Jan 26, 2015 8 Questions With : Greg McLeod of Brother’s McLeod
Brothers McLeod is a multi-faceted (and very talented) animation studio. Greg is an illustrator and animator, and Myles is a writer. Together the duo can work with you on an idea from scratch and bring it to fruition or assist on a specific need such as illustrating, animating, directing, composing, scoring, or even providing voice overs. They have won both BAFTA and Webby awards, and also worked with a number of notable clients, including the likes of Entertainment One, Disney, BBC, and Royal Shakespeare Company. Their visual approach to projects has allowed them to develop and invent intriguing characters, narratives, stories, and worlds to live in. Whether they work together, individually, or together with a client, they’re simultaneously flexible and collaborative which usually results in something pretty amazing.
“We write, we draw, we make animations… mainly because it’s fun and we like doing it, which is a really good reason to do anything.”
1) What is Brother’s McLeod, how did you get involved, and what is your current role?
The Brothers McLeod is me (Greg) and my brother, Myles, and yes we are brothers – we get asked that a lot. We’ve been working together making films for about 15 years and the company has been going since 2004.
2) The “365” trailer is already pretty amazing on its own. Can you tell me a bit about that project and what the process was behind creating it?
The trailer for 365 came out of an idea whereby we’d just record some ad-lib audio and see what popped out. If it was good we’d animate to that. I tried something similar with my son which bore fruit in the form of ‘Boxsez.’ We’ve also used it on the pitch film for ‘Marfa,’ our latest project. Links below.
‘365’ itself came from an idea I had during Christmas of 2012 to document my 2013 year. A visual diary. I launched it not knowing how far I’d get but due to a fast building online fan base, via my daily Facebook entries, I felt compelled to carry on and complete it. I’d be on a constant daily lookout for an interesting event or moment to inspire that day’s animation. Sometimes it was a sound or an overheard conversation, often a throughway comment from a friend (as in Lamb cannon). Sometimes I’d animate first thing, sometimes last thing at night. One second could take 12 hours to animate, another only a couple of minutes.
I’d post that month’s animation online and that helped build it’s profile online.
3) As a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up?
Strip cartoonist
4) What do you find most challenging about animation?
Time. It takes a lot of time.
5) What’s next for Brother’s McLeod?
We are making a Travelogue film called ‘Marfa’ about a trip I did to watch ‘365’ in the west Texan desert and making another one of our short experimental collaborations called ‘Consequences.’
We’ve also got some really exciting work coming in that we can’t talk about yet.
6) If you could give some advice to your teenage self, what would it be?
That band you’re in that you’re convinced is going to be the next big thing and therefore you can sacrifice all else at it’s expense – DON’T!
Draw more! Travel!
Oh and that girl you think is really hot, don’t go out with her, she’s a psycho!
7) What’s your favorite post-work destination?
The Picturehouse Bar for a cold pint of Longhorn
8) Where do you find inspiration?
It’s all about you. You just have to stop still long enough to see it.