Thirty animation students from Plymouth College of Art have visited Aardman Animations in Bristol for a day of workshops with the internationally-acclaimed animators.
Among the party of BA (Cons) Animation students was Elliot Rowe, a former carpenter and boatbuilder from Elburton, who was so enthused by the hands-on skills offered by Aardman that he returned to Aardman Academy soon after for further model-making training.
The students attended a workshop led by Jim Parkyn, a senior Model Maker with almost 20 years industry experience. He taught students the process of how to model the Aardman character Morph, first seen on television in the 1976 BBC show Take Hart.
He has also worked on animated movies including Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run and The Pirates!
“Plymouth College of Art have helped me discover the worlds of stop-motion animation, set and prop fabrication.”
A second workshop was led by Neil Pymer, a creative director at Aardman working on the studio’s interactive and immersive projects. Neil, who was nominated for a BAFTA for his work on BBC’s Escargot Escape Artistes, taught students how to build and prototype their own interactive stories. Elliot said:
“I’ve been a fan of Aardman Animations since watching Morph on Art Attack as a boy. Visiting the Aardman studios was a dream come true for me, particularly when senior model maker Jim Parkyn led a workshop on how to make our own Morph models.
“Aardman offer such incredible opportunities, because not only do they teach you these invaluable skills, you’re also getting a chance to work under and network with respected figures in the animation industry. I feel like I took a part of Aardman away with me that will be with me for the rest of my life.
“Growing up I struggled at school because of my dyslexia and my family felt like I needed a practical trade, so as a result I became a fully qualified carpenter and boat builder. But I’ve always had a passion for art and animation, and Plymouth College of Art have helped me discover the worlds of stop-motion animation, set and prop fabrication. I’d been working in carpentry since I was 14 years old.
“I’m 27 now, preparing to graduate in BA (Hons) Animation, and because of the skills I picked up along the way I feel like now I can design and build anything.”
Tim Pattinson, senior lecturer and programme leader for BA (Hons) Animation at Plymouth College of Art, said:
“One of my first teaching jobs in North America involved bringing a studio pipeline model for animation into a Higher Education environment – creating a pipeline for creating and delivering animation assets to deadline, in the same way that students will be expected to when they go on to work in the industry.
“A layout artist from Disney features came to visit us and was blown away by how successfully we’d implemented that live studio model within the classroom. That’s what I’m putting into practice now at Plymouth College of Art, preparing students for work at the big animation studios, which is why we’re so fortunate to have an internationally-respected studio such as Aardman based in Bristol, so close to us.
“We’re very grateful to everybody at Aardman for making us feel so welcome and giving students such an excellent opportunity to network and learn invaluable skills.”
