Penguin Random House – Animation for Popular Brands
Penguin Random House first hired me to work on animation for their Beano: Where’s Dennis App. The success of that relationship has led to further work on other well loved British brands, like Peppa Pig and Spot.
Peppa Pig Seasonal Apps
As well as an opportunity to work on a well-loved brand, Peppa’s Easter Egg Hunt was a chance to get my teeth in to 2D animation software Spine. The simple character style lends itself well to the flat character rigging approach for which Spine is designed, and my previous experience with the Smooth Moves plug-in helped me with the extra-dimensional logic of ubiquitous 3D game engine, Unity.
Additional animation for Halloween and Christmas themed apps followed.
Spot at The Farm
For this app, in which the popular canine toddler visits the farm, Penguin and the Spot estate wanted to try and achieve the same level of animation seen in the 1980s TV series. This mean that Spine wasn't an option, so it was produced entirely in Flash (or, as it is now known, Adobe Animate). As well as animating the title character running about and picking carrots, there were a number of farm animals to animate, and, of course, Spot's friends.
Beano: Where’s Dennis? (and Gnasher!) App
Every so often I get a chance to work on something that excites my inner 9-year-old. I imagine telegraphing a message to the early 80s to tell myself I’m working on The Beano, and my younger self nodding sagely before redoubling his efforts to draw crude comic strips. Or just wetting himself, but since this scenario is hypothetical, I’m allowed to credit myself with heroic equanimity.
My opportunity to work with the long running British comic came when Penguin commissioned me to bring the images to life. Farting dogs, defecating elephants and exploding profiteroles are all right up my street, but my personal favourite is the portrait of David Cameron, who transforms into a hideous green lizard.
The animation was created in Flash, and exported as image sequences to be incorporated into the game by developers at Penguin. If you have an iPad, you can get it here.
