ANIMATED UK: WALES

Today, let’s take a deep dive into our members based in Wales and its animation sector. Learn more about these studios and take a look at some of their recent projects.

British Animation Awards

Photo by © Portland Productions and © Shotaway

Led by Directors Andy Wyatt and Helen Brunsdon, Animation Associates are the official channel partners for ToonBoom Animation Inc, the worldwide leader in animation and storyboarding software, and represent ToonBoom in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

As well as business development for ToonBoom, Animation Associates also organise and run training, industry events, animation production and consultancy for all forms of animation production. With strong connections with the animation community across the region, and they work with studios, educational institutions and independent animators to link into ToonBoom’s global network across 130 counties.

Animation Associates are also behind the organisation of the prestigious British Animation Awards, which celebrates everything great about UK animation every two years. This year’s ceremony took place on Thursday, 7 March.

Bomper Studio

EverMerge

Bomper is an independent creative production studio, whose work for advertising, branding and broadcast, spans from live action VFX, hand-crafted animation to hyperreal CG and more. Based in Caerphilly, their team is made up of talented in-house artists, illustrators, animators, art directors and producers.

Recent works include Foo Fighters ‘Chasing Birds’, a stylised, acid-infused music video directed by Bomper Studio for Foo Fighters’ track ‘Chasing Birds’; EverMerge ‘Fairy Tales on Hold’, where Bomper partnered with game publisher Big Fish on a series of comedic shorts for their title EverMerge; and Tyler Childers’ ‘Country Squire’, in which the studio partnered with Colonel Tony Moore for an ambitious, animated music video for Tyler Childers’ ‘Country Squire’.

Cloth Cat

Luo Bao Bei

Founded in 2012 and based in Cardiff, Cloth Cat is one of the leading animation and games companies in the UK.

With over 100 hours of content under their belts, the team has worked on a wide range of projects for clients all over the world, with the capacity to handle a series from development all the way to platform delivery. Their animation projects include Luo Bao Bei (International Emmy nomination 2019), Shane the Chef, Olobob Top, Cyw, The Rubbish World of Dave Spud, Toot the Tiny Tugboat and the award-winning Ethel & Ernest, which was released in cinemas in 2016. Their games include Byd Cyw, Eloise Hotel, Mabinogi-Ogi and Toot’s Race, and the company has won a number of BAFTA awards for their work on games for Toot the Tiny Tugboat and Boj.

Cloth Cat regularly contributes to the animation community, including sponsoring the local Cardiff Animation Nights and being major contributors to the Cardiff Animation Festival, which celebrated its return in 2018.

Picl Animation

The Hounds of Annwn

Picl Animation is a creative animation studio and production company based in Cardiff. Their work covers broadcast, short films, public information films, corporate videos, charity campaigns, music videos, educational films and animation for feature films and live performance.

Since 2021, Picl has been one of the first ever animation companies to be certified as a B Corp™, verifying the studio as a business that meets the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The company focuses on creating animation that is socially and environmentally responsible, and all their work is climate positive.

The studio has the capability to produce projects in traditional and digital 2D, CG and mixed media animation. Clients include S4C, Audible, Public Health Wales, Transport for Wales, The Grierson Trust, UK Youth, WEN Wales, Wales Millennium Centre, Twt Productions, Boom Cymru and Royal College of Nursing Wales. Recent works include The Block, Creepy Pasta Salad, Our Neighbourhoods, and Planet Positive Animation Network.

Apart from our members based in Wales, we would also like to highlight the work and support that Creative Wales provides to the animation sector.

Creative Wales

Creative Wales is a Welsh Government economic development agency that promotes the development of the creative industries in Wales. Their focus is to offer funding, support and guidance across several sectors which include TV and Film, Animation – including Immersive Tech, AR/VR – Games, Music and Publishing – positioning Wales as one of the best places in the world for creative businesses to thrive.

Creative Wales is actively encouraging the production of more animated content in Wales. Get in touch with their team to find out more about accessing funding and up to 10% on top of UK animation tax credits for qualifying productions.

For more information, visit creative.wales or contact the team at creativewales@gov.wales.

Source:UK Animation