Drawn Animation: Then And Now

By Amanda-Jane Read

By AJ Read for MovieScope Magazine

Joseph Barbera (Hanna-Barbera) once said, “Making cartoons means very hard work at every step of the way, but creating a successful cartoon character is the hardest work of all.” Two people only too well aware of this are Jean Flynn and John Offord from Cosgrove Hall Film’s Drawn Department.

Flynn and Offord have been part of the world-renowned studios for a grand joint total of 55 years and have seen every change that the industry has endured. They have been instrumental in creating some of the world’s favourite programmes whilst constantly experiencing and surviving both the best and hardest of times in an industry that is on a permanent commercial see-saw.

Jean Flynn admits that her introduction to the world of Cosgrove Hall was technically sheer luck. Whilst studying Illustration at Manchester Art College Jean desperately needed a professional “crit” on her portfolio so on the advice of her course tutor that she should “pop to see two chaps (Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall) who had just started up an animation place in Chorlton.” She did just that.

It turned out that they not only criticised her portfolio but also offered her a job on the spot and she was at work the very next day getting some of the best on-the-job training in the business. Recruitment the old fashioned way was something Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall liked the best and their constant belief in training and helping local talent is just one of the values that the studios carry through to today.

John Offord’s journey to Chorlton was slightly more complex. Fascinated by cartoons, the “Bambi on ice” sequence with its beautiful creativity and fluidity of movement was just one of the scenes which confirmed, at a very young age, the industry would be his future. But, after being told as a student that nobody makes a living out of cartoons, John resignedly went to do a graphics course at Guildford College of Art. However, times were changing and John went on to prove those early doubters wrong by working on a number of features including The Yellow Submarine and The Snowman as well as working for the biggest commercial studio in the country (Wyatt Cattaneo) animating some of the best known characters from the seventies including the Tetley Tea Folk.

In the mid-eighties John was introduced to Brian Cosgrove and spent a day with him at the studios where he immediately absorbed the “vibrant and creative hubbub” whilst finding a kindred spirit in Brian’s dedication and belief in the industry. A few weeks later John upped sticks and began work in the leafy suburb of Manchester on a little programme called DangerMouse.

Current projects that Jean and John are working on include RocketBoy & Toro for Village Productions & Imagestone (BBC Commission) and The Large Family for Indie Kids (TF1 & BBC Commission).

What are the biggest couple of changes that revolutionised drawn animation over the past 30 years?

FLYNN: I joined the company in 1976 as a trainee animator, it was right at the beginning of Cosgrove Hall and just in time for the heat wave of a summer. We were hand drawing Jamie And The Magic Torch directly on to cels before Bernard Sumner (of New Order fame) painted them. The temperature in the studios got so hot that all the paint peeled off several episodes causing commotion and very swift repainting! In those days we didn’t have any type of line tests or photocopying and always worked directly on to cels. This meant you could never see how things would look until the final stages.

OFFORD: Quite! In the early days when I started animating the quickest way of seeing something was to shoot it on a rostrum camera and then develop the negative and watch that—which was considered pretty high tech then! With freelancers working all over the world with no knowledge of each other’s quality of work—it was amazing that we ever got it right—but we did.

FLYNN: There wasn’t any form of line testing until after the beginning of DangerMouse so all our early drawn programmes were a test on our nerves as well as our skills. By the time the BFG (Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant) began shooting line test facilities and photocopying had come in to play so things got a lot easier. The computerisation of paint and trace enabled us to scan drawings directly in to the computer and colour them electronically (no peeling paint!) which also changed things forever—with no need for redraws and colour changes now immediate suddenly the industry was catching up with technology. We’ve never looked back.

OFFORD: I agree with Jean totally, definitely line test facilities and computerisation have made a tremendous difference to the industry for many reasons. Computerisation also made it easy to do things like soft blends, shadows, squash and stretches, things we couldn’t do previously were suddenly easily thrown in to the mix bringing our drawings to life in more detail than ever before.

Are there any negative aspects to the changes?

