I would use the funding to develop a new experimental, stop motion animation series titled “Private View”. The bursary would cover essential materials for puppet-making, studio rent / bills, and help upgrade our camera and lighting kit – supporting the technical side of the work while giving me time to immerse myself in the creative process.
Private View will be a series of extra-short (90 second) films offering unsettling glimpses inside a surreal art gallery of dark artefacts, each with a story to tell or a song to sing. The episodes will each introduce a new puppet character and visual style, allowing me to experiment with different materials and approaches. While stop-motion will be the main medium, I’m keen to integrate elements of live-action puppetry and performance to push the boundaries of what these shorts can be.
Having worked on short films and commissioned projects, I’m now looking to create a body of work that’s more playful and fluid – letting me explore new ideas and techniques that don’t always fit within more traditional formats. This bursary would give me the time and structure to take creative risks, while also producing a tangible outcome: a finished eight-episode series (around 12 minutes of animation) by the end of the two years.
As a further experiment, I’d love to exhibit these short films as framed projections or screens on loop in a gallery space, with the physical puppets from each episode also displayed next to the frames.
I expect Private View won’t take the full two years to create, so I’ll also be able to complete another ongoing Spare Flesh project called “I Think My Brain Has Gone Off”: a three minute experimental animation about an anthropomorphic toilet reading a poem about his health off a toilet roll.
This award would not only support the making of these projects, but help me evolve as an artist – developing my skills in puppetry, storytelling, and mixed-media performance. It would also give us new work to share on social media and build visibility for Spare Flesh, opening up opportunities for more experimental commissions in the future.
One of the joys of this short, character-led format is that I can draw inspiration from multiple places – and Darlington has plenty of stories to tap into. I’ve been reading up on local folklore and occult legends, and I’d love to bring some of them to life in an off-beat, absurd way. The Sockburn Worm could be reimagined as a sock-puppet earthworm, singing mournfully about getting stabbed in the park by some geezer in chainmail. Or, as Lady Gerard’s ghost appears without a hand, maybe that ghost-hand is out there somewhere, trying to build itself a new body.
If I receive the funding, I’d spend time exploring more of Darlington’s history and finding moments that could slip into the world of Private View.
I imagine that an exhibition of dark, mischievous stop motion animation and strange sculptural puppets would be a draw in itself – something a bit different. Equally, Spare Flesh has a growing online following, some of our videos have reached millions of people, so releasing these episodes with a “made possible by The Dover Prize at Darlington” end-plaque, would help shine a light on Darlington’s creative scene too.
I’m a stop-motion animator, director, and co-founder of Spare Flesh; a Bristol-based animation studio creating twisted, mischievous films for the cynical and deranged. Our work blends handmade puppetry, dark humour, body horror and surreal storytelling. It’s theatrical, musical, often absurd – but always rooted in darker, existential themes. As a stop-motion director, I’m very hands-on. I like to be involved in every part of the process, from writing lyrics to sculpting puppets to post-production. While stop-motion typically demands rigorous planning, I prefer to leave space for improvisation and spontaneity. Even on longer projects, we try to stay open and responsive, letting ideas evolve as we build. Our puppet-making process is instinctive and materials-led. I’ll usually begin with a rough sketch, a loose script, and a few must-haves in terms of physicality or tone… then I go rummaging. Rusty nails, broken toys, discarded tools; found materials often shape the design. It’s an odd version of “upcycling”, and makes me feel a bit like Sid from Toy Story, but I think there’s something strangely satisfying about giving new life to real objects that had another life somewhere. I take a lot of visual inspiration from Jan Švankmajer – master of texture, old objects, and strangeness. The first Spare Flesh short film, To the Brink, had a successful festival run, screening in cinemas across the UK and Europe before its online release. My most recent film, Moving Parts, was commissioned by Moving Parts Arts and shown at Newcastle Puppetry Festival alongside live performance. Last month I attended the Tampere Film Festival in Finland, where it screened in the genre films competition. We’ve also exhibited locally, recently hosting “Animinspo”, a night of screenings and behind-the-scenes talks in Bristol. Last year, I curated and hosted “Spare Flesh and Friends”, showcasing our own work alongside films by other animators.
Yes, I have an MA in Animation from The University of the West of England (UWE), in Bristol – which I completed in 2023. The course spanned for a year and a half and I specialised in stop motion animation.
Yes, I’ve received several professional recognitions and grants related to my work in animation.
My short film To the Brink won awards (and was nominated for others) at several national and international film festivals. It was a semifinalist for the Student Academy Awards (2024) and officially selected for Annecy Festival (2024). It won the “Student Animation” award at Bolton Film Festival (2023) and “Best Animation” at Unrestricted View (2024). It was also nominated for “Best Animation” at the BFI Future Film Festival (2024), Norwich Film Festival (2023), and Bolton Film Festival (2023), as well as runner-up at Cinemagic Young Filmmaker (2023) and nominated for “Best Student Film” at Kuandu International Animation Festival (2023).
My more recent short, Moving Parts, was selected for the Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators Showcase (2024).
In support of this work, I’ve received four travel grants from the British Council / BFI to attend international festivals and represent my films abroad.
Yes, I’m the director of Spare Flesh, an artist-led animation studio based in Bristol. We create original short films, music videos and experimental puppet work, all made in-house by a small team of collaborators. As well as writing, directing and animating, I’m closely involved in every part of the creative and production process.
Alongside our self-initiated projects, I’ve sourced a number of professional commissions for Spare Flesh, including three music videos, a commissioned super-short experimental film for a local cinema (which now screens before many of their features), and a recent collaboration with artist Jazz Emu – designing and animating a slug puppet for his live-action music video, “À La Mode”. These opportunities have helped us sustain the studio and continue building a distinctive, professional body of work.
Although I have not been directly commissioned by a public institution, I have been commissioned by a registered charity, Moving Parts Arts (CIO), using Arts Council funding.
Yes – my work has been featured in several online platforms and publications that highlight emerging talent in animation and film.
To the Brink was highlighted by Skwigly, the UK’s leading online animation magazine, as one of the BFI Future Film Festival’s animation nominees for 2024.
The film was also featured and reviewed in Directors Notes, in their curated coverage of the 2023 Bolton Film Festival.
“If you’re a fan of Henry Selick’s stop motion work but wish he dialed up the gore then I recommend to you Hugo Docking’s delightfully macabre short To the Brink. It’s an animated musical with devilish characters that personify the intrusive thoughts of a man overwhelmed with a world in a pre-apocalyptic state. Docking’s design takes a broad cabaret aesthetic and melds it with characters who look like they were cobbled together from a collection of trinkets that lurk in the back of a mysterious Victorian thrift store.”
Most recently, my film Moving Parts was included in Saatchi & Saatchi’s New Creators Showcase and featured in Campaign Magazine.
Links:
https://www.skwigly.co.uk/bfi-future-film-festival-animation-nominees/
https://directorsnotes.com/2023/09/25/bolton2023/
https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/saatchi-saatchi-new-creators-showcase-gory-stop-motion-ai-nigerian-prince/1877818
Email: spareflesh@gmail.com
Address: 12 Milton Park, Redfield, Bristol, BS5 9HQ, GB
