Animator and author Peter Bunzl’s series ‘The Cogheart Adventures’ was inspired by his fascination with automatons, explains Sian Kissock.
Automatons are moving mechanical devices representative of humans and animals, as well as Victorian penny dreadful stories. It’s no surprise that Peter is a fan of Star Wars characters R2D2, BB8 and C-3PO, as well as Astroboy, the Tinman from the Wizard of Oz and Wall-E.
The second book in the Cogheart Adventure series, Moonlocket, sees main character Lily caught up in an adventure to find the mysterious title object, alongside criminal mastermind Jack of Diamonds.
Peter told the audience how he started writing and drawing at a very young age. He would write a story, and then create a small comic book alongside it to accompany the story. Once he got a lightbox, he started creating animations, which has led him into his career.
At the end of the talk, he took us through an easy way to make your very own animation at home:
