Artist and award-winning animator teams with TV writer and producer to launch animated comedy series featuring the misadventures of dodgy brothers Doug and Den.
LONDON -- New comedy animation webseries TheBruvs is taking off at its website and YouTube channel. The comedy featuring the misadventures of dodgy brothers Doug and Den as they try to go straight, and fail big time, is the work of TV writer and producer Ian Brown and award-winning animation director Eoin Clarke.
TheBruvs is about brothers Doug and Den Bruv who have taken over their old dad’s family firm but have moved from London’s East End to leafy Essex to try to make a fresh start, and go straight. Things don’t go according to plan and generally end in some sort of violent clash, usually between the Bruvs themselves.
The shorts have echoes of the heyday of U.K. television’s the Mitchell brothers in EastEnders and classic cop shows like The Sweeney and Life on Mars as well as the dodgy dealings of Minder and Only Fools and Horses. With the inclusion of a WEG (West Essex Girl) called Chanterelle, who has trouble with her fake tan and hair extensions, there are also hints of TOWIE and Geordie Shore. While there are many targets, most are lampooned with affection. Described as Little Funny Films for grown-ups, TheBruvs contains cartoon violence and some ripe language.
While Brown has worked on entertainment shows like This Is Your Life, comedy panel shows and Top Gear projects, Clarke is an artist and award winning animator who has worked with Saatchi and Saatchi and the legendary Ray Harryhausen. In 1986-87 Clarke attended Trowbridge technical college, Wiltshire where he gained a Diploma in foundation studies in art and design. He moved on to Middlesex Polytechnic gaining a BA Hons Degree in graphic design. From there, on to the Royal College of Art where he picked up an MA Degree in Animation. While at the Royal college of Art, he won the RTZ travelling bursary to travel to Amsterdam to make a film about drug abuse. The resulting film Buzz won the Golden Plaque at the Chicago Film Festival and was Highly Commended at the Royal Academy Festival of the Arts. In 1995 he was selected by Channel 4 to be the animator in residence in the Museum of the Moving Image. Channel 4 then commissioned him to complete the multi-award winning film Deviant which he had started at MOMI. In 1996 he joined Bermuda Shorts as a director. There he was commissioned by Saatchi and Saatchi to make an animated film about the pitfalls of advertising. In 1998 he worked for Ray Harryhausen as storyboard artist and designer on the commercial Dino Time. The next year he was commissioned by channel 4 to make the animated short 1300cc, which was another big award winner.
Clarke draws and animates TheBruvs solo. “It is a passion project that Ian and I are hoping will grow. It is a challenge but it is creatively very rewarding. I love the characters of TheBruvs and I love bringing them to life,” Clarke said.
“The animation is hand drawn on a light box in the time-honored traditional way that dates back to the 1920s. The drawings are then scanned into the computer and art worked, i.e. given a clean line and colored using Adobe Photoshop,” Clarke continues. “The clean black line is drawn directly onto the screen of an interactive Cintiq monitor, allowing the lines to be drawn directly into the computer eliminating the need for paper and scanning. The animation is then combined with the background elements both drawn, painted and photographic in Adobe After Effects, this is called compositing. The elements can be layered in Adobe After Effects at different distances from the camera allowing 3D movement between the elements and the camera while retaining a flat 2D hand-drawn look.”
Brown explains, “The Bruvs has started quite small, but we have big hopes. It is a shame that there isn’t a big Brit animation that has broad appeal like those American Juggernauts The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park...Animation is an expensive and a slow process. But we are building up a catalogue and have had a very encouraging response so far. Because we are Online we have had amazing feedback not only from the UK but also from America, Australia and throughout Europe.”
Brown and Clarke are working on several films at once and are growing TheBruvs through YouTube, twitter and Facebook as well as the website TheBruvs.com, and now also at the new comedy hub dudecomedy.net and the Adult Cartoon Channel.
Source: TheBruvs.com
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
