Two of the team behind cult adult cartoons The Bruvs have made the switch to children’s animation with the launch of the animated ebook Albert Upside Down.
Aimed at a very different audience to The Bruvs, the Albert ebooks are about a loveable tortoise needing help from garden creatures to get back onto his feet.
The Bruvs, on the other hand, is about a family of London villains led by brothers Doug and Den Bruv. They usually end up bashing the daylights out of each other whether they’re going to the dentist, seeking culture at a gallery, visiting the bank or watching a natural history show on TV.
The link between the two is TV writer, producer Ian Brown and award-winning animation director Eoin Clarke. Brown is a former journalist turned TV writer and producer who has written for The Simpsons. His other credits include Top Gear, The South Bank Show and This Is Your Life. He’s written or produced for the likes of Harrison Ford, Pierce Brosnan, Simon Cowell, George Lucas, Bob Monkhouse, Davina McCall, Paul Whitehouse, Gordon Ramsay, Ross Kemp, Jamie Oliver, Bruce Forsyth and YouTubers Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee.
Clarke has storyboarded for Ray Harryhausen and is part of the team behind animation for CBBC’s Operation Ouch and opening titles for Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing. Over a thirty-year career in the animation industry as a director, animator and storyboard artist, his directorial work across films, commercials and documentaries has garnered thirty awards. Clients include the BBC, Channel 4 and the BFI.
The pair met about ten years ago and decided to self-fund The Bruvs to bring them to life. There are now more than forty short cartoons on The Bruvs youtube channel. A dozen episodes were taken up by the UK television channel Dave, becoming the channel’s first animations and first short content. The episodes also ran on their streaming service UKTVplay.
While working on The Bruvs, Brown and Clarke created and fine-tuned the Albert books.
Brown says: “I’ve long wanted to get books published. Many attempts have failed over thirty years. I’ve got rejection notes from dozens of agents and publishers. While we were doing The Bruvs, I talked to Eoin about children’s books. It turned out they were an ambition for him too and he’d wanted to work on book illustrations for some time.”
Inspiration came from Brown’s family pet tortoise – also called Albert. He was rescued more than 50 years ago by Brown’s wife when she was a little girl. He could now be eighty.
There are initially four stories to come about Albert in 2021 and 2022, starting with Albert Upside Down. First up on March 30 is the animated ebook. Clarke said: “While I’ve worked on most types of animation over the years, ebooks are a first for me. By importing the artwork into photoshop I was able to cut out and isolate elements such as heads, arms and legs. These were then imported into Adobe After Effects and rotated and scaled to produce basic animation to bring the characters to life. The animation was then rendered as short loopable quicktime movies.”
Publishers Graffeg then assembled the animated ebook using epub.
The books aside, Clarke and Brown have been busy throughout the pandemic. With their small team of associates, editor Paul Richmond and musicians Pete Harbour and Stig Winslet, they’ve created a lockdown song, accompanying music video, two lockdown-specific animations and a look at how a night out with The Bruvs might end. It’s messy. Obviously.
Clarke is also working on artwork for books three and four in the Albert series and another potential children’s picturebook collaboration with Brown.
The Albert Upside Down animated ebook will be available on Apple iBooks & iTunes and the standard print-replica ebook will be on all compatible fixed-layout platforms, including Kindle (Amazon), Kobo & Barnes & Noble.
The paperback picturebook publishes on April 27th and is available via the publisher Graffeg’s own website for worldwide shipping and initially for UK only online via Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith and also through local bookstores.
Peter Gill, Managing Director of Graffeg, said: “We are thrilled to be able to make the most of Eoin’s talent and expertise and bring an animated version of the loveable Albert to life, marking a first for Graffeg. This brings a new dimension to Ian’s heart-warming story and Eoin’s charming illustrations, perfect for inquisitive, playful little minds.”
Author Brown, said: “It has been a dream come true working with Graffeg on our debut. We’re delighted to be adding another dimension to Albert’s story with an animated e-book. On the page or on the screen, we hope children and grown-ups fall in love with this mini-dinosaur and his garden chums when they are released into the virtual wild this Spring. It’s a very different project for both Eoin and myself. We’re thoroughly enjoying it.”
Albert Upside Down looks at the importance of teamwork, helping others and how the smallest assistance can make a big difference. The story has received early praise from the likes of Countryfile host John Craven: – “What a treat for our youngest book-lovers – and for grown-ups who will guide them through it. Stunning illustrations and well-chosen words tell the story of Albert the tortoise getting back on his feet after a fall, helped by a somewhat disorganised band of garden creatures. There’s lots here to delight young children (even a toilet joke!) plus intriguing facts about tortoises. More of Albert please.” – John Craven OBE, Countryfile, Newsround
Youtuber Joe Sugg – “A great little story of coming together to help those in need & fantastically illustrated” – Joe Sugg, star of Youtube & Strictly Come Dancing
The Fast Show’s Paul Whitehouse – “It’s utterly brilliant and charming and if you’re an upside down tortoise, essential reading.” – Paul Whitehouse, Gone Fishing, The Fast Show The Grand Tour’s Jeremy Clarkson – “I like this book, I like the drawings and I like the man who wrote it. I like tortoises. What’s not to like?” – Jeremy Clarkson
Picture book details: https://graffeg.com/products/albert-upside-down
Albert on twitter – @Alberttortoise
The Bruvs – twitter @TheBruvsTV
Facebook – @TheBruvsTV
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI5al_Dl4V0kh-dxBsbjyig
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
