Meet Caitlin McCarthy and her cute (and sometimes gross) animations

Throughout Caitlin McCarthy’s creative career she has jumped between disciplines, analogue tools and digital programmes. Studying illustration at Camberwell, “which I chose because I loved drawing,” Caitlin then “somehow finished up my degree trying to be a fine artist, making giant silicone ham slices” she tells It’s Nice That. Immediately after graduation, literally just a few days, she went back to drawing and was an illustrator. Now… Caitlin’s an animator!

“I fell into animation by accident,” Caitlin explains. “I got introduced to Parallel Teeth through a long line of someone who knows someone, who knows someone.” Caitlin got her first taste of moving image with the renowned animator, working with him on Merk’s I’m Easy video, despite the fact “I’d never really done 2D animation before,” she says. Initially, animating in 2D was a medium she avoided due to it being a time-consuming process, but once she tried it, “I found that animating is the only activity that I can actually focus on for long periods of time, and I haven’t really looked back since then.”

After working with Parallel Teeth, the animator has got a bunch of shorts under her belt. From instantly cute and hilarious gifs to an animation for School of Life or working with Anna Ginsburg on her Selfridges short exploring sustainability, Caitlin’s transferred her illustrative personality to a particular style. “I like making work that is lighthearted (read: kind of stupid) and colourful, but has something a bit off or gross about it,” she says of this style. “I think that comes from growing up on the same road as a crap shopping centre, spending loads of time looking at knockoff toys and cheap but colourful doodahs. They’re fun to look at it,” she points out, “but ultimately a bit depressing.”

Now settled with animation, Caitlin’s found her groove due to the medium’s ability to not be “tied to a composition or single image,” the animator explains. “Since starting to animate I find making still images super stressful because of the pressure to get everything just right.”