Watership Down animator celebrated in exhibition

A new exhibition has opened celebrating artist and animator Arthur Humberstone, whose work featured in films including Watership Down, Animal Farm, and the BFG.

The retrospective, on show at Sheffield Hallam University's Post Hall gallery, has been put together by third-year graphic design students.

The material has been provided by his twin sons, and fellow graduates of the university, Nigel and Klive Humberstone.

The free event will be open to the public until 5 April.

Arthur Humberstone was born in Derbyshire in 1912. He died in 1999 at the age of 87.

He trained at the Gaumont British Animation studio, before working on Animal Farm at the Halas and Batchelor studio.

His career spanned 45 years, working across feature films, animated series, and TV adverts.

Nigel's favourite part of the exhibition is a recreation of the animation desk his father used while working from home.

"We remember the smell of wood shavings from his pencils and the graphite. It's one of those smells that lingers, but every time we smell it, we're reminded of his work," he said.

Arthur was always keen on home screenings of his work, Nigel added, but his two sons were not always so keen to watch them.

"We were teenagers, like 16 or 17, when Watership Down came out - we were more interested in punk music than bunnies!"

"It's in retrospect we've really appreciated the depth and the broad range of his work."

Klive, on the other hand, is drawn to a series of drawings that Arthur sent their mum while they were dating.

They drawings are early sketches of the horse character, Boxer, from Animal Farm, and are annotated with short notes explaining how they would be played in sequence to make the character move.

"These wouldn't exist today unless they were sent - he was proud of what he was doing," said Klive.

The university said the exhibition is not only intended to showcase Arthur's work, but also reflects the history of animation.

A 1944 "model sheet" for Animaland character Ginger Nutt is covered in annotations for future artists that would work on the cartoon squirrel.

It includes meticulous details like "you cannot see her triceps" and "her skin stretches over her scapula from just above her elbow".

Klive said his dad was a "lovely family man", but was happiest at his animation desk.

"He always used to have time for us, but it was always 'his little studio' he used to go to."

Nigel explains: "There's diary entries and letters he wrote to our mum, always apologising he couldn't meet up and had deadlines to meet - he got very engrossed in his work."

The pair said it "makes sense" to have his work on display, rather than being kept in storage boxes as it had been previously.

"The greatest thing is we get to share it with everyone, and they get to see it," said Nigel.

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