In the
first episode of a brand new season of our podcast series
Intimate Animation,
Laura-Beth and I meet illustrator, animator and designer
Caitlin McCarthy. Since graduating from
Camberwell
Caitlin’s work in illustration quickly expanded to experimental moving
image projects and animation, ultimately leading to her involvement with
London-based production studio
Strange Beast – alongside such artists as previous podcast guest
Anna Ginsburg. Having created animation for clients including
VOW,
Red Bull,
School of Life,
Nike and
New York Public Library, Caitlin’s work also often deals with themes of love and intimacy, includes animated segments for
The Female Orgasm, an episode of the Vox/Netflix production
Explained as well as the independent short films
Paraphilia and
Coldsore, the latter of which will be screening at Bristol’s
Encounters Festival next month.
Also discussed in this episode: The curiously short lifespan of
Lisa Hanawalt's promising new adult animated sitcom
Tuca and Bertie as well as ongoing Netflix shows
Bojack Horseman, Big Mouth and
Love Death + Robots. We also pay tribute to the late great animation legend
Richard Williams, whose body of work includes bringing the iconic modern animation ‘bombshell’ Jessica Rabbit to life.
Download here or stream above.
On that subject it's been a very emotionally-charged couple of days seeing on social media just how impactful the work of Richard Williams has been and how many top-tier players in the industry owe a debt of gratitude to his work and legacy, from
The Animator's Survival Kit to
Who Framed Roger
Rabbit and beyond.
I was enormously privileged to get to
speak with him during my coverage of the
Encounters Film Festival's
2015 edition at which he premiered
Prologue, an Oscar/BAFTA-nominated offshoot of a continuing passion project made at his Aardman base where he spent his final years. This would sadly turn out to be his final appearance on the podcast, but as with all our interactions he was warm, witty, open and honest and I remain immensely grateful for the opportunity. We'll be discussing his work more in the next episode of the podcast but in the meantime I wanted to give this chat another share - again you can stream below or
download here.
The last time I saw Richard in person was a year or so ago during a presentation of Aardman's character animation course graduates in which he gave a very impassioned speech about how impressed he was with their work, which I can only imagine made their decades.
He will not be forgotten anytime soon, that's for sure.
