From Script to Screen: The Evolution of Animator Adam Frith

Having started his career in TV production, Adam Frith spent his twenties working in reality shows, but it was always the animated characters and clever storytelling that captured his imagination. Influenced by the likes of The Simpsons and Rick and Morty, Adam’s work blends sharp humour with a distinctive animation style.

His first big leap into the world of animation came with Nigel Leadfeather – YouTube Sensation, a project that reflects his personal insecurities about chasing dreams and navigating the complexities of success. Over the years, Adam’s portfolio has expanded to include everything from music videos to TV shows, each project tailored to suit the needs of the client, but always with that trademark Adam Frith touch. Whether it’s the offbeat humour or the way he brings characters to life, Adam’s journey is a testament to perseverance and the power of creativity.

Can you share what initially drew you to animation and how your journey as an animator began?

When I was really young in the early 90s, there were so many animated films and shows I loved. Obviously Disney was putting out a bunch of classic films at the time, but I remember really loving 'An American Tail' and 'Fievel Goes West'. And all the way through childhood and my teens I was obsessed with The Simpsons.

I didn't really do anything with animation myself until my late 20s though. I was discouraged from studying art subjects at school because my parents didn't see it as a viable career path. I ended up choosing subjects at college that I wasn't really interested in, so unsurprisingly ended up dropping out. After doing a bunch of different jobs in my late teens and early 20s, I managed to find work in TV production, my dream at 21 was to be a writer for TV and film. So I worked as a production assistant and logger on a bunch of reality shows like TOWIE and Real Housewives of Cheshire, but as much as I enjoyed it, I wasn't really doing what I wanted to.

After 6 or 7 years working in the industry, I'd started writing scripts for animated comedy ideas in my spare time with a friend. We'd taken inspiration from Rick and Morty, but neither of us could really draw or knew the first thing about animation. We naively thought we'd write a script then be able to find a bunch of animators who'd be interested in working with us. We wrote a bunch of pilots, but finding good animators who want to animate your script for free isn't easy! After about a year of searching, I ended up contacting a bunch of animation studios to get a quote and see how much it'd cost for them to animate some tests for us. I can't remember the exact fee, but I remember paying about £500 for a 10 second clip of one of our characters walking and talking. On the invoice the studio were charging £100 an hour and that was at a discounted rate!

Long story short - because I never went to university when I was younger, I decided to apply for university to study animation. My goal wasn't necessarily to become an animator, but to learn the skills, learn about the industry and to make contacts who could help bring our ideas to life. I ended up really enjoying animating though, so by the time I graduated in 2020 I was a capable animator and was lucky enough to land a couple of jobs. Firstly, as a clean up artist on a Welsh kids show called Sali Mali, then as an animator for my favourite YouTube channel - OverSimplified, who I still animate for today.

You've worked on a range of projects, from music videos and promos to podcast animations and TV shows. How do you approach adapting your animation style to suit these varied formats?

Well, it starts really with any ideas/vision that the client has. Often they'll come with references of something they've seen that they like the style of, or some of my older work. If they don't have any references off the bat, I try to get a sense of what they're picturing and then I'll find references and ideas for them to look at, so I can establish what they're looking for.

Then it's really a case of working out a pipeline and which animation software is best suited to the style they're going for. Also budget has a role in dictating the style too. Frame by frame animation is much more time consuming. Quite often, you'll get a client coming to you wanting a Disney style animation without them realising exactly how much work that is. I won't name and shame, but I was once discussing a potential job with the management of a pretty big British popstar. They wanted four music videos animating for £8000 but the reference they sent me for the kind of thing they wanted to emulate was the John Lewis Hare and Bear Christmas advert, which had a budget of £1,000,000!

Your recent project, "Nigel Leadfeather - YouTube Sensation," has garnered significant attention. What inspired this series, and what has been the most rewarding aspect of bringing it to life?

I think Nigel is a manifestation of all my insecurities. An out of touch man, trying to make it big in a world he doesn't understand! I think Nigel is everything I'm afraid of unwittingly being. Single-minded, selfish, ruthless in the pursuit of his dream to the detriment of those closest to him. I'm not saying I'm all of those things, but they're the kind of criticisms I can put on myself when I get self-critical. I think that's where the idea came from, me questioning if I'm a bit of a naive idiot in trying to make my own YouTube show, then thinking to myself, "I should make something about a naive idiot trying to make his own youtube show". They say to write what you know!

The most rewarding aspect I think was just seeing a large project like that through to completion. I started learning to animate with the goal of making an animated comedy pilot back in 2017, so seven years later for that to finally come to fruition was very rewarding. It's also nice hearing from people that they enjoyed it too.

The animation style of "Nigel Leadfeather" is inspired by shows like "Rick and Morty" and "The Simpsons." Beyond the animation style, how have these shows influenced your work?

I think the humour from both those shows has definitely been an influence. There's a bit of Alan Partridge about Nigel too. I think he's sort of Alan Partridge meets Homer Simpson. I think it's also influenced by the boundless positivity of Clarence from the Cartoon Network show "Clarence". In the way that his family are his biggest cheerleaders and just as naive as he is. One final influence as well, just for the pure weirdness and Britishness of it, is League of Gentlemen. I always loved that odd, offbeat humour when I was growing up and I feel like that's crept through into the script when I was writing Nigel.

Looking ahead, are there any new themes or projects you're excited to explore?

I'm at a bit of crossroads to be honest. I did start work on the second episode of Nigel, but I lost a bit of confidence in it around the same time I became really busy with freelance work. Since that I've been a bit burnt out, and the thought of making another episode is a bit daunting. The first episode took me about 4 or 5 months to make, and it's a lot of time and energy to put into something with no financial reward! If money were no object I'd just keep making it and putting out episodes, but unfortunately there's bills to pay! In an ideal world I'd be able to team up with a few animators and we could split the workload between us in putting out a series, but all the animators I know are in the same predicament. Billls to pay and jobs to do.

One final question from my five-year-old son, Dylan: What's your favourite dinosaur?

I don't know why, but I've always really liked Sauropod dinosaurs. I think I remember reading about them having four hearts to be able to pump blood all the way up their long necks to their brains and I remember finding that fascinating as a kid! Although it turns out that was fake news! I just googled it and apparently it was just a theory but it was definitely printed as fact in whatever encyclopedia I read it in!

Follow Adam on Instagram @adamfrith

Interview by Johnny Larran, 2025.