After graduating with a degree in animation, Welshman Hywel got off to the perfect start in the animation world by learning from the Wallace & Gromit team at Aadman Animations. A couple of years down the line the connections he made there helped him discover ScreenSkills’ bursary support - something has since used to advance his career.
“I had always wanted to work at Aardman. They were one of the main reasons I got into animation, watching the Wallace & Gromit films when I was younger,” says Hywel. “So, after I finished studying a BA in animation at the University of West England, I decided to do a character animation course at Aardman.”
He was placed under the tutelage of one of the sector’s leading lights, Loyd Price, head of animation, Aardman Features, who’s worked on all the company’s films from A Close Shave onwards, and previously helped animate Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Hywel and the other students were very hands on, doing everything from the basic bouncing ball to character animation with fully armatured puppets walking and talking. “These were from their film Pirates, which was amazing,” he says. “The brow was made of plasticine, which we could sculpt as we animated, but the mouths were 3D printed in hard resin and replaceable. There were hundreds of them piled in boxes to choose from and create the lip sync for our animation.”
It was an incredible learning experience, especially getting expert guidance from Price, but it also gave him a valuable group of contacts, with whom he’s kept in touch and since helped him get work.
Indeed, it was one of his fellow students from the course who helped him get an internship in Spain on a TV series Clay Kids. After that Hywel moved to Manchester and worked as an animator for Factory Create and Mackinnon and Saunders on a variety of projects, including The Clangers and Postman Pat. Plus, he got back in touch with Aardman, first landing a gig as an assistant animator on series five of Shaun the Sheep, and later a job on Early Man. “That was an incredible experience, getting to work alongside some amazing animators,” says Hywel.
But then there was a lull in the stop motion world, so Hywel decided to change track.
“I had always been interested in the story side of animation, and had several ideas for short films,” he explains. “So, I decided to pursue work as a storyboard artist, which is a more creative and flexible role within animation, and a good stepping stone to directing, which is my long-term goal.”
He soon got a job doing a short educational film for the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.
“I worked closely with a scientific consultant to write the script and create a storyboard for the film, which was a great learning experience.” Hywel says. “It was a fun challenge to come up with engaging characters and story that would explain a complex biological process.”
To further develop his skills, he also did a scriptwriting course in the capital at the London Film Academy, before moving to Denmark to do a storyboarding course at The Animation Workshop, a renowned school in Viborg.
This then helped him get work as a storyboard revisionist on a TV series called Dodo at Wildseed Studios in Bristol, which has a great ethos of helping emerging talent. Again, he learned a lot on the job, but felt he was struggling to draw characters and backgrounds accurately in perspective.
“This gap in my storyboarding skills made it hard for me at times to do the work required and to meet deadlines effectively,” says Hywel. So, he did a bit of research online and found a two-month course with CG Master Academy, run by Robert St Pierre, a leading production designer who’s worked for Disney and Warner Bros. Hywel was really keen to do it, but it was a little bit pricey, so he looked for funding options.
Fortunately, Aardman came into the frame once more with Katie Daniels, a producer at the company, posting a message on the alumni group, which Hywel is a part of, about the ScreenSkills bursary. “I hadn’t heard of it before, but did some research on the website, and thought it was ideal, so I applied and was successful.”
The bursary covered 80% of the fee, which was “hugely helpful”, says Hywel, who found the process really smooth and the support from ScreenSkills “incredible” with lots of email contact and advice.
The course proved to be extremely useful for Hywel who admits he had limited knowledge of perspective before, but “after the course I felt I had a much more solid grasp of perspective and could apply it to my work as a storyboard artist”.
Since finishing the course Hywel has signed up to more ScreenSkills courses online, including one on writing for animation, which he says has given him “even more confidence to develop his career in storyboarding”.
ScreenSkills bursaries are supported by BFI-awarded National Lottery funds, by industry contributions to the Film, High-end TV, Children’s TV and Animation Skills Funds and through money from the Television Skills Fund targeted at improving diversity and inclusivity. If you enjoyed reading about Hywel's experience, why not share your story with us and showcase your skills and experience.