Children In Need 2009

This year in the UK, Children In Need launched a charity single by Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band.

A medley of tracks such as 'Can You Feel It', 'Hey Jude' and more, the track brings together over a hundred UK children's television characters such as Postman Pat, the Wobles, Bagpuss, Pingu, Peppa Pig, Roary the Racing Car, Fifi and the Flowertots, Bob the Builder, Paddington Bear and many more, even going as far back as Bill and Ben and Muffin the Mule.

From my own little corner of animation land, you'll see Roobarb and Custard and also an appearance by three of my favourite Fluffy Gardens characters - Paolo the Cat, Mavis the Pony and the Small Green Thing.

It was beautifully directed by Chapman Entertainment's Tim Harper and, personally, I think he did a wonderful job. And of course the driving force behind the whole thing has been Peter Kay, voice of Big Chris on Roary the Racing Car. A mammoth task for everyone involved but the results are so worth it.

The single goes on sale today, Monday the 23rd of November, and it all goes to Children In Need for, well, children in need. It's a really good cause and it deserves to do really well so, if you're in the UK (and hopefully it will be on sale in Ireland too - I have to check that), go out and buy a copy. Many copies.

Relive your childhood through it over and over, or watch your own child's face light up as they see their favourite faces all together. I hope you all enjoy it!

Still Not There Yet...

Back when I was actually updating this blog regularly (or at least semi-regularly), I posted about my short, 'Not There Yet' here. It's one of my favourite shorts and had made it to YouTube at the time. It was the subject of the first email I got through this blog. Well... I got another to let me know that it has been doing the rounds on some websites and getting a great response.

And, yes, isn't our transport system absolute pox? Every other city had an underground over 100 years ago and we're still standing at bus stops in the lashing rain watching buses go by full, or because the driver can't be arsed to stop and then get ripped off by the high prices and the fact that they have outlawed change (which I still think can't possibly be legal). And the train? Ker-ist. Forget about it. Unless you love being squashed up against some sweaty man who may or may not have a hideous contagious disease.

And I didn't even touch on taxis.

I feel the need to point out that 'Not There Yet' was made back in 2004, pre-Luas and pre-Port Tunnel. Of course, both were long due to be in operation by then but, hey, that's Ireland for you. But I think I got it mostly right. I'm actually stunned we've gone this long without a bunch of Luas-related deaths.

I can't help feeling I should be making a sequel to this. Anyway, glad it's getting passed around, especially to anyone who has endured the hell that is Dublin city. If you know someone who has been through that and survived, feel free to show it to them. So, from YouTube, once more here's 'Not There Yet' (for a larger version, click on it to bring you directly to YouTube):

Ballybraddan

As some of you know, I've been spending this year directing a show for Monster Animation called Ballybraddan. It's an Irish show about children, a town and a hurling championship.


Screenscene, who are handling the audio on the show, have posted an interview with me on their very fancy webiste. Check it out by clicking the 'view video' button on this page.

A new arrival!

I've always liked the idea of using focus groups for helping shape my projects. Because that can be costly and I'm not a rich man, I decided to grow my own. Well, the next member of my future focus group has arrived. Here she is -

I'm hoping little Alice will make a good friend for Daisy, the first candidate for my group.

You know, I joke about the focus group thing but a lot of people create projects for their children and it often works really well. But then I think about someone like George Lucas, who seemingly went from making projects for himself, things he knew he liked, to making projects for his children, things he thought and hoped they would like. Of course, you always have to keep your audience in mind but you can never be certain if someone else will love something. You can be certain, however, if you love it yourself.

I created Fluffy Gardens for the child I once was. And that's how I pitched it. So it's an added bonus that my daughter Daisy already likes it. Here she is watching television with her new sister -

I think she was actually watching Peppa Pig here.

What's going on?

This blog has been pretty quiet (always is) but a couple of people have asked me what's going on, what I'm doing and how Fluffy Gardens is going so here is a quick update.

Right now, I'm directing a show called 'Ballybraddan'. It's an Irish show - an animated drama series (there aren't many of those about) based on a class of children and a hurling championship.




We recently brought the project to the Cartoon Forum in Ludwigsburg, where it went down rather well. You can see a little trailer for it here from YouTube.



Fluffy Gardens continues to grow. I can't thank everyone enough for the support the show gets and the reaction is fantastic. It's doing wonderfully across Latin America in particular and I heard just last week that the first proper merchandise, in the form of activity and colouring books and more, will be making it to several Latin American countries, beginning with Brazil and Argentina. So that's exciting! There's also a bunch of stuff happening in Korea but I'm usually the last to know.

