An Interview with Ben Wild Studios

From football to fashion, TV to music videos, Ben Wild has a seamlessly captivating style, from animating flowing movements to creating eye-catching illustrations. Ben has worked professionally as an animator for seven years, completing numerous high profile projects and now runs his own business and agency.

Ben shares: ‘I have always been inspired by people & studios which have come before me. When I was very young, I was inspired by the team behind Toy Story and then as a result I followed Pixar quite heavily’, and encouraged his interest in the illustration and animation industry. Over the last few years he has been ‘very fortunate to experience quite a few breaks’ but explains that his ‘full-time job as the portrait painter and hand animator for Manchester City Football Club really elevated everything to beyond what [he] could possibly imagine.’ As well as meeting his investor Andrew Morgan.

Illustration by Ben Wild Studios, 2022. Manchester City Football Club.

As you can imagine each animated piece takes time, patience and precision. When talking about how long each piece takes, Ben states ‘It really depends. For example, when we created all the hand-animated aspects for Diana Ross’s ‘Thank You’ music video they supplied style frames’ which we then worked with.

The Diana Ross music video is a true feast for the eyes with cool, funky colours and energetic mark making.

‘[I] got to animate everything from a front flip to a skateboarder heading for a huge jump off a halfpipe. Each of these moments have charm, time and magic applied to them’, which can really be felt whilst watching the video.

‘Thank you’ Diana Ross music video, 2021. Animated by: Ben Wild Studios.

As well as working for big companies such as Gucci and Channel Four, Ben Wild Studios enjoys working with and for the community too. ‘I am very proud of the films that Ben Wild Studios has produced which has has a direct impact on communities or causes for good’. Balancing their carbon footprint with ‘Play it Green’ to plant trees, the three-step solution to climate change; Repair, Reduce, Regive, whereby a tenth of all revenues are going to ‘Sea Shepherd UK’, chosen by BWS, to protect marine wildlife and ecosystems around our borders and across the world.

Gucci Kids 2021, Ben Wild Studios.

With an impressive portfolio of work and clientele Ben has gained understanding of the  importance of maintaining a positive mindset when working within the industry. Ben’s advice is to: ‘try to always live with no regrets and I will always take the chance career-wise’.
He expands on this in a blog post named ‘How to stand out as an illustrator & land work’ where he offers advice on pursuing a career as an artist. Ben emphasises that you must stay consistent, work hard, acknowledge that things take time, expect the unexpected, explore new techniques and technology, price right and most of all believe in your work!

In terms of pursuing a career into the animation industry specifically, Ben encourages to ‘study film and cinema in general. Acting classes can be majorly helpful too’.

He suggests that this can be especially helpful for movement of characters and dialogue, which was vital in Ben’s work with the player animations for Manchester City or the skateboarders within the ‘Thank you’ music video. ‘The work we did for Man City in an employee & client dynamic led to a tone of learning due to the huge variation of projects’, therefore it is clear that in order to understand an industry, you must appreciate that each opportunity is one to learn from. 

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With such great advice from Ben Wild Studios, we hope you take this on board when creating whether that be illustrations or animation, remain open minded and never give up!

If you would like to check out more of Ben Wild Studios work, go to his website or follow him on instagram.