I got back from Paris today to find that Sociagility.com have nominated me for their “Community Manager of the Year” award!
Following an open call for nominations last week, the site has whittled down the list and I’m excited to say I made the final cut! There’s also some other great CM’s from Channel 4, The Guardian, Google and many more! (You can see a few of the nominees in the image below)
A big thanks to the person who nominated me, and if you’d like to vote, visit Sociagility.com
Just before Christmas I did an interview about social media for Imagine, a leading animation website and magazine.
The piece focused on how animation companies are using social media to promote their characters and reach wider audiences for their shows online, with my Shaun the Sheep examples sitting next to some other really interesting shows including Small Potatoes and Simon’s Cat!
I’m also thrilled to say that the full interview is available to read on the Imagine website. (You’ll need a login but registration is free)
The next installment of novelty cakes comes in the form of dinosaurs for Ben‘s birthday.
I baked two large, thin-ish cakes using a basic cupcake recipe, covered them in ready-to-roll icing and used cookie cutters to stamp out the individual cakes. The tails were quite flimsy and some broke (either that or the dinos starting biting chunks out of each other in transit!) so I’d recommend using nice chunky shapes!!
Photo courtesy of JamFactory
Almost 2 years to the date since my 20 years of Wallace & Gromit interview, I found myself back in the Aardman cinema talking to Nick Park! This time it was to find out more about his latest project, directing a music video for a friend’s band called Native and the Name
The project is a lot different to the claymation we are used to seeing, so I wanted to ask Nick how it came about and how he felt about working in a different medium…
So there you have it! It was great to have the opportunity to do another interview and really interesting to hear about the thinking behind the project. It was clear how much Nick loved the song and was really wants it to do well and raise the profile of the band. I can’t wait to hear more about the feature film idea too! 
You can watch the full music video for “Plain Song” by Native and the Name by visiting the band’s website at www.nativeandthename.com
Aardman Digital have only gone and picked up another shiny-faced BAFTA!
Picture courtesy of BAFTA. Left - Right: Heather (Aardman Commercials) Dan (Aardman Digital) and Jane (Tate)
This time it was the Children’s BAFTAs and we were up against strong competition including Moshi Monsters and The Land of Me in the Interactive category. Thankfully the might of the fantastic Tate Movie Project website conquered all – well done to all the team!
Exciting news this week – a group of world famous individuals in the world of animation have donated pieces of artwork for a charity auction in aid of Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal.
As an animation fan myself, I couldn’t help but get excited by the artwork on offer – a Wallace & Gromit watercolour from Nick Park, a beautiful sketch from UP director Peter Docter, some brilliant drawings by Shaun the Sheep director, Richard Starzak.
There’s also some great lesser-known gems that are definitely worth a bid – my personal faves include this Purple and Brown piece by Rich Webber below (If you’ve never watched Purple and Brown before – take a look at this!)
The auction is running until November 10th – dig out your credit cards and get bidding, it’s a great cause with some beautiful pieces of work up for grabs. Visit the auction eBay page now »
I’m VERY excited that we’re now allowed to talk about the imminent release of Home Sheep Home 2, the sequel to Aardman Digital’s incredibly popular sheep-based game.
If you’ve never played Home Sheep Home, have a go – it’s free to play on the Shaun the Sheep website. In a nutshell, you must guide Shaun the Sheep and his two pals, Shirley and Timmy, through 15 levels of puzzles using each sheep’s unique abilities to overcome obstacles along the way. For example, poor old Shirley may be a little on the heavy side, but she’s certainly useful when it comes to moving heavy objects…
The sequel reunites the production dream team of Chris “Puzzle Master” Underwood and Robin “I make beautiful sheep” Davey, creating an end result that looks and plays beautifully. Trust me on this one – you won’t be disappointed.
The game will be available in web, iOS and PC versions very soon. Visit the lovely HomeSheepHome2.com site for more info and don’t forget to like Home Sheep Home on Facebook for regular updates on the game.
I made this set of cakes for the people at work to celebrate Gav finishing his 3-year BOIKZMOIND film project and to say Happy Birthday to Rich, our lead developer and retro games addict.
I had a fun afternoon crafting little BOIKZMOIND logos and “Nutmeg” chicks (the star of one of Rich’s flash game) from ready-to-roll icing on top of vanilla cupcakes. Thankfully they also went down pretty well with the recipients!
In June I blogged about an exciting new Aardman project titled #nokiagulp, a World Record attempt for the largest animation set ever created.
I’m pleased to say that after all the hard work, and a couple of set-backs due to the weather, the film has now been released!
If you think the film looks impressive, watch the “making of” video below – it’s only then that you realise how unconventional and ambitious the project was, with the environment around calling all the shots.
This record-breaking project is one-of-a-kind and I feel very lucky to have been on set during the making. Well done to all the team involved – and may the film rack up many millions of views 
Yesterday was surreal.
Early morning we got that word that “someone important” was coming to visit and were instructed to remove any offensive items from our offices – mouse mats containing phallic images were the main concern in the Aardman Digital office.
Photo courtesy of JamFactory and Aardman.
A couple of hours later, there are lots of important-looking people securing the doors and the Prime Minister has popped in to talk to us about games. Turns out he has an iPad and is a big fan of Shaun the Sheep – so naturally we let him test Home Sheep Home 2, a game we currently have in development.
I’m certainly not a Tory supporter and so I was very surprised at how star-struck I became during his visit. Annoyingly he was very charming, enthusiastic and seemed genuinely interested in our work – I suppose you don’t become Prime Minister without being able to win favour with your public. Our head honcho Miles puts it more eloquently below - I’d thoroughly recommend reading his blog for a full account of the visit.
There was a tricky moment for me when PM declared himself a Shaun The Sheep fan (he has 3 kids right in our core Shaun The Sheep age group) and he played our Home Sheep Home browser game and if there was a moment when I nearly tore up my lifetime Libdem membership card that was it.
But just a swiftly as he arrived he was gone – I went round the building thanking the anarchists and revolutionaries for not heckling and flour bombing him and we got back down to the business of earning a crust, selling our wares moaning about politicians.
So there you have it. Incidentally, we were also visited that week by a Yorkshire Tea van handing out free cuppas and a man who had created a real-life Wallace & Gromit motorbike and sidecar. Just another typical week at Aardman!
