Latest Update!

Hello all! I should probably start by apologising because I haven't managed to update the blog in quite a while now. To be honest, I've just been really busy living life and decided not to devote my free time to work for a while. However, I have been plotting out future projects during my time off and, as always, I have more ideas than I'll ever feasibly be able to realise.

I travelled to Amsterdam in early September for my friend Jon's Stag Doo. Jon has been mentioned on the blog several times over the years as we've collaborated on several animation projects including Marty Goes to Hollywood and Meatballs. It was a great weekend and a perfect send off as he transitioned into married life.

Shortly thereafter I had a two-week holiday in Orlando with my family, visiting the Disney World and Universal resorts. The holiday was amazing as always. We have now visited the state of Florida eight times together and three times since our son was born. He really enjoyed this trip, getting far more invested in the character experiences and at 40 inches tall was able to ride many of the adult rides. He also returned home with a LOT of new cars.

We then had Jon's wedding to attend at the Busby Hotel in Clarkston. Jon as I mentioned previously is someone I have worked with many times from university right through to full productions.

I am currently working on a highland cow design that will hopefully be finished in the coming weeks. I am at the colouring stage, which may sound nearly finished but there's still a lot involved in this process. Once this is completed it will be sent to print and I will share the final piece here including some variants.

My next post will likely be showcasing these designs and following on from that I’m planning a piece for a family birthday. An updated showreel will also be dropping as well as a few other projects which i will update in due course.

Latest Updates!

Hello all!

I feel like I always start these blog posts with a remark about how long it's been since I last posted - I guess I do it quite a lot, but with good reason! For the past few months, I've been winding down from my latest animation and spending more time with my family. On this project, I was responsible for animation, character design, script/storyboard and 30+ backgrounds of varying detail - in fact, the only element that wasn't my responsibility was the sound. 

 

An unused backdrop from the recent animation.

Needless to say, while I am bursting with pride at what I've produced, recuperation time was vital - I had to commit a lot of myself to the production. With the project finally wrapped in mid-April 2025, I have since been taking a relaxed approach to what's next for me and I will delve into that today.

Lately I have avoided taking on any substantial projects, instead returning to my illustration work and focusing on trips that were pending at the time. I travelled to Majorca with my dad in early May to surprise my brother and his family, having a great week together this was my first opportunity to truly relax since September 2024. After returning to Scotland, I organised my upcoming projects and started preparations for future illustration work. 

In June I spent a few days in Paris with my brother, where we attended Distant Worlds, a concert dedicated to the music of Final Fantasy-a formative game series from our childhood. We also managed to sneak in a trip to the two parks at Disneyland Paris, marking the third Disney resort we've visited together.

Illustration of Ibrox for Father’s Day

Since then, I shifted my focus back to custom artwork, namely the football stadiums, which I do get a steady stream of orders for. I am now in a position to jump back into a sizeable animation project again. What I have in mind is my own modest production, with a mind to hone my skills in the discipline. So unless any companies reach out with a contract in the meantime, my plan going forward will be to animate my own project while occasionally working on a few illustrations that I have in the pipeline.

Until the next update, peace ✌🏻

Favourite Anime Character - Piccolo (Dragon Ball)

This will be the last post of this type for the foreseeable whilst I am committing to future projects. It has been a fun little aside to take part in while my most recent animation has been in the works and now its time to move onto new things.

Piccolo made his first appearance in the latter half of Dragon Ball (the series that preceded Dragon Ball Z, when Goku was just a boy.) He was introduced as the reincarnation of Demon King Piccolo. 

The aforementioned King Piccolo was a powerful villain that once terrorised the Earth. With the efforts of Goku's mentor Master Roshi, Piccolo was sealed in an electric rice cooker using the Mafuba containment technique. 

Centuries later King Piccolo is purposely released, and subsequently targets the World's strongest fighters to eliminate potential competition. This brings him into direct conflict with Goku, and following a tough battle, the Demon King was killed after Goku punches a hole clean through his body.

In a final desperate effort to survive, King Piccolo spit out an egg containing his reincarnated form -before promptly exploding. When Piccolo Jr. re-appeared at the World Martial Arts tournament, he was fully grown, intent on revenge and immediately became a formidable opponent for Goku.

When Goku's brother Raditz arrives on Earth and kidnaps his nephew Gohan, Piccolo forms an uneasy alliance with Goku to neutralise the new Saivan threat. An intense battle followed in which Goku. deciding to sacrifice himself to save his son, held Raditz in place whilst Piccolo fired a Special Beam Cannon through them both. Thus began Piccolo's path towards redemption as he chose to train his nemesis' son for an impending battle with a two more Saiyans on course to Earth.

