Monday, December 25, 2017

Merry Christmas & "The Highway Rat" Premier


It's Christmas time once again!  It seems that animation is a natural fit into family holiday traditions.  Most of us have fond memories as kids watching the Charlie Brown Christmas or the Rankin/Bass stop-motion specials (personally, I'll always have a spot for A Garfield Christmas and Christmas Eve on Sesame Street).  There's nothing like cuddling down on the couch after a big holiday morning and relaxing with family & friends watching the Christmas shows on TV.  Well, I'm excited to have had a small part in crafting a new holiday special.

With any luck you might be able to stream The Highway Rat on the BBC One site after it premiers. It may depend on what side of the pond you live on.  Check out the link HERE

Here's to a busy and eventful 2017.  May 2018 be as eventful, but maybe a little less busy...


Saturday, December 23, 2017

First Clip from Highway Rat


Here's a first clip posted by the BBC!  Can't wait to see this (although, for those of us in the US, we might have to wait until a Netflix debut next year...)

Monday, December 18, 2017

Animation-1 Student Work




With the end of yet another semester, I wanted to share some of the work from my Animation I students over the past year.  It's been amazing to see all the hard work put in by these kids!

Thursday, December 14, 2017

BBC One Christmas Promo


The first few clips of The Highway Rat show up here.  I had to laugh watching the promo, because they are also airing Home which I worked on and Big Hero 6 that my wife worked on.  About a third of the BBC Christmas movies have someone from the Raymond household involved :)

Monday, December 11, 2017

First Highway Rat Review


The List has the first review for The Highway Rat, and they gave it a 4 out of 5.  They said that "if you've got kids this is the perfect cute and cosy addition to the Christmas TV schedules."  Just two weeks until it'll premier on BBC-One.  Another quote from the article:
You can tell The Highway Rat is made with love by Magic Light Pictures. The vocal talent is exceptional, with Rob Brydon narrating, David Tennent as the eponymous rat, and Nina Sosanya as the Duck, even bit parts are filled by actors of the stature of Tom Hollander and Frances de le Tour. The animation is big and chunky bringing Axel Scheffler's illustrations to vivid primary coloured life.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Annie Awards Nominations Out


A big congrats to friends and former co-workers who got nominations this year!  You can see the full list of nominees HERE

I was excited to once again serve on one of the Nomination Committees.  It's always amazing to see the work that gets done throughout the year - I think animation just keeps getting better each year.