A wee update

Hello all,

Been a little while since l've updated the blog as I've just had far too much going on to get the words down on the page. First off, I'll give an update on the main subject of the last post - the announced animation project. Sadly, this project was shelved a few weeks into pre-production which is unfortunately common with this kind of work - situations change behind the scenes and projects are shelved. I am hopeful that it will get a resurgence but for now it will remain on ice. I can however talk about the project in a little more detail since it was announced on the Hashtag Show socials. The project was to be an animated intro to the Hashtag Show podcast, under its current format, with its own catchy sea-shanty style jingle. As I say we were early in the process but I'm hopeful it will come to fruition in the future.

I will take this opportunity to update on some of the illustration work I have undertaken in the last few months. First, I completed the football stadium I mentioned in January's post, which was Sunderland AFC's ground - The Stadium of Light. This was a very enjoyable project as it was a stadium I wasn't familiar with, so it was exciting to create something totally new. The project was completed in early April 2026 and two framed prints were delivered to a very happy customer shortly afterwards. On a side note, I am currently working on another football stadium (this one located back in Scotland) and the home team may or may not have finished runner-up in the league last season...

Around the time that I created the Stadium of Light I was also commissioned for a memorial print of Owen Findlay, a close family friend who sadly died in 2023. I have included a picture of this below - this piece is one that I am most proud of as it holds a special place in my heart.

This year I have also completed work on two more Highland Coo designs, a tartan design and a traffic cone design, the latter of which has been very popular so far.

However, the breakout star of this season has been a piece titled "Two Pints." The idea for this work came when | was having breakfast in a café in Stranaer and I noticed this quirky artwork on the wall - showing a coffee bean with a hat like Victor's from Still Game. This got me thinking of an inanimate object that I could design in a similar style and that could draw inspiration from the show. Initially I came up with the idea of two buckets, with the hats and faces, and titled it - "Two Auld Pails" a play on a Still Game reference (two auld pals.) However, upon completion, I realised how much better suited the pints would be to this design. More recently I released an alternative design in size A4 - the pints wearing either Rangers FC or Celtic FC scarves.

Aside from working on my artwork, I have also attended a further two fayres at the Twechar Healthy Living Centre. I decided around this time that I wanted to take another step forward in my professional illustration journey and have since attended four different days at the Kirkintilloch Farmers Market since July 5th 2026. This has been a big step for me (and for Campbell Animation) - initially it did take me slightly outside my comfort zone but I decided that this is the best way for me to learn. Trial by fire if you will. Since starting the markets, I have learnt so much and I feel that with each event I learn something new, which is an exciting position to be in.

The biggest challenges so far have been figuring out how to deal with rain and wind, which comes with the territory of outdoor markets. So far I have invested in sturdy display boards instead of individual easels and have started attaching all my artwork to the front canvas and sides. This is going to be a temporary option I think and when the wet weather comes in I think I'm going to have to re-think things.

In the interests of growth as a business I have also released a run of coasters initially with three designs -"Two Pints" "Sellick Coo" and "Staunch Coo." These have been a great addition to our display and alongside bookmarks we are finding steady interest in these.

Going forward I have plans to attend another market in Kirkintilloch, Bishopbriggs and Newton Mearns. The former specifically is the first time I will have gone to a market outside of my local area, I am unlikely to know anyone. This is actually an exciting prospect as I can sometimes find myself being a little distracted by conversations with people I know.

I also have several prints in the work just now, one related to Kirkintilloch specifically (and another famous Scottish character) and another one that's a little more niche. I am also working on another football coo, this one Dundee FC, which should be printed and framed soon. I am also hoping to get another print run of A4 Celtic coos and for the first time - Rangers coos.

Until next time.

A small update to introduce 2026

Hello everyone!

I hope you've all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Today is going to be a short and sweet update to announce some developments behind the scenes. I won't go into too much detail at present but this year has started with an unexpected twist - I am buzzing to say that I will be creating another ANIMATION!

As previously mentioned, I have become consumed by illustration work lately and because of the nature of animation projects, they are often few and far between. This project will be nowhere near as time consuming as my last animation contract, which took a considerable amount of time last year. At some point I do plan to discuss last years work, of which I am incredibly proud, but I will leave this for another day.

Presently, I don't want to say too much about the new animation but I think this is going to be a really fun project. Pre-production is going to start after the weekend and the excitement of a fresh project has kicked in before the inevitable chaos as production is underway.

As mentioned in the previous post, I was working on a customised Ibrox piece for a family member. This was for my dad - it depicts him and his wife Lorraine, who sadly passed away in early 2025, at the stadium wearing Rangers shirts. When working on this I also made adjustments to the colour in several areas and tidied up a few sections I wasn't happy with.

While this project is ongoing I will (for now) continue illustration work. This may change as the animation ramps up and I become fully consumed by it but for now I will still be doing my own bits and bobs.

I will soon begin work creating another football stadium print that has been ordered by a customer (an English stadium this time) and also another design in the Highland Coo range is planned. I will post another update once I’ve made development on one of these projects.

Highland Coo’s Aplenty!

Hello all,

Short and sweet blog post to follow! As discussed on my previous update, I have now completed and printed our Highland Cow designs. As you can see below, I have created a number of variants of the aforementioned design: Celtic, Rangers, Scotland, Morton, Gryffindor and Slytherin. 

These have already been popular amongst the select few that've had a sneak peek and I am confident these will be well received.

I will now be moving forward on a different print for a family member - a customised Ibrox. My plan is to complete this and create another variant of the Highland Cow print before getting back to working on my animation showreel.

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!