Meet the Douglas Adams animation competitors!

The winner of the International Douglas Adams Animation Competition will be announced this Friday – Towel Day, the annual celebration of Douglas Adams on 25 May. Until then, find out a bit more about the talented competitors…

Johanna Aulen

Johanna Aulen has always drawn. She became a Master of Arts a few years ago. During and after her studies she worked as a teacher and illustrated

and animated professionally. She is currently finishing a traditional animated short (10 minutes) about pilots and planning a film about rare owls next. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyfeiPtkmhs8qg27PDhfCpQ

 

Stephen Bates

Stephen Bates has been animating since 1974 – when it meant Super 8 – and is currently studying for a Diploma in Interactive Digital Media in Melbourne, Australia.

 

 

Mike Belgrave

Mike Belgrave is a stand up comedian, animator, Outsider Music musicologist and Music Video Director Extraordinaire.  While currently being the exact age to the answer to the ultimate question, Mike was over the moon to animate a Douglas Adams recording due to the LSD-esque effect the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy had on his brain as a child. www.mikebelgrave.com

Daphne Christoforou

Daphne Christoforou is a freelance illustrator/animator based in Brighton. She graduated with a First, a scholarship and two prizes from the University of Brighton in June 2010. Her work has appeared in Computer Arts, Management Today, Dazed Digital and on the Young Creatives website. Daphne draws inspiration from Hindu imagery, spirituality, alchemy, Greek myths and humour. She is particularly interested in interactive narratives. http://feelondemand.com/

Gavin Edwards

Gavin Edwards has been a designer and illustrator for most of his life and has recently taken up animation and motion graphics. Having been a big fan of Douglas Adams’ writings since he was a child he jumped at the chance to take part in this competition and interpret the genius’ words. www.movult.com

 

Jacqui Ferns

Originally from Dublin, Jacqui Ferns graduated with a BA in Visual Communication from Dublin Institute of Technology, before moving to London in 2011 to begin studying for an MA in Animation at Kingston University. An obsession with type forms informs most of her work, as she enjoys mixing illustrative and typographic styles, across design, illustration and moving-image mediums. 

Max Hadley

Max Hadley is a second year BA Illustration student, studying at University College Falmouth. He’s interested in animation and information illustration but also enjoys book jacket design. His work is mainly graphic, exploring ideas of user interactivity and pattern. In his spare time he loves nothing more than sitting in a tea shop sketching life around him. 

Adrian Hurtardo

Adrian Hurtardo has always loved animation. After studying for a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts, he realised that he wanted to be an animator and moved to Dublin to study animation at Ballyfermot College. He is currently working towards his dream of working in a big studio. http://adrianhurtado.weebly.com/

 

Marijke Koster

Marijke Koster is from the Netherlands and studied communication design and illustration. Nowadays she is a ceramic designer at Royal Goedewaagen and has her own illustration business called Studio Marijke Koster (www.marijkekoster.com). She loves Douglas Adams’s books and that’s why she joined the competition even though animation is not her cup of tea.

 

Till Lassmann and Andy Miller

Till Lassmann tends to draw a lot. He studied graphics in Krefeld, Germany and animation at the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee. He lives and works in Hamburg. www.till-lassmann.de/

 

 

Andy Miller is an animator and director working mostly out of Glasgow. He’s responsible for many disclaimers reading “Not actual gameplay footage”, and some Portuguese adverts selling bananas. www.andymilleranimation.com

 

 

Ting Li

Ting Li’s father was an accomplished writer who was also incredibly gifted in mathematics. His gift for creative storytelling and guidance in harnessing her passion for the sciences helped shape her current devotion to working, with PixelAtoms, at the junction of technology and filmmaking driven by science. 

 

Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay is an animator, designer and problem solver. He has been studying Visual Communication at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen for the last three years and graduates this summer. He loves using the stop-motion technique of animation, combining it with different styles and playing around with the post-production stage. 

 

Andy Little

Andy Little has just completed his second year at Cambridge School of Art, studying illustration and animation. With every animation he creates he likes to experiment and try something different. For the competition he mish-mashed different styles that worked well together. https://vimeo.com/user11766626

 

Kevin Nabity

Graduating from Iowa State University in computer animation and multimedia production, Kevin Nabity has competed across the globe in competitions and has won several awards. He’s been animating, designing web pages, writing music and producing videos for over ten years. Serving as the president of ISUtv, he had the opportunity to produce multiple TV shows. His work has aired on MTV, CNN and ESPN. 

Jaime Nelson

Not only did Douglas Adams inspire Jaime Nelson’s writing, but also her first journey abroad when she lived in Islington for four months. Now at 25, she lives near New York City, buried in the book industry, while mucking about online where she hosts and animates podcasts.

 

Jack Pearson

Jack Pearson is a third year Illustration student at Loughborough University. He has been producing animations for almost ten years using both 2D computer based methods and traditional stop motion. His work often takes a light hearted approach and focuses around the use of bold colour and experimentation with geometric shapes. http://thefantasticfruitbowl.wordpress.com/

Adam Poole, Becky Burst, Dan Roberts, Faye Wombwell and Chloe Brown

Adam Poole, Becky Burst, Dan Roberts, Faye Wombwell and Chloe Brown are five animation students studying at Staffordshire University. All are very keen animators, and enjoy sharing their work with others. 

 

 

Jake Rowlinson

Jake Rowlinson is an illustrator currently living in Plymouth, Devon. He is originally from Staffordshire. He has created film posters, beer labels and editorial cartoons, children’s book illustrations, public murals, t-shirt designs and animations, as well as many self-authored visual narratives. His work is strongly influenced by history and humour, with an instantly recognisable use of line and colour. http://jakerowlinson.blogspot.com

Jameson Simmons

Jameson Simmons is an animator and new dad in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He is looking forward to a career in film and TV. His portfolio site, http://glancepop.com, was named after his favourite sequence from The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul.

 

 

Eleanor Stokes

Eleanor Stokes is a self-taught animator. One day while playing with her camera it occurred to her that though she couldn’t draw and a traditional animation career was out of her reach, she could put a bunch of photographs together and make inanimate objects move across the screen. She documents her journey through the frustrations of teaching herself this art on her blog: http://barefoothallucination.weebly.com/

Matt Tillman

Matt Tillman is a recent design graduate and full-time motion designer with a love for animation. For his final university piece he animated a Douglas Adams inspired video promoting the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. www.youtube.com/user/PixelNinjaDesign/videos

 

 

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