The audience at our Emma Calder Retrospective at the Garden Cinema, 1st March 2025
Welcome to London Animation Club
London Animation Club is a monthly event for animators and people interested in animation in the capital, created and curated by Martin Pickles.
Club members and regular guests meet and present their work in informal surroundings conducive to talking and sharing ideas. Our guests range from well-known figures, such as Phil Davies, the producer of Peppa Pig, and Peter Firmin, the co-creator of Bagpuss, through to award-winning independent animators like Emma Calder, along with experimental filmmakers and academics, with much in between
The regular events take place at the Green Man, 36 Riding House Street W1W 7EP and special events at the Garden Cinema, 39-41 Parker Street WC2B 5PQ.
London Animation Club at the Green Man, as visualised by Dennis Sisterson. Left to right: Francesca Pich, Catherina Rowland, Mal Hartley, Tom Lowe and Emma Calder.
Philosophy:
“I think it’s very essential that artists meet other artists… and we can have a good moan together.”
– Bob Godfrey, 2006
Some images:
Animators’ Zoom Party, 15th June 2020
Our last “live” event before Lockdown, at The Green Man W1, 2nd March 2020
Hearts Loop created for London Animation Club by Steven Woloshen (2016)
LACers Martin Pickles, Una Marzorati, Philip Green, Rosemary Norman, Stuart Pound, Steven Ball, Kate Jessop and Ben Fox at the Turbine Festival, Tate Modern, 25th July 2015. Photo by Esther Johnson.
A PRE-HISTORY OF LONDON ANIMATION CLUB
I recently (on 6th August 2025) discovered that the very first London Animation Club event was a drink in the Nellie Dean pub on Monday 2nd March 2009, a whole year and a half before the first official event at the Green Man. May I say thank you to everyone who has supported the club since then and thanks to Tom Lowe, who took this photo on the night.
I also found this rather sweet email I wrote on 16th January 2009 about the idea of an animation club:
“Hello, Everyone.
“I was just wondering if any of you might be interested in forming some sort of meeting point or network for animators. I find that many animators work in comparative isolation and it might be nice to have the opportunity to meet other animators, swap ideas, discuss art and even plan new films. Or just get pissed.
“Personally speaking, apart from having a desk space at a company on Neal’s Yard, I am usually working on my own on short jobs at different offices around London and sometimes from home. So it would be nice to meet and chat to other animators, a bit like how one does at film festivals, and keep the enthusiasm going.
“Pubs like the Nellie Dean on Dean Street used to be animator pubs and the hub of animation in London a couple of decades ago. How about we go to one of these pubs one evening a month and restore this old custom and make it a regular ongoing thing? Anyone could come along, not just ex-RCA people, and it might become a nice little focal point. And if it takes off we could invite special guest drinkers to come and join us.
“How does that sound? Anyone interested?
“Hope you are all well and happy.
“All the best from Martin (Pickles)”