Uli Meyer Will Direct A Short Based On Ronald Searle’s St. Trinian’s Girls

Animation veteran Uli Meyer is on a mission: capturing the vivid graphic style of illustration legend Ronald Searle in animation. Recreating Searle’s style in movement is the animator’s equivalent of climbing Mount Everest. Many have tried, but few have reached the summit.

Meyer succeeded admirably a couple years back when he produced a brief animation test of Searle’s St. Trinian’s girls. The piece, posted above, earned him the personal blessing of Searle who allowed Meyer “‘carte blanche’ to develop a story based on his cartoons, as long as it would stay true to his original vision and. . .his vivid graphic style.”

Meyer announced today that he plans to produce a half-hour St. Trinian’s featurette. Further, it will be in his words, “a fully animated film in the classical sense, hand-drawn, with pen and ink, and not a single Wacom pen in sight.” In other words, he’s doing everything right already.

Follow the making of the film by reading Uli’s production diary.