Honey Monster

Animation

Client The Gate
Production The Gate
Director Bethan Seller
Animation Northforge
Grade Dock 10

To be included within the rebrand of an iconic household name is something that doesn’t happen often. So, we were very excited when approached by The Gate to aid them in making the Honey Monster’s TV comeback. The Gate had already been tasked with shooting the live action with Director Bethan Seller. The new TVC would feature an animated Honey Monster celebrating how Honey Monster Puffs bring a special kind of magic to breakfast time.

Robot Food had designed the head and a hand of the new character. So we started by creating the body, ensuring that it was consistent with the original look of the Honey Monster. However, the loveable character would now appear more trim and active and therefore in-line with modern healthier eating lifestyles.

As an animator it’s a bit of a dream to be asked to bring to life a character you've grown up with. So, we were blown away by the opportunity to work with The Gate to bring the Honey Monster back to the screen. Robot Food had made such a lovely job of the character that we knew we'd have to commit a lot of time and effort to make it happen. We're extremely proud of the results and can't wait to see the reaction to his new moves. Matt Simpson MD Northforge

Behind the scenes

We approached the gfx like a traditional cell animation, with every frame being hand drawn. The Honey Monster posed us a fair amount of challenges, not least the shading and fur, which was created by using vector mattes and painted textures.
In itself this was a challenging process, especially as this was created within a very tight production timeframe.