Fierce Creatures

In the ninetieth episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast it's a delight to welcome back previous podcast guest Chris Butler, speaking with Laura-Beth about Missing Link, his latest stop-motion feature with LAIKA.
Chris’s previous work includes his directorial debut ParaNorman (for which he also wrote the original screenplay) as well as his roles as Head of Story/co-writer on Kubo and the Two Strings and story supervisor on Coraline. His prior experience includes design and storyboard roles on a number of high profile projects including Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
This episode also features a recent chat I had with Justin K. Thompson, production designer on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. An Emmy Award–winning artist with over twenty years of experience in television including Star Wars: Clone Wars and feature films such as the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs series, Justin has worked for a variety of entertainment industry powerhouses including Disney, DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, Paramount, Sony, Cartoon Network, the Jim Henson Company and Warner Bros. Click here for more info and to find out how to be in with a chance to win a copy of the film on Bluray.
Also in this episode Steve and I natter about early trailers for Toy Story 4 and Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie as well as recent animated series aimed at adults including Love Death + Robots and The Shivering Truth.
As always y'all can direct download, subscribe or stream below:

Llama Face!

In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we meet Jay Grace, director of Aardman‘s latest Shaun the Sheep special The Farmer’s Llamas (broadcast this Boxing Day), following on from the character’s successful feature film outing earlier in the year.
Also in this episode we welcome back producer Michael Rose (who previously appeared in episode 8 of the podcast) of Magic Light Pictures, whose latest animated adaptation is the holiday special Stick Man (which will air on Xmas) based on the children’s book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler.
Stream the latest episode below or direct download here.


This is our last episode before Xmas itself but be sure to check back around the 30th for a very special end-of-year podcast that'll be a lot of fun indeed.

The World is Yours

I hope you're all geared up for a weekend of eggy chocolate Jesus zombie antics. I myself am rebuilding myself emotionally from an intense end-of-March deadline while cracking on with what's proving to be a rather therapeutic day-job. I don't think I can talk about it until it's done but I'll just say it involves lots of wavy lines that have proved to have quite a calming effect. Right this second I'm waiting on a bit of client feedback to come through so I'll take the opportunity to do a li'l update post.

I have two new interviews up on the site I hope you'll all enjoy. The first is with directorial duo Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano who made Love in the Time of March Madness, one of my favourite films from last year. It's essentially a docu-memoir about Melissa's own romantic misadventures as a uniquely tall athlete, with Robertino putting together a host of truly impressive visual interpretations that really showcase how much more effective animation can be when it comes to communicating abstract concepts within non-fiction. Have a read here.

Speaking of abstract concepts, Don Hertzfeldt released his new film this week. It's called World of Tomorrow and is more than worth the price of admission; You can stream it for a month for a paltry rental fee on Vimeo, and I can't recommend doing so enough. Like most of his recent work, such as the graphic novel The End of The World and his independent feature It's Such a Beautiful Day, it solicits a huge gamut of emotional response and, primarily, is goddamn hysterical. Gladly I also got an interview with Hertzfeldt himself, something I've been angling for really since day one. Good times indeed.
Also I've noticed that Shaun in the City, the arts project that will see a whole gaggle of oversized Shaun the Sheeps dotted about London (similar to the Gromit Unleashed project in Bristol a couple years back) is now in effect. So there's no harm in putting up some of my own submissions, all of which were sensibly rejected:

Counterclockwise from top-left: Shaun as a Blue Meanie, Shaun as Wallace, Shaun as an old-timey cartoon and Shaun that'd go great with a side of mint jelly

I can appreciate 'Blue Shaunie' may have been a bit thorny, rights-wise, and while I assume 'ShaunWallace' wouldn't have been as big an issue it's a bit on-the-nose (see, he's Shaun, but he's all coloured in and dressed like Wallace geddit? Teeheehoho etc). That being said I quite liked 'Rubberhose Shaun' on the bottom right and, my personal favourite, 'Mrs. Bleaton's Cookbook', top right. Like all truly great artists I'm sure the genius of them all will be more appreciated after I'm dead. It's a fine cause so check out the Shaun in the City site to find out more.
Completely changing the subject, this wonderful new item of vinyl Faith No More-ery is now in my possession:

It's been a month since the song debuted and I still can't fully convey in words how goddamn in love with it I am. It's worth mentioning that the vinyl version sounds better, and I don't mean that in that douchey way vinyl enthusiasts insist upon; It's actually a different, less 'produced' mix that feels more traditionally FNM to my ears. Adrian at newfaithnomore.com put up a little comparison analysis I made (which you can also listen to here).
Let it not be said that I don't give back to my community.

The Skwigly Spectrum

A good ol' Skwigly roundup for you fine folks today. Starting with the latest podcast which went up today - Steve has interviews with Daisy Jacobs (director of the BAFTA-winning NFTS film The Bigger Picture) and Chuck Steel creator Mike Mort, while one of our talented writers Nathan Wilkes chats to the Shaun the Sheep Movie directors Mark Burton and - making his return to the Skwigly Podcast (having also been featured in episode 11) - Richard Starzak. It's a fun one, friends! Subscribe, stream or download to your heart's content:
There's also a new episode of Lightbox up this week in which the always-brilliant Laura-Beth learns about Disney's Feast from Director Patrick Osborne, Designer Jeff Turley and Producer Kristina Reed. There are two versions of this one, you can check it out on YouTube (where it's already doing very well) or watch the slightly nicer edit below:

On the other end of the animation spectrum I'm really happy to have an interview with legendary Estonian director Priit Pärn up on the site this week. I've been a fan of his work since 2000 when I saw Hotel E on, of all things, a semi-pisstake Adam and Joe C4 documentary that doesn't appear to have surfaced online. It was pretty funny though. My prevailing memory is a moment where BaaadDad threatens to stab a child for a Pokemon card. Cheered me some.
Back to Priit Pärn, if you've not caught his work it's worth the research; Though heavygoing at times it's often incredibly witty and always brilliantly-executed - and absolutely, irrefutably Estonian. His latest film Pilots on the Way Home, one of several co-directed with his wife Olga and his first collaboration with the NFB, shows he hasn't mellowed with age either:

On top of all this there's a new book review up on Animate to Harmony by Australian indie animator Adam Phillips. It's an invaluable guide to ToonBoom Animate and Harmony and it's really filled in some gaps in my overall knowledge of the software. More importantly, reading it has motivated me to follow-through on a recent promise to myself. Sometimes when we feel like we're floating without a paddle...well, a good book can take one's mind to a better place. To read my gushing in full check out the review here.

Lots more in the wings but I reckon that covers it for now. Happy weekending, everyone!

Exercises in Humility

Jutra (Dir. Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre)

This week on Skwigly I have an interview with Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre, a kindred spirit in the sense that she makes animation documentaries, albeit with more of a creative spin. Working with the NFB and notably influenced by Norman McLaren, she's made the multi-award-winning McLaren's Negatives and last year's Jutra among others. She has a brilliant style and interesting process, you can learn more by giving the interview a read here: 
Interview with Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre
Back in the more straightforward world of my mini-documentary series Lightbox, this week we have a special on Aardman's Shaun the Sheep Movie in anticipation of its release on Friday. We went up to Aardman Features in Aztec West where one of the film's lead animators Will Becher gave Steve, Laura-Beth and myself a nice demonstration of their puppets:

I'm quite interested in seeing how the film does compared to their other recent features, especially as this one feels more unabashedly/traditionally Aardman without trying to play to a broader audience.
Elsewhere I've had some disappointing news regarding the planned distribution of my most recent film Bullies. The short version is that interest from a company I'd been holding out for since last summer has been rescinded, so I'm back in limbo for the time being. Bit of a knock but I'm fondly keeping this little cinematic analogy in mind:

Frankly I'd been getting a little spoiled with things coming off without many hitches of late, so in a sense it's good to be brought down to Earth every once in a while. Keeps a fella humble, which is always a hard business given how unbelievably gifted and handsome I am. Plus, sometimes when we feel like we're floating without a paddle...well, new plans emerge. Watch this space.

Finally, just a reminder that I'll be in Cheltenham this Saturday, exhibiting at True Believers. Swing by and peruse my bookey wares, why doncha?

Ben Mitchell's Very Public Emotional Breakdown

It's new Skwigly podcast day, folks - that wunnerfull time o' the month where myself and Steve bring you some insight from the animation world's notable practitioners, sort of held together with our meandering wafflage in between. Everyone listen or risk societal shunning!

Insight-wise I got to talk to Richard Starzak, formerly Richard Goleszowski, known to most as Golly. He's currently the creative director at Aardman and has headed up "Rex The Runt", "Robbie The Reindeer" and presently "Shaun The Sheep", all of which - despite the title similarities - are separate endeavours. He also directed the "Creature Comforts" TV series, developed from the famous Nick Park short of the same name, as well as his own film "Ident" which is probably my favourite 'classic' Aardman short alongside Barry Purves's "Next".

Later on Steve chats to Daniel Greaves of Tandem Films, whose work includes the Oscar-winning "Manipulation", an early-90s take on the "Duck Amuck" character-vs-creator concept, as well as "Flatworld", "Little Things" and the in-progress "Mr. Plastimime".
Wafflage-wise, we discuss recent developments with the VFX debate, merrily gambol down memory lane and I rant psychotically about a recent nightmare commission. Hopefully we can get some listener stories of their own horrendous experiences dealing with clueless clients. It's good to vent.

Meanwhile, somewhere in my happy place, I've learned that HuHa! has been translated into German and French. Best I can tell only the German version of Wobble Box Episode 1 is up now, so treat yourself to the delights of "Assassinen Babies". It's like "Assassin Babies", just German-ier.