Commercial Animation

I first worked in Animation in 1981. After working as a background artist, layout artist, and storyboard artist for a number of the studios then populating London’s Soho, I was fortunate to settle for some years at DRAGON ANIMATION.

There I worked as an assistant director to SERGIO SIMONETTI, and benefited enormously from his generous tutelage in learning the arts and crafts of animation.
DRAGON produced some prominent work at that time, including the WEETABIX BOVER BOYS, DULUX, and ads based on the drawings of the famous cartoonist CARL GILES for Lyons Tetley. This is part of the showreel I was given as representative of my work for Sergio when I left the company.

I then joined WYATT CATTANEO, one of London’s biggest and most successful animation companies, and one of the first to concentrate on television advertising, as a Director in my own right. There I at first worked closely with Tony Cattaneo, the original animator/director of the TETLEY TEA FOLK until his retirement, at which point I became responsible for both TETLEY and the RIBENABERRIES amongst other projects, ably assisted by JASON IVEMEY and MARK AUSTIN.

When RON WYATT followed Tony into retirement, I established my own production company, and continued with both TETLEY and RIBENA (and other projects), before beginning a move away from television commercials. This is a showreel from RICHARD OLLIVE ANIMATION.

Tetley were to put the Tea Folk out to grass in 2000, although I continued to direct and animate tea folk commercials for Tetley Australia up until 2005.
In 2010, Tetley brought them back from the grave and I was asked once again to animate the little chaps in the old style!

 

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