The creator of Funkysheep, Freakboy, Happicat and Tam Tam Tribe, Francesco is a character designer, animator/illustrator with over 20 years of experience in the creative industries in London.
Francesco also works in higher education as a tutor and VL for UALSC and UAL, writing and delivering courses on character design, animation, motion design and video editing, and worked as a motion graphics specialist instructor at the Royal College of Art.
Francesco is a mentor to young creatives in the Adobe Creative Careers Discord server, and makes electronic music and audiovisual projects: visit spoonfyysh.tv and @spoonfyysh for animated music videos.
Currently developing these characters/animation projects: Freakboy for ring-o-rama ©razy ©haracters, Funkysheep, and Happicat..!
TESTIMONIALS
“Francesco produced our first animated digital campaign for London Underground. The artwork was bright, attractive and exactly as the brief required. It complemented our brand and other advertising extremely well.” Daysoft, 2020
“Francesco was able to pull off a challenging animation for us, based on a very tight deadline, and for an important pitch to high level execs. The video that we received in the end was a great translation of exactly what it was that we were asking for in our initial brief, complete with a well-chosen and synchronised soundtrack.” IFPI, 2019
“Francesco produced our first animated digital campaign for London Underground. The artwork was bright, attractive and exactly as the brief required. It complemented our brand and other advertising extremely well.” Daysoft, 2020
“Francesco was able to pull off a challenging animation for us, based on a very tight deadline, and for an important pitch to high level execs. The video that we received in the end was a great translation of exactly what it was that we were asking for in our initial brief, complete with a well-chosen and synchronised soundtrack.” IFPI, 2019
STUDENTS FEEDBACK
“Francesco’s sessions were informative and valuable. We could learn to draw step by step. Furthermore, he showed us example slides and clearly explained the mechanisms and principles. He also provided easy-to-understand explanations for beginners.”
“The Lecturer was really competent and super nice. The pace was perfect too. We learned the basics of a lot of things.” (Character Design for Beginners, Feb 2024 - feedback collated by UAL)
“The Lecturer was really competent and super nice. The pace was perfect too. We learned the basics of a lot of things.” (Character Design for Beginners, Feb 2024 - feedback collated by UAL)
“The tutor and learning material was brilliant. As this was a remote course, the tutor made sure to check that everyone was following along and were at the same level. I learned lots of new skills that I can now apply in my work when using Adobe After Effects, and I now feel a lot more comfortable using the software.”
“The tutor made sure we were all up to speed with each step which was really helpful as it's easy to miss out a step or fall slightly behind, so he ensured everyone was ok regularly. I also enjoyed the projects as they were good fun, but also the tutor was very thorough at explaining everything. I most enjoyed feeling motivated and positive during the course to learn 'the art of the possible' which gave me lots of creative ideas!” (After Effects courses, Feb/Mar 2024 - feedback collated by UAL)
“The tutor made sure we were all up to speed with each step which was really helpful as it's easy to miss out a step or fall slightly behind, so he ensured everyone was ok regularly. I also enjoyed the projects as they were good fun, but also the tutor was very thorough at explaining everything. I most enjoyed feeling motivated and positive during the course to learn 'the art of the possible' which gave me lots of creative ideas!” (After Effects courses, Feb/Mar 2024 - feedback collated by UAL)
“I just wanted to let you know this course has been the most fun and inspiring for me! I have always wanted to learn how to animate and draw, and feel I have gotten my confidence back to create. Starting the course, I felt like maybe I was a bit too old to venture into new territories but it has been so eye opening and interesting that I would like to keep on pursuing it :)” Jasmeet R. (Character Design for Beginners, UAL online short course, Nov 2023)
“Very good course with good tips and work flow process advice. Francesco was a great tutor.” Alan O. (After Effects for Beginners, UAL online short course, July 2023)
“The course was great! Francesco is very helpful and patient and thorough.” Julie S. (After Effects for Beginners, UAL online short course, July 2023)
“The course was so much fun and I enjoyed every lesson, and it was very insightful to draw alongside you, and I just really want to thank you for your time, because you really made this course a joy to partake in :)” Dana K. (Character Design UAL online short course, June 2023)
“The tutor was inspiring - he stressed the basics in order to arrive at the intricate stage of animation and ensured everyone’s needs were met. He was patient and I never felt foolish about asking questions even though ‘they’ probably were. What I have learnt has been so rewarding and helpful to my career.” D.N. (UAL short course at the LCC, Feb 2020)
“all of the animated parallax photography you see in the series was done by me, entirely as a result of the things I learned on your After Effects courses last year! I came to the course with literally no knowledge of computer animation whatsoever, and am now in a position where I can get my work broadcast on TV, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for giving me that opportunity with all that you taught me.” R.B. (After Effects Beginners & Intermediate UAL short courses at the LCC, 2019-2020)
“all of the animated parallax photography you see in the series was done by me, entirely as a result of the things I learned on your After Effects courses last year! I came to the course with literally no knowledge of computer animation whatsoever, and am now in a position where I can get my work broadcast on TV, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for giving me that opportunity with all that you taught me.” R.B. (After Effects Beginners & Intermediate UAL short courses at the LCC, 2019-2020)
“First off let me say that I really enjoyed this course. As a visual artist and filmmaker it was really quite eye-opening to learn the ways in which we could use After Effects with other software and alternative ways of producing content. I really enjoyed how straightforward the instruction was, it was to the point and easy to follow. Thanks so much for such a great experience!” A.A. (UAL online short course, Summer 2020)
“It was such a wonderful course, and the way you managed to get through so much was really great. I felt that I got a lot out of it, both on a practical level and inspiration level.” C.M. (UAL online short course, Dec 2020)
“Thank you so much for the course, it was a lot of fun and I really feel like I have opened a new world of possibilities through the program. Some of my favorite animators use after effects for nearly all of their work, so it is really exciting to feel like now I have some knowledge of how they did it.” E.F. (UAL short course at the LCC, Sept 2019)
“Thank you, Francesco, for a very good experience. Your course left me inspired and well prepared to try a lot of things by myself.” H.K. (UAL short course at the LCC, Sept 2019)
TAILORED TRAINING
"I would highly recommend this course to anyone who wishes to learn After Effects from scratch or to top up their skills and learn more advance techniques. I feel that Francesco took on board all the inspo and references we sent him and also acknowledged how all three of us worked and how quickly we picked up things. By this we got to cover so much in the space of two days. If working in a company I would recommend a tailored course."
"We were extremely happy with our two day tailored course by Francesco. We all left feeling very inspired by him and also exited with the amount we learnt, which we can now apply in our daily work. He went beyond teaching us by making sure he covered every topic we asked for and teaching us new techniques on the way, which met all three professions; graphic designer, videographer and illustrator."
"Not only was Francesco an amazing tutor with a lot of knowledge we also enjoyed having him in the office, we all felt that he took genuine interest in what we specifically wanted to learn and develop in."
Bespoke After Effects course for IAMT's in-house creative team, 2018