I've had loads of requests for new characters (such as a hamster and a lion and more). Who knows, there may well be new episodes at some point so that just might happen! I'll have to wait and see.

Lastly, here's another pic, just for anyone who happens to pass by this lonely blog -

Smiling

A little while back, I made a series of images that were inspired by my daughter and I thought I'd share some of them here. Several months ago, my daughter Daisy started speaking and, when I left for work in the morning, she would wave and say 'Bye Bye Da Da'. Well it just broke my little heart and made it really hard to leave her each day.

And that inspired the image below. I'll probably post a few more soon.

The DFC

Here's something worth checking out for the UK folk. The UK has a great tradition of comics, wholly different to what was going on in the US. 2000AD, often total genius featuring wonderful characters like Nemesis the Warlock and, of course, Judge Dredd, is still going but there were so much more - Eagle, the short-lived but fantastic Scream, even fantastic comics for girls like Misty.

Then there were the funny, wacky comics - the Beano, Whizzer and Chips, the (again) short-lived Oink and others. Some really fantastic stuff in all of those.

Well, the DFC is the UK's newest weekly comic and is only available through online subscription. It sounded like a great project and had some really great people involved, such as Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials), so I just had to subscribe. And, as it turns out, it's pretty great. It comes in a bright envelope each week so you can't miss it -

So far, the stories are good. You just get a few pages per story and they are continuous so should reward getting into them, though I did find a few weren't written with that format in mind and had slow intros, which are lost in that format. But a few issues in and some of them are really getting going. There's a real mix here. Some are serious adventure-type stories, others go back to the more silly stuff and this is where it falls down a little. It's not that they are bad, it's just that the silly stuff isn't as strong as the more grown-up stories and, even if they were great, I'm not so sure they'd fit together anyway. It's like this should have been two different comics.

As a result, it's hard to know just what age group this is being pitched at.

But, that aside, most of the content is excellent. The art does its job nicely and there are a few quirky pieces with lovely design. What really comes across is that they let the creators create - each story, while feeling very seperate to what is around it, feels well developed and the story and artwork match. There's a coherence to it and there doesn't seem to be any sense of skepticism. It's good stuff!

So I'd recommend checking it out! www.thedfc.co.uk

If you DFC guys do split into a younger and older comic, give me a shout, I'd love to get in on the younger stuff!

Fluffy Gardens and other updates!

Haven't been posting on this blog in quite some time. Does anyone mind? Possibly not. Anyway, I've been busy working on a new show called Ballybraddan. Hopefully I'll share some info on that soon but I've also been keeping track of Fluffy Gardens and making sure that's all going smoothly.

There have been new licensing partners for Korea (did you know Fluffy Gardens is showing in Korea?) and across Latin America so, who knows, we may see some merchandise soon! The show is doing really well. There doesn't seem to have been a child who has seen it who doesn't like it. Maybe one exists, but I haven't met them.

So, for the Fluffy Gardens fans who wander in here - who is your favourite character? Or your favourite episode? If you're passing by, let me know in the comments or with an email. If you need a reminder of who is who, here's a pic:

Actually, that pic might be too small to see. Not to worry.

And now for some sad news. Reg Tammemagi, my dog and best friend since I was a teenager, has left us. He was very old and such a good dog. I'll always miss him and it was very tough to say goodbye. You're a good boy, Reg. Such a good boy.

In a way, I hope he lives on in the spirit of Wee Reg the Puppy, the character for which he was the inspiration. Or maybe he lives on somewhere else. Who knows? Here's a little pic I did for him. I hope he has other dogs to play with and birds to chase, flying far too high for him to ever catch (he wasn't a fast dog).


Goodbye Reg.

GTA IV

About time I posted more on this blog. I've been busy but with little to show here. Working on a show called 'Ballybraddan' which will be in production for quite some time.

Anyway, I got Grand Theft Auto 4 this morning and had a browse through the manual. Going through the cast list, I saw Jarlath Conroy's name there, who I worked with on Detained!

Looking forward to finding out what kind of character he plays in this.

It's a new year!

I've been very slow on updates so thought it was time I posted what's going on at the moment.

Well, Fluffy Gardens has launched in France as 'Le Jardin Enchante'. If you're in France, you'll find it on France 5 at around 9.30am on Saturdays and Sundays. Hope you like it!

It's still on on Cartoonito in the UK, ABC in Australia, RTE in Ireland, Discovery Kids in Latin America as Fabulopolis and is doing very well all round! There should be much more Fluffy Gardens news in 2008 and hopefully it will be an exciting year.

Right now, for me, I'm on preproduction on another show and have a bunch of things in the pipeline. More on those soon! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a fantastic 2008!