Animation Spotlight Series (Pt.3) – The Early Work of Mark Baker (Creator of Peppa Pig)

His work entered millions of homes as the lovable Peppa Pig became one of the biggest worldwide childhood favourites for a generation of children. Mark Baker is part of team Astley Baker Davies (Neville Astley, Mark Baker, and Phil Davies). Together they created and produced “Peppa Pig”, “Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom” and the brilliant but lesser known “Big Knights”.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom:

Big Knights:

After creating his first animated short at West Surrey College of Art and Design named “The Three Knights”, Mark Baker secured his place at the famous NFTS (National Film and Television School) where famed animators Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit/ Shawn The Sheep) and Tony Collingwood (Cat in The Hat: Animated Series). NFTS is where Mark created acclaimed animated short “The Hill Farm” (1988). In this Short you can clearly see Mark’s unique art style was firmly in place.

The Hill Farm – Mark Baker NFTS Student Film (1988):

The Hill Farm was well received an Oscar nomination, a Bafta and was accepted into several international animation festivals including the biggest of all, Annecy International Animation Festival.

Off the back of the success of The Hill Farm Baker created The Village for UK’s Channel 4 in 1993

The Village – Astley Baker created for Channel 4 (1993):

The Jolly Roger – Astley Baker Davies created for Channel 4 (1999)

You can see from Mark Baker’s early work, Mark had a great deal of input in the stylisation of Peppa Pig and other commercial children’s hits. His Art style strongly runs through not only their largest hit Peppa Pig but also their other shows, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom and the not as well-known but in my opinion hilarious Big Knights starring the voice of none other than UK favourite Brian Blessed. Apparently, they had trouble whilst recording Brian Blessed’s voice as he was so loud the levels constantly spiked.

I am a big fan of Mark Baker’s style. Astley Baker Davies create shows that parents enjoy as much as their children. Their bright, kind hearted approach to children’s content has captured the imaginations of children worldwide and Peppa Pig is one of the most celebrated children’s series of all time breaking both western and eastern markets alike. They even created a Peppa Pig stage show which became a massive hit.

Photography credit: Dan-Tsantilis

It would be interesting to see the response from children of Mark Bakers early work. I believe children who grew up watching the shows would very much enjoy Baker’s early work now they are a little older.

*All films in this article were taken from youtube.

Thanks for reading, Steemit!

Charlotte :)