Long Overdue News Update

Again I have been absent from blogging for far too long - sorry about that. This is just a brief update of noteworthy things that have happened since my last post.

First up, the music video for Smile by The Leano was released in January and I went to the launch night in London which was a lot of fun and involved a variety of great live music.
If you haven't seen the video, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBuRbw-lIqI

Loads of animators from around the world worked on it, including Don Carlson and Mike LeTendre. The singing spotty alien blobs section is mine. I think the whole thing was a fantastic project and I love the end result. All profits from the album sales are going to a charity helping displaced kids in Sri Lanka, so it's for a good cause too.

Most people reading this blog will have already seen the finished international stop-motion co-op film 'First Time Parents', but for anyone who hasn't:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRfb7TrpGak

I am so impressed by it! Even though people from all over the world worked on it without having ever meeting each other, the whole thing is very coherent. All the puppets and props that Emily Baxter and I made for it fit in perfectly with John Hankins' sets and props, and the whole film has a very friendly atmosphere to it. John's animation is amazing as always, and the music is brilliant.
I am rather in love with this animation and the woolly family it features. Emily's Mommy monster is quite obviously a soulmate for the Daddy puppet I made and I am very glad they found each other.

I am still working on making things for Walter Gloom and I intend to update that blog very soon with puppet building photos. Until then...