Bluey: The Welsh designer who helps bring Bluey to life

Originally from Bridgend but now a professional designer in Melbourne, Australia, Owain Emanuel has been working on children's cartoon series Bluey since 2016.

The show has become a sensation across the world, including in the UK since its first appeared on our screens two years ago.

But what is it like to work in the world of animation? And how does Owain help bring the characters to life?

Owain knew since he was very young that he wanted to draw, in some form, when he was older.

"I'm drawing all the time, and people sometimes ask, what would I do if I wasn't drawing or working like an animator, and I don't have a clue… I've loved drawing my whole life," he said.

"I went to the University of South Wales in Cardiff and studied animation. After that I moved to London to work on the Mr Bean cartoon. That was my first animation job."

Gone are the days of using paper and pencil to draw; now Owain creates using a computer

Even though he was happy in London and had no plans to move, in 2016 two huge moments changed Owain's life.

Joe Brumm, an animator in Australia, emailed Owain asking if he would like to go over there to work on his idea for a cartoon.

Then Owain met his partner, Kristen, an Australian.

Joe's idea, about a cartoon family of dogs, was given the green light and a year later Owain found himself working on Bluey as the series' chief designer in Brisbane.

Owain and Kristen now have a daughter called Nia

Bringing Bluey to life

Bluey has since become a phenomenon. It has won awards galore in Australia and has become a firm favourite with children in countries including the UK.

But even Owain admits "nobody knew how big the show was going to become".

How does his work as designer and rigger fit in with the whole process of bringing the cartoon to life on-screen?

Bluey has become a sensation across the world

"My role is to take the props and the characters the art director designs and construct them using special software, ready for the animators," Owain explained.

"If the character needs to talk, walk, hold props, turn 360 degrees… we need to design everything, from the shape of the mouth to the shape of the hand, until you've created everything the character needs to do.

"You're like a mechanic building the inside. The lower part of the body needs to move the top of the head, and the top of the arm needs to be able to move the lower part, which then moves the hand. Then, the animators work to bring the characters to life.

"It's a big job because every character on Bluey has over 150 mouth shapes, over 200 hands, and 40 feet."

Each episode lasts seven minutes, but every finished programme requires four months of work from start to finish.

The animating world

As well as working on Bluey, Owain has also worked on other children's cartoons in Australia. But, he says it can be quite hard to get a job as a designer in the world of animation.

Of course even though you need talent there is an element of luck and who you know.

"I was lucky, I did well in university, so they sent me to London for an industry night, and I met with a person who was working on the Mr Bean cartoon. And with luck, my final project looked like the style of Mr Bean, so I was asked to work on the series.

"Every job I've worked on since has been through people I know."

Owain and the rest of the crew that work on the third series of Bluey

The future

Owain has now been in Australia for six years and has a young daughter Nia with Kristen.

The Bluey production team is waiting to see if there will be a fourth series of the cartoon.

In the meantime, Owain has set up an animation company with a co-worker and they are looking for new projects.

But he said he also wanted to work on something that reminds him of Wales.

"I've never done anything in the Welsh language," he said. "I'm so far from home - my family are all back in Wales and I miss Wales so much.

"I try and read to Nia in Welsh so I want to draw Welsh-language books. I don't have to come up with the idea, I just want, 'designed by Owain Emanuel' on it.

"And a Welsh-language cartoon would be great. But one step at a time…"

You can watch Bluey on BBC iPlayer or the BBC CBeebies TV channel.

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