If you know who I am and want to get in touch, then please click here to email me.
If you don’t know me, then you’re probably busy looking through hundreds of reels trying to find the perfect person for your next project, so I’d better let you get on with it!
Here’s my reel featuring the kinda work I love doing
So what can I actually do for you?
- Motion Design + VFX + Editing– I know how to take style frames and bring them to life in well-paced, engaging, and eye-catching moving image. I’ve been using Adobe After Effects, Premiere and C4D for 22 years, and worked across pretty much every format imaginable, including commercials, tv idents, film, music videos, online, and large-scale events and concerts. ;
- Technical Direction – I’m the person people usually contact when they don’t know how to do something; like figuring out HDR workflows in After Effects, projection mapping onto cathedrals or just “why isn’t this working!”;
- Illustration – I’ve spent my whole life drawing and painting and I have a 1st class degree in illustration. Even though the majority of my work is created in the computer, I love to bring a more human, raw handmade aspect to my work.
- Design – Having said that, I also have a strong appreciation for elegant design and spent a lot of my career at top design studios, like Why Not Associates and Intro;
- Animation Consultation – With 20 years of experience I have a lot to offer in the early stages of a project to brainstorm solutions and figure out how to get the most from a budget;
- Project Management – I’m experienced running entire productions with teams of people so I know how to stay on schedule and budget, and how to keep jobs on track.
If you’re still here, it looks like I can do what you need, but what makes me stand out?
I’m driven by two things:
- Creativity. All my life I’ve been creative. The feeling of bringing something new into the world is transcendent. I’ll never get bored of the feeling when I finish a project and think “I made that”;
- The desire to figure out: What is actually going on here? I’ve always been obsessed with questions like “What is life?”, “What is reality?”, “What the hell are we doing here?” I feel there’s a bigger truth out there, and I want to explore and search for answers.
This passion has fuelled me to learn lots of skills over the years, but here’s what I consider to be my strengths:
- A wide skill set – I love learning and figuring things out, so I know a little bit about a lot. I have skills across a range of styles from hand-drawn to clean and simple graphic design, and VFX. I’m experienced at creating work from initial concept to end results, coming up with my own ideas and solutions or building upon and implementing the ideas of others. I’m strong technically and love a bit of nerdy computer stuff. This all means I can be a versatile piece in the puzzle or a one-stop shop handling the entire production;
- 20+ years in the industry – I draw on my wide skill set and experience over the past 20 years to work smart and get results which are often thought to be out of reach;
- Organised, thorough and reliable – to avoid stressful situations and work in the most efficient way;
- Patient and calm – when stressful situations sometimes arise!
- Communication – I’m empathic and good at seeing the bigger picture which helps me understand my clients, their audience and my colleagues;
- I care about doing good work – I have an eye for detail and it really matters to me that my work has purpose and delivers results.
Here are some cool things I’ve done for other people.
- creating animations for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, watched by an estimated global audience of 1 billion;
- leading a team to create a 3-part animated training series for Netflix on the importance of inclusion and diversity;
- being Lead Animator on multi BAFTA Award-Winning BBC Passchendaele Centenary projection mapping project;
- creating a 6-part web series ‘Invaders from Space’;
- working with Alain de Botton on a series of animations focusing on helping people, which to date have a combined 10 million views on The School of Life YouTube channel;
- working with the BBC and Gabor Maté to create the film “Do we need to rethink addiction”.
And here’s what they say about me.
“Beautiful, wise, elegant and fun. Films of utter genius. I couldn’t be happier with the results.” – Alain de Botton, The School of Life
“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Martin regularly since 2012. Martin joined our team to work on the digital content for the London 2012 Closing Ceremony, and that was the start of a valued and enjoyable working relationship. Martin is a rare talent with an excellent understanding of motion graphics/animation, both 2D and 3D. But this also comes with vast technical knowledge and an ability to deliver on time and to a very high standard consistently. When Martin is part of a Kate Dawkins Studio project, I know it’s not only in safe hands but that the work will be to the exacting level required.” – Kate Dawkins, Founder, Kate Dawkins Studio
“I have worked with Martin on a number of projects with content ranging from poignant stories to mark key historical anniversaries to high level messaging for corporate event environments. Whatever we’re creating his delivery is the same – beautiful, considered, technically brilliant and always on time. His calm supportive nature, ability to turn round high quality work to very tight deadlines if required and extensive knowledge of the motion graphics/animation process make him an invaluable member of the team. I can’t recommend him highly enough – even if that does mean he won’t always be available for us!” – Diana Henry, Creative/content producer
“Martin created a beautiful animation for us. The team were very happy and couldn’t believe what had been achieved in such a short time. It was a pleasure to work with him and the process went very smoothly and efficiently.” – Nina Ludgate, Executive Digital Producer at Rapiergroup
“We’ve always had a good experience working with Easy Animal. They’re great creative collaborators. Even with subject matter that can be somewhat dry and heavy, they’re great at coming up with solutions. They’re clear and honest about what is and isn’t possible in the budget. We would sing their praises to strangers!” – Anissa Richmond, Executive Producer, Netflix
Working remotely doesn’t have to be a nightmare!
I’ve learnt from experience that it doesn’t matter how talented people are, if they’re on a crappy machine, in the middle of nowhere with slow internet it can be a nightmare to collaborate. I work on an iMac 5k 3.6 GHz 8-Core i9, with 1Gb full-fibre broadband, and know the value in hyper-communication and planning to make sure it’s a seamless, enjoyable experience.