Aardman and the Bristol Stop-Motion Scene

In June of 2018 I took on an animation internship at Aardman Animations.  I worked under Supervising Animators Lloyd Price and Grant Maisey, producing a series of short animated segments with a puppet fabricated by Aardman's in-house model makers.  During the hour long lunch breaks, I had the opportunity to talk with some of the best and brightest of the stop motion animation world.  It was interesting to discover that a number of model makers and animators also do occasional puppet performance work.  As a children's entertainer myself, I found it refreshing to hear that Aardman's own stop motion animators involve themselves in the world of physical performance in front of live audiences.


This is a collection of animated segments I put together over the 3 week internship period.

Aardman is Bristol’s most thriving animation company.  In the 80s and 90s Bristol had a greater variety of stop motion studios than are around today.  It was after the release of Chicken Run that Aardman overtook many of these smaller studios with people either being hired by Aardman or producing work elsewhere.  Dave Alex Riddett is one such artist who was originally co-creator of the Bristol based Bolex Brothers animation studio but has now been working at Aardman for over 20 years as Director of Photography.

You can check out Aardman's website here.

Bristol also hosts the Encounters film and animation festival which showcases animated films from around the world and also features Q&As from a host of top industry experts.  These talks are perfect for animation students wishing to meet and showcase their work to prospective employers as well as animation professionals looking to engage with other professionals in a creative environment.  When I was there in 2017, I managed to catch Q&As from famed animation director, Michael Dudok De Wit and Pierre Coffin, creator of the Minions and director of Despicable Me.  Both of these men gave in-depth talks on the crafting of their work. 

This is a publicity shot of the stairs leading up to the screening areas where the latest animated shorts are featured.

You can also check out the Encounters Festivial website here.