Elliot Crutchley is an animator and illustrator presently based in Manchester.

©2015 Elliot Crutchley

On top of an ever-growing portfolio of stunning character design work, Elliot has recently worked on television series such as the new show Wanda and the Alien (Mackinnon and Saunders) and is currently working on the second season of the animated Mr. Bean series for Tiger Aspect.

https://vimeo.com/112118229

To see more of Elliot’s work visit his website at elliotcrutchley.co.uk

The post Skwigly Banner – July 2015: Elliot Crutchley appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Indefatigable British comedy institution Mr. Bean is returning to UK screens in animated form once more. Beginning with “Bean Week”,  CITV will air double episodes of Tiger Aspect‘s Mr Bean the Animated Series twice daily (9:25am, then 4:15pm) from 16th-20th February

Outside of the UK the series will be launched on German channel Super TRL toward the end of this month with an April roll-out to over 60 territories worldwide via the Turner channels Boomerang, Cartoon Network and Pogo. In Canada licensing and merchandising have been strengthened with the appointment of Toronto-based Licensing Agent JAM Brands Inc.

We are thrilled at the prospect of working with such an iconic and entertaining property as Mr Bean, and to bring new and exciting licensed products to our market.

-Andrew Menceles, CEO of JAM Brands Inc.

This latest animated series of 26 half hour episodes was developed and produced by the UK’s largest in-house animation team at Tiger Aspect Productions, and features the voice talents of original Mr. Bean performer Rowan Atkinson. The series was directed by Tim Searle, who was recently appointed Creative Director (Animation & Children’s) at Tiger Aspect. To learn more about Tim’s prior animation work you can listen back to episodes 8 and 21 of the Skwigly Podcast:

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Tim has been working with Tiger Aspect since 2013 as Series Director of the new 52 x 11 minute Mr Bean: The Animated Series which will premier early this year (TX TBC) on CITV before then transmitting worldwide.  Prior to his appointment Tim was head of Animation at Baby Cow Animation Ltd which he established in 2001 with Steve Coogan and Henry Normal.  His work at Baby Cow included the creation of award-winning animated comedy drama series I Am Not An Animal for BBC2.  Some of Tim’s other Baby Cow credits include Horrible Histories, Alan Partridge, Dara O’Briain’s School of Hard Sums and Man Down with Greg Davies. As Producer and Director his most recent projects included The Cow that Almost Missed Christmas (CBeebies) and Uncle Wormsley’s Christmas (Sky Arts), two highly acclaimed half hour specials and Warren United, a series of 6 x 30’s for ITV.

As Tiger Aspect’s Creative Director: Animation and Children’s Tim will continue to direct Mr Bean until Autumn 2015 while simultaneously working on development projects alongside Tiger Aspect’s head of Animation and Children’s, Tom Beattie.  His brief includes creating and looking for projects across disciplines that will build on Tiger’s already noted heritage in the genre.

Tim’s career in animation began some 25 years ago when he set up Triffic Films within months of leaving college with business advice and support from The Prince’s Youth Business Trust. Triffic produced animation and graphics for a wide range of television comedy shows including: Absolutely, Father Ted, Harry Enfield’s Television Programme, Paramount City, Murder Most Horrid and Have I Got News For You.   The company’s graphics, titles and animations have also been prominent in, for example, Saturday Live, Samson Superslug, Two Fat Ladies, Fist of Fun and The Catherine Tate Show. Triffic moved into narrative comedy in 1999 with The Outlaw and Rolfs Animal Hairdressers for Channel 4 (first Celaction production). ‘2DTV’ was the hugely popular topical animated sketch show that ran for five series on ITV, which in 2002 lead to making the promo for George Michael’s controversial ‘Shoot the Dog’.

Tim is now a board member of ‘Animation UK’ the group that successfully lobbied government for the UK tax break and a member of the ‘Skillset Animation Group’.

Tom Beattie said

It has been a pleasure working with Tim on Mr Bean and I know that we can continue that relationship on future projects. Tim has such a wealth of knowledge and excellent programming behind him and it’s going to be fun continuing on. He fits perfectly into the Tiger Team.

Of his appointment Tim added,

While I’ll miss my good friends at Baby Cow, I’m delighted to be joining Tiger Aspect, a company I’ve admired for many years. Directing ‘Mr Bean’ has been an enjoyable challenge and I look forward to continue working with this excellent team.

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From growing up watching Popeye to being mentored by a Popeye animator Tartakovsky calls directing this film his “destiny”. His passion within the short featurette is heartwarming and for any doubters out there this should hopefully have them thinking again. Taking Popeye from a 2D Fleischer animation to modern 3D was always going to be difficult, yet when we get to see the beautiful animation test towards the end, you’re not even thinking about the difficulty anymore. The sequence is pure farce and wonderfully achieved. Watching this short clip took  me back to my younger days watching Popeye in 2D! All the contorted, elasticated and pure ridiculousness was there. It’s brimming with cartoon hilarity and multitudes of slapstick.

Talking about the film in a past Skwigly podcast Tartakovsky expressed that he wanted to make an assuredly “animated physical comedy” comparing it to a “modern day…Mr Bean”,and trust me, this goes well beyond that. As a 2D man myself, even I was impressed and astounded by how complex and bendy those CG rigs are. 

You can listen to the complete Skwigly Animation Podcast interview with Genndy Tartakovsky here.

As he did in Samurai Jack and Hotel Transylvania, Genndy Tartakovsky is once more pushing the boundaries of animation and the power of exaggeration. Lets just hope that Popeye doesn’t need his spinach this time to stay strong in this competitive world of feature animation. With Tartakovsky by his side it looks as though he’s onto a winner and this latest version of Popeye is certainly eye popping!

Popeye is still in production and is looking at a release sometime in 2016.

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