Senior Lecturer in Animation

Arril Johnson trained in Fine Arts and Theatre at Wittenberg University, USA and joined the animation industry in 1968. After five years of working in a Montreal based studio, he began freelancing in the UK primarily as an animator and modelmaker.

He has worked with cut-out animation, model animation, drawn animation and pixilation while working on projects ranging from Sesame Street and The Wrong Trousers to commercials, corporate training videos, natural history programmes, feature films and television series, as well as twenty years of contributions to BBC Children’s programmes. Additional professional activities have included the voice dubbing of animation, acting in various media, pyrotechnics, model making, animatronics, illustration, special effects photography, sound effects, directing, writing, and the creation of museum displays.

Alongside Arril has taught animation across the UK and his speciality is to demonstrate the interweaving of the various disciplines that make up film making and animation. Interests in art, theatre, prehistory, sound, cinematic storytelling, and physical comedy helped to form his eclectic approach and remain as influences in what he creates and teaches.