Jellyfish Pictures
James Clarke speaks with the new creative director for animation at Jellyfish Pictures about the studio’s philosophy, leading a team, and the joy of creativity ounded back in 2001, Jellyfish Pictures is a BAFTA, Emmy F and Annie awardwinning animation and VFX studio that has been responsible for delivering a raft of critically acclaimed work for clients such as Disney, Netflix, DreamWorks, Apple TV+, HBO, the BBC and Amazon.
With a central studio based in Brixton, London, and a northern hub in Sheffield, the company has undergone rapid growth that includes an expansion into India in 2023. With a belief in using business as a force for good, it’s currently committed to working towards a B Corp certification for meeting high standards of performance, transparency and accountability in its work.
Jellyfish Pictures has created high-quality CG animation for DreamWorks’ SpiritUntamed and HowtoTrainYourDragon:Homecoming, plus top-rated children’s animated series like Dennis &Gnasher:Unleashed (The Beano/CBBC), Floogals (Nevision/Universal Kids), and Bitz &Bob (CBeebies).
Headed by Natalie Llewellyn, the studio’s 350-person strong animation division is currently in production on a series for Netflix and Lime Pictures titled Wereworld, based on a popular book series by Curtis Jobling, as well as an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s TheTwitsfor Netflix. It has also recently started work on a new feature animation for a Hollywood studio.
Meanwhile, the company’s original content division, named Jellyfish Originals, is currently in pre-production on the upper preschool series Stan &Granfor Milkshake!, with an adaptation of author and presenter Dermot O’Leary’s book series Totothe NinjaCatalso in development.
In September 2023, Archie Donato was appointed as the creative director of animation at Jellyfish Pictures, bringing over two decades of experience at the likes of ILM, DreamWorks and DNEG. 3D World spoke with the man himself about his role at the studio, as well as its overarching process and creative philosophy.
Our conversation with Donato begins with him identif ying the fundamental distinction between the two creative spaces Jellyfish Pictures works in. “Generally, our business consists of a visual effects side and then an animation side,” he notes. “There isn’t really a clear delineation between the two necessarily, because we try to use the same pipeline and work in such a way that we can exchange the talent even if they’re working on a VFX project.
“However, it does still require us to have a certain amount of delineation because the two mediums are incredibly different. A lot of the time I think people don’t realise just how different