What I've always liked about Piccolo is his brooding, cool guy attitude - he has a low tolerance for nonsense, particularly in the early sagas of Dragon Ball Z. He has consistently been the most powerful Z Warrior outside of the Saiyans and has even been the strongest on several occasions. He has had some pretty epic moments throughout the run of the show and that influenced why he has always been my favourite.

Stand out moments include when the Salyans arrive with their Saibamen minions that are roughly equivalent to Raditz, who Goku and Piccolo had such trouble defeating. Following on from the death of earthling Yamcha, one of the Saibamen attempts to attack Gohan. Piccolo grabs the creature by the arm, tosses it into the air and destroys it with a single mouth blast, literally stripping the flesh from its bones.

He rose to prominence again during the Frieza saga after having trained under King Kai and subsequently fusing with Nail, the Grand Elders protector. Following this, Piccolo became the strongest Z Warrior and was able to best Friezas 2d form. Sadly, he would be swiftly taken down by Frieze's 3rd form, and frankly humiliated by the Lord of the Universe.

Under similar circumstances during the Android saga, Piccolo fused with Kami - the God of Earth. King Piccolo had once been a single entity but split into a good and evil half so that Kami could take on the role. Upon the Androids arrival they decimated the Z Warriors, including the Salyans Trunks and Vegeta. Piccolo was once again able to cement his place as the strongest Z Warrior, surpassing even the Super Saiyan form that had been held in such high regard. Piccolo was able to fight on an equal footing with Android 17. who had earlier (alongside 18) decimated the Z fighters. Android 18, the weaker of the two, had earlier single handedly humiliated Vegeta in their fight. This fight is often regarded as one of the best in the series and concludes with 17 and Piccolo combining forces to take on Imperfect Cell.

Unfortunately. this was Piccolo's last truly great moment in Dragon Ball Z. His last few storylines mainly involved him looking after the kid Saiyans, teaching them the fusion dance and spending a period turned to stone by Supreme Demon King Dabur. Forfeiting his bout against the relatively weak Supreme Kai in the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai was also a low for the Namekian.

I am pleased to say that he has had a bit of a redemption of late, getting a new evolved form known as "Orange Piccolo" in the recent Dragon Ball Super Super Hero which has once again brought him up to a level rivalling the saiyans once again.

A Long Overdue Update!

Hello all!

It's been a little while since l've posted anything of any substance in the blog other than a few pieces here and there. As I've previously discussed in a few different posts, I have been working hard on an animation since last July - the first since Hashtag Live in late 2022. This project is now 95% completed including sound and we are now awaiting final approval from the client. I plan to cover more about this animation in the blog - breaking down the processes behind the work. This will be planned out once everything has been approved and the final production is public.

In September last year I also completed illustration work on a feature length film titled "Make it to Munich." The film follows Ethan Walker, a young Scottish footballer who, following a life-changing car accident, makes the decision to cycle to Munich for Scotland's opening match against Germany in Euro 2024 - only nine months later.

The film premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival on March 9 2025. I am pleased to say that I was in attendance, getting to spend some time on the red carpet and soak in the experience of a film premiere. I initially had the opportunity to meet with all the cast and crew in a function at the Dakota Hotel and even got the chance to catch up with Martin Docherty and lan Bustard, whom we animated in "Marty Goes to Hollywood" in 2014.

Make it to Munich itself was fantastic, a deeply enjoyable film on many levels with the ideal balance of emotion and comedy. The film will be released in Scottish cinemas in May, though could possibly see a wider release.

I have also taken part in two local fayres (Christmas and Easter) in which I have been selling my prints. These have been an enjoyable experience and not entirely outside of my comfort zone since I have a background in sales and upselling.

Going forward I have a checklist of smaller projects that I intend to get through before taking on anything bulky. I will be taking a laid-back approach and treating this period as a break whist I recharge for what's next. However, I do have a few ideas for future graphics work and there is a certain animation that I started a few years ago that I may just revisit.

On the subject of animation, I have learnt over time that these projects tend to be few and far between, my next animation project may well be 2 years away. I have no idea what the future holds in this regard, how exciting!

Favourite Animation Style- Hanna-Barbera (Limited Animation)

The Hanna-Barbera style of animation (better known as "Limited Animation") has always been attractive to me, even when I didn't necessarily know what I was looking at. Since learning about animation processes and techniques, I've realised that every scene in this style isn't just about the animation - there's problem solving being done. Finding the most efficient way to create a scene with a reduced time frame is an integral part of this method.

Hanna-Barbera operated in a time when Disney and Looney Tunes were kings of the animation industry. After success with theatrical Tom and Jerry shorts, the studio looked to make animation for television. However, the processes being employed by Disney and even Warner Brothers were far too costly and time consuming for the medium to be a success on TV.

