The main reason I got into drawing as a child was because I wanted to capture the stories and fictional characters that I was passionate about on paper. Even though I spend most of my grown up time working on explainer animations and commercial illustrations for clients, I still find moments to illustrate things from […]
Some of our recent animations have been very character focused. Adding characters to your animated videos helps to engage the viewers with the story and makes your message more memorable and relatable. We animate all of our characters in Adobe After Effects by using a mixture of frame by frame, key frame motion tweening, masks […]
Earlier this year I was told off by Sean Lock….(‘s tour manager) for posting an illustration that spoiled a key joke in his 2013 comedy tour. I wrote a review of Sean Lock’s Derby show for the Derby cultural blog, A Clockwork Orrery and drew this image of Sean as a backwards centaur to accompany it. To […]
In September 2013 we attended a studio party thrown by fellow Derby based animation studio, Box Frame. Managing director Mair Perkins knows Box Frame as they kindly let her do work experience with them during her University days. Boxframe work with big name entertainment clients such as Sky, Disney, Formula One and Fifa and produce […]
Documentary air date: 10.45pm on Wednesday 6th November 2013 Earlier this year, QuimbyCo and Mair Perkins Ltd. Animation and Illustration created a medical diagram animation in a documentary about female genital mutilation (FGM) . The documentary, The Cruel Cut, is part of a campaign to stop the practice of female genital mutilation. The documentary needed to […]
September 2013 had a “back to school” feeling with all the networking events, seminars and creative events I’ve attended around the East Midlands. Here’s a little summary of some of the ones I’ve attended: Let’s do business is a new business support programme run by Evolve and the University of Derby. I’m excited to be […]
Derby’s art gallery, cinema and general creative building of awesomeness, QUAD, ran a one day course on projection mapping. Projection mapping is used in events, art installations and video DJ sets. Here are a few example videos on the kind of art work you can create using projection mapping techniques. Pretty amazing, huh? It works […]
Here is something I drew in half an hour in response to the news about organ donation. Organ donation has rose by 50% but there are still 3 people dying every day waiting for an organ transplant. Personally I can’t see why you would want to keep your organs all to yourself when you’re dead […]
A children’s book written by the Staffordshire based author, Brian Hainsworth and illustrated by myself , is now published and on sale on Amazon.com! It’s a lovely story about a Badger’s journey home and creatures you may find in an English woodland. I drew upon some of my favourite children’s books (Peter Rabbit, The Wind […]
2012 has been a very busy year for us! In April Mair Perkins set up the animation company Mair Perkins Ltd. (keeping the freelance business name) after establishing a successful business as a freelancer. It was a natural progression as the business grew and we began sharing studio space in Katapult’s offices but we pride […]
“We’d love to invite your film ‘Bill Bailey the animation’ to screen at this years British showcase at the London International Animation Festival (LIAF), the UK’s largest international animation festival.” What an exciting email to wake up to! The collaborative animation project we worked on in January with Leicester based FD2D magazine has been accepted […]
Since first seeing the Inkling advert, I wanted it, as I’m an easily influenced consumer that loves digital art toys. The Wacom Inutos 4 is brilliant but I can’t seem to capture the weight and texture that strokes on paper make. In my work process I sketch and ink images on paper then scan them […]
Recently I had the pleasure of writing an article for the digital marketing advice website Smart Insights about the benefits of animation in online marketing. It was edited, formatted and made presentable by the smart people at Smart Insights. The article contains statistics on the benefits of animated video for SEO and conversions, uses of […]
Every Friday, I share a never before seen sketch on my Facebook page. Here’s the collection of Spring 2012’s uploads. I have a corner of my studio dedicated to filled sketchbooks. It takes up so much space but I couldn’t bring myself to throw the sketches away. Yet it also seemed sad that they were […]
Last night I was watching my other half play Diablo 3 and admiring the cut scene animation. Specifically the amazingly detailed, static illustrations with some depth, camera movement and effects. It’s such an awesome story telling technique. I’ve seen this style before but didn’t now what it was called. Fortunately my other half, Callum, knows […]
Last year I donated an illustration to GOSH Monster Book to help raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital. I had the pleasure of creating a monster based on a drawing by kids from the Royal School of Ballet. You can see my contribution to the project in the illustration gallery. Because I have the […]
2012 has been a fantastic year so far. Many exciting projects completed, on going and upcoming. The latest animated web video is for the Charity Bank as part of the Move Your Money campaign which featured the animation in their blog. You can support the campaign by liking their Facebook page and pledging to switch […]
In November and December 2011, I went on a 5 week life drawing course at QUAD, taught by Sam Malone, a highly experienced 2D and 3D classical and computer based animator and designer who started her career at the Walt Disney animation studio in Paris. I heard about the class from an article in Hatch’d […]