Senior Lecturer in Animation

John first studied Graphic Design in Liverpool followed by an MA in Animation from the Royal College of Art in 1992. After graduation, John worked for a decade as a commercial animation director for Picasso Pictures Ltd, London.

John spent three years (1998–2001) teaching in the USA at SCAD Savannah, GA where the facilities available to students were way beyond the UK provision at that time. This accelerated his own learning and an approach to teaching where a balance of process expertise and economic application are encouraged to co-exist. On return, he balanced commercial and independent production with part time teaching at Farnham and Kingston before joining UWE in 2004. His teaching specialisms are the history of animation; short form and super short form animation; experimental and auteur filmmaking; commercial animation.

John represents the Bristol School of Animation at SWAN (South West Animation Network) and at ETNA (European Training Network for Animation. He is currently in receipt of research bursary from the Centre for Moving Image Research to produce a short experimental animated film using laser engraving techniques on ‘found’ 16mm stock.http://fortygrins.tumblr.com/

https://vimeo.com/simoncling/videos