Pro Hello: Tom Baker

Tom Baker is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the doctor in the science fiction television series 'Doctor Who' and the narrator for the comedy series 'Little Britain'.

This isn’t that Tom Baker.

This one draws a bit, wears far fewer scarves and is co-founder of the totally amazing Kong Studio. He also writes about himself in third person.

Today, Tom shares his journey so far.

What do you do, and where are you based?

I make cartoons from London. Fashionable Hackney, to be precise.

What recent campaigns might we know you from, and what was your input on these campaigns?

We have just finished a 15-second animation for the cosmetics company Shiseido (Kong are big in Japan). It is designed by Chinese street artists L+L, involves a flying horse with impossibly complex wings and looks completely bonkers. My personal contribution was some 2D effects that were so good they didn’t make the final edit, and a lot of words of encouragement. This was for the Chinese market... do people read LBB in China? Maybe no-one will see it here, but trust me, it’s very different. It sounds like I’m making it up.

Honestly, we HAVE done this amazing advert, only you might not be able to find it, so get in touch if this sounds intriguing (tom@kong-studio.com).

We also did the titles for the pilot for 'Have I Got Sport for You' with animation legend Tim Searle for the BBC. It looked so brilliant, it’s a shame the show was never commissioned into a real series. Maybe if everyone reading this watched this on catch-up we can get the main gig?

How did you first get into the industry, and how did you realise what you wanted to do?

I fell into it really. I came to London to work in this big new thing called THE INTERNET. It was crazy times when the oldest person in any company was only 23, and the beer flowed like wine. As nobody knew what they were doing -- or certainly what anyone else did -- I somehow ended up animating banner ads (as someone had to).

When they closed the internet in 2005, I used my nascent animation skills to get on the character animation program at Central St Martins and soon I was animating cartoons 'wot you see on telly' -- 'Scooby-Doo', 'Ben 10', 'Gumball', 'Mr Bean', 'Modern Toss', 'Skatoony' etc, etc. I’m still not sure it’s what I want to do, though. I just want to sing.

Tell us about your journey so far.

Okay. So that bit I just said, and then the next bit and here we are! Along the way, there has been action, adventure, drawings and guns, but weirdly, no girls whatsoever. I do, at this point, need to clarify that Bill Elliott set Kong up first, and he eventually only let me
become a partner after a sustained campaign from me of pleading, begging and intermittent weeping.

What projects / campaigns that you’ve been involved in have been the most personally satisfying to work on, and why?

'Quentin Blake's Box of Treasures'. I love Quentin Blake, and this was on BBC1 over Christmas, which meant my mum could fall asleep in front of it. (FYI - My mum thinks I work in computers because I use a computer.)

The team we had was really talented, and as they were working for Kong, and me being a partner, they had to pretend I was also talented. Which felt brilliant. The double-edged sword of working on such an established IP as Quentin is, while everyone recognises the style, they can also tell when it’s not right.

Keeping the characters on model was super tricky. You look at one of his books, and the same character looks different on every page, but still somehow looks the same. The drawings are simple but deceptively difficult to replicate. When the animation machine started to click, and you see Quentin’s work moving as you imagined, and that was pretty satisfying.

What’s been your proudest achievement?

I just said it! But also, when we’re busy, Kong is a pretty nice place to work. We try hard to seek out new talent straight from university, so seeing the young talent and more experienced artists mix is lovely. Everyone is helping each other and laughing like a wonderful animation utopia. It brings a tear to my eye.

We’ve also worked on some cool projects with Billy Connolly, 'Star Wars', 'Thomas the Tank Engine', a breakdancing Mickey Mouse (that we’re not allowed to talk about, shhhhhh)… check out our work page as we’re the biggest animation studio you’ve never heard of. Unless of course, you’ve never heard of Disney.

What do people (clients, agencies, etc) come to you for specifically?

People come to Kong Studio because of the Gorillaz stuff, but that’s Kong Studios, and they’re a made-up studio that doesn’t exist. Well, we do exist! We’re a real 2D animation studio with real people, and we can draw anything. You want a flying horse? We can find you the finest horse animators in all of Hackney and deliver you the best goddam horse ever. And as we don’t have a house style, it can look like anything you want, so the only limitation is YOUR imagination. Which we can help you with, of course.

What are your strongest opinions relating to your specific field?

This isn’t really a rant, but it’s something I can’t work out how to fix. We go to the student end-of-year shows and there’s always loads of amazing work. Sometimes they form little teams and basically, they could be dropped into a studio set up like ours and GO. But, we need a specific project to hire anyone.

What we need is a Kong Incubator where we have this fledgling talent working on new pitches or their own ideas so they can fly, before being dashed on the rocks of failure because no-one gave them their first break. Can someone give us £30K so we could set this up? With a cash injection, we could create something really cool (as it’s brutal out there). I promise not to put it on a horse. It’s for the children!

And if it’s a rant you want, it’s a bit annoying that an animated film has never won the Best Picture award at the Oscars. Apparently, the judges / membership don’t bother watching the cartoons. I mean, why would they? Oh... and famous people writing kids’ books. If I were a kids’ author, that would really bug me. And formatting things in MS Word. How old is this program now? Like 200 years old, and I still can’t get this particular paragraph to look like the rest. And self-checkout tills. And my daughter’s school always needs £2 for stuff. NO-ONE CARRIES CHANGE. Can’t you accept card, because she really wants a lolly now you’ve waved it in her face? And B-Corps. How can Amazon be a B-Corp? Okay, it isn’t, but it’s just too expensive for a little company like Kong. Thanks, I feel a bit better for that.

What sort of projects really get you excited at the moment?

I really want to get the 'Dr Who' kids series. It’s an open commissioning process, so we are literally up against all the animation studios of the universe, as 'Dr Who' is popular all over, especially on Gallifrey. Some of the Dalek studios are really good, although they operate quite tough work environments (apparently), so they might fall foul of the BBC working policy (fingers crossed).

I would also like to do more adverts, so if anyone reading this wants a brand new advert, call me right away on 07976 531 707. The first 50 people get a complimentary t-shirt, with a compliment on it!

Who are your creative heroes, and why?

Quentin, ‘cos of his drawings -- and he’s still going at 111. Roald Dahl because he can spin a yarn. Milt Kahl is an amazing character animator. We worked with Glen Keane recently, and his pencil tests were so amazing that I cut my eyes out in wonder. My business partners Billy Elliott for his incredible storyboards, and Emma Burch for her Gantt charts. Then the obvious ones like Donald Trump for his work with orange and Noel Edmonds for still somehow still being on TV. Noel Edmonds must be the nicest person in the world.

Outside of the day job, what fuels your creativity?

Eggs. I eat 50 eggs a day. They don’t let me eat them at work. That is where I lay them.