From studying different Hanna-Barbera series, I observed many of the "tricks" used to create entertaining content with efficient production. This style had a massive impact on the animation industry throughout the 20" century, particularly with the rise of animation made for television. What made this style so attractive to the studios was the use of fewer drawings and a reduced frame rate - resulting in snappier animation but more importantly less cost and time spent. These factors are intrinsically linked in animation, especially for TV.

Limited Animation has a reputation for being of less quality, and traditional animators of the past have criticised the style as not being "art" unlike Disney classics Snow White or Pinocchio. However, as previously mentioned, this was the only effective way to bring the medium to TV. Nevertheless, the quality of modern television animation has greatly improved since.

Limited animation relies heavily on sound, particularly dialogue, to carry the plot - it is an effective way to produce animation cheaply but keeps it entertaining for the audience. The animators would frequently re-use assets i.e. backdrops, walk/run cycles and character poses, minimizing the need to create new elements for each frame. Additionally, they would extend the duration of key poses, reducing the necessity for complex in-between movements.

My favourite examples of limited animation are from shows like The Flintstones and Top Cat, both highly entertaining cartoons in their own right. From studying these shows, it's apparent there's not an extraordinary amount of animation taking place. There tends to be mouth/head movements & when they walk their legs move but the upper half is usually pretty rigid.

Many times the animation on screen is limited to only two layers, for example a head & mouth layer, or as few as one layer. In some scenes, if a character is having an internal thought there may not be any animation at all!

What you’ll notice with Hanna-Barbera is the characters arms and legs tend to have specific cut off points to hide the edge of the appendage, which would be on its own layer. I believe this is why many Hanna Barbera characters had ties, necklaces, collars and high shirt lines. The key asset that Hanna-Barbera had at its disposal was its music, voice acting and scripts - without great acting and great writing, the animation (or lackthereof) would probably have stood out more. Instead of relying heavily on motion, limited animation emphasizes strong dialogue and compelling soundtracks to make up for fewer frames, keeping the audience engaged through storytelling and audio elements.

I would also be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Japanese animation. known in the West as Anime, which uses its own unique style of limited animation. Characters in anime often remain static whilst only the mouth layer moves, and even simple head and body movements are often limited. As with the western style, the episodes are usually carried by the strong voice performances and writing - using limited frames, animation cycles and the occasional blink. I may do a deep dive on anime itself in future as it is a rich topic in itself.

Merry Christmas 2024!

Merry Christmas everyone when it comes! What a hectic year it has truly been, but an incredibly fast one all the same.

As the year began, there was no real plan for me going forward, I had been working on prints, namely a Twechar map and had a few other pieces planned. In retrospect, its quite funny how tight for time I felt then, as now by comparison, I believe I had it easy.

2024 started with the horrible news that my friend & collaborator Mallorca had been diagnosed with terminal cancer. He died only a matter of weeks after his announcement. After about seven years of collaboration on The Hashtag Show, I felt a bit unsettled and unsure of what the future had in store for me.

A month later, I was contacted by a film studio in Glasgow that I had previously worked with. I was presented the opportunity to create an animation with a runtime of 3-4 minutes and would be carrying out the majority of the work on the production - story sketches, storyboards, pre-production, animation, character design and backgrounds. The only major aspect of the piece that isn't being done by me is the sound, which the studio will take charge on.

This animation has now been ongoing for around ten months, albeit the post-production didn't end until late June and a different graphics project took priority for two weeks in September, followed by my two-week holiday to the US. The character design was signed off around May and the storyboards approved in late June so animation has basically been ongoing for 5 months now, minus the aforementioned gaps.

I currently estimate the animation to be around 75% finished, and I am hoping to be completely finished by late January. This has been a brilliant project to work on - I will probably do a much deeper and more detailed breakdown of the production in a few months, once it has been revealed publicly.

This project has been a huge undertaking for me and had a number of challenges. I have worked on similar productions in the past, but never by myself, I've practically done a whole team worth of work while also doing a lot of other work day-to-day. I keep reminding myself of this fact as I gradually reduce the amount of work still required. Every time I have hit another milestone in the production, I have encouraged myself along using three simple words (one word really) "Chip Chip, Chip" which basically means I'm gradually finishing the piece bit-by-bit, like a sculptor chipping away at marble.

I also recently completed other pieces of digital art - one of Ibrox stadium, a piece that I was often asked about doing upon completing the Celtic Park and another inside Celtic Park as a Christmas gift to a customer's father - which has now been printed, framed and collected.

Going forward, my road map has me finishing the animation by (hopefully) the end of January. Once this has been completed, I will be taking a much needed break (might be a long break) and only doing some occasional print work and I plan on spending some much needed time with my sons.