

The article about Spin Spun Span was in last Friday's Manchester Evening News. Here's the online version, here.