OFFORD: It’s essential from a financial point of view to embrace anything in technology that helps you do your job better or easier. We work and live at a much faster pace than ever and you’d have to be a Luddite to think you could have the old creative ways of people drawing and painting in a room at the top of the studios anymore. That said though I do think sometimes that the soul of the piece can get forgotten and the simplicity of creating something directly on to a piece of paper, to bring it to life in paint and on cels, meant its physical creation made it perhaps more personal and special. I guess it’s like the difference between hand writing a letter and sending an e-mail—it’s the same result but quicker and not truly quite as personal.

FLYNN: As well as the creative side being affected the business side of the UK industry has also completely changed. Technology has caused massive amounts of work to go abroad with huge animation houses in the Far East, India and China producing cheap but good quality animation. The ability for files, images and information to be electronically mailed at the push of a button—even multi-viewed by us in Manchester and our directors overseas—means that you no longer need to be in the same building, nor country, to create superb animation quickly and cheaply. That said, Cosgrove Hall are committed to bringing 2D animation back to the UK and have invested in Toon Boom Harmony to help them do so with pilots like Roger To The Rescue and My Next Door Neighbour Is An Evil Genius being made entirely in-house.

In this multi-channel, internationally competitive market, how does Cosgrove Hall and the UK industry in general fair against countries like France and Canada where funding is available and the industry is government supported?

FLYNN: In the old days when we first started everything we did was fully funded, in Cosgrove Hall’s case, by Thames television. If Mark and Brian’s pitch was accepted then we received 100% of the finance to make the show. Today, if you are lucky enough to land a commission, then the level of finance is only around 25% of the total budget meaning we have to go elsewhere to make up the balance. However, commissions are very few and far between, nowadays acquisitions are much more common (although again, very hard won) and these represent a tiny proportion of the production budget hence the need to construct ever more complicated international co-production deals to capture those foreign subsidies. Sadly the UK grants and support available to live action television and feature films don’t exist for animation production making it incredibly difficult to get shows off the ground. This is something that the industry is presently lobbying the Government for—a grant system to keep the UK industry alive.

OFFORD: We’d love to be able to fully fund our own shows not only to enable us to wholly own our IP (intellectual property) but to ensure creatively our ideas remain undiluted whilst keeping employment levels (therefore talent levels) high in the UK. That said the co-production market however also has its positive side that with a good partnership you can gain great experience.

FLYNN: I’m presently working with the French on a project called The Large Family which is being animated India and the process is definitely a great example of a good co-production with everybody bringing things to the table to benefit the project.

What’s one of the most exciting things you’ve seen in your careers?

OFFORD: With all the programmes I’ve worked on I think the most exciting one and the one that is closest to my heart is DangerMouse—in 1981 we got 21 million viewers in one weekfor that show. In this day and age I doubt that will ever happen for a kid’s TV show again. Programmes aside though it has to be seeing people’s dreams come to fruition. You bring someone that is new to the business and eager to learn onto a project, eventually they might leave for pastures new be it in the UK or the States and after a time you watch a film or programme where their name comes up on the credits. From the day that I first met Brian and found this great hubub of creativity it’s been an amazing thing to watch other people over the years do just the same in my team.

FLYNN: Up to now I think I have to say I’m most proud of working with Chuck Jones on Peter And The Wolf. I met him when we were working on the project over in the States—at that point, to be part of our studio tucked away in a corner of the North West of England, then suddenly to be working with this animation legend has to go down as one of the greatest moments in my career so far. It really did put Manchester and the studios on the map and gave a lot of people the belief that you didn’t have to be in London or the States to be one of the “big boys”—an amazing time.

There’s been an ongoing debate about the place and survival of drawn animation in the brave new world of CGI, etc. How do you see the future?

FLYNN: That argument will be going on for years and we’ll still be creating fantastic drawn animation not least because the audience, kids of all ages want to watch cartoons. If you look at the market now there is more drawn animation than ever and with the advent of the Internet, phones, PDAs, etc. there is an ever increasing market for it. The only thing that could stop any kind of programme being made is if the broadcasters don’t want to show it—if that happens in our industry then only feature films are left at which point realistically drawn animation won’t be strong enough. We continually strive to make fantastic programmes and excellent commercial product to do our best to ensure that this is never the case.

OFFORD: Saying that the advent of Toon Boom and Flash, etc. will kill traditional drawn animation is totally incorrect. It’s all a different style of the same medium and means that we can adapt and move with the times in to a great creative future—after all the invention of acrylics didn’t mean oil painting was finished now did it!