The story so far.....

Thanks for taking the time to read a little more about the history of Animation Supplies. My name is Andy Simmons and I started this site back in 2000. I was at university at the time, studying for a degree in Animation at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design.

Animation Supplies has come a long way since its conception. Initially it began almost by accident. Whilst at university I became interested in constructing armatures. Initially I wanted to explore ways in which I could make armatures for productions that I was working on. To begin with, like most people, I used aluminium wire and balsa wood. This method is a good starting point, but I soon became frustrated with the constant repairs that go with it. I wanted something more robust, I wanted a ball and socket jointed armature.

I spent weeks searching the internet and animation publications looking for someone to provide me with a proper armature. The only ones I could find cost well over £800 and as a student they were our of my reach. I decided therefore to make my own. This resulted in many weird and wonderful ideas, ranging from making armatures from plastic beads and car body filler to using sheet aluminium and liquid latex. Needless to say the success of these "experiments" was limited.

It wasn't until I started using ball bearings and machining my own metal plates; to make ball and socket joints that I started to see positive results. These early armatures weren't without problems however. They were prone to moving during filming, their motion wasn't particularly smooth, and they required constant maintenance.

During the second year of my degree I became determined to construct a more robust armature. I had limited access to specialist machinery and an even more restrictive budget, but I wasn't going to let these factors hold me back.

Previously, in the summer of 1999 I had worked as a temp in a sheet metalwork factory, where I became aware of some of the industrial processes that were available. I decided to enquire about having some of the armature components produced. Although this was an expensive way of going about things, I knew that the quality of the parts would be assured. I scraped together enough money and then went ahead and had the parts made. I had far too many parts for my own use, so decided to try and sell armature kits to fellow students. Their positive feedback encouraged me to setup the Animation Supplies web site. Initially the site was very basic and to be honest so were the armatures, but interest in my product grew steadily, as did the site and the range of products that we supplied.

In 2004 the site and the armatures under went major changes. Not only did we make improvements to the original armature design, but we also introduced a brand new armature (the professional kit). In addition to this, the site under went a major facelift and several new features were introduced including a members area, a forum and tutorials. We hoped that these changes would turn Animation Supplies into a place not only to get great products, but also a place for animators to gather and share information. As it turned out, there were many other sites springing up at this time that offered much better resourses and forums than we could so we decided to stick to what we were good at, making armatures.

The latest version of the site, launched in 2009 was a long time in development. The design was completely overhauled as were several of the products. We launched the brand new ProPlus armature, the third generation version of our popular Professional armature and a fourth version of extremely successful Standard Armature. In additon to these we added an entry level Aluminium armature and a rigging system for the new ProPlus armature. We also added many new product ranges. We did all this without losing sight of the fundamental aim of the site, which is to offer high quality products at affordable prices.

Animation Supplies consists of a small team. Rick and Nige help out with the armatures and the ordering process, Jo oversees marketing and Andy kindly helps me to sort out all the more complex parts of the site. Animstion Supplies HQ consists of a small workshop in West Sussex (England).

The Future

In addition to continuing to supply the industry with quality products, I plan to start producing my own work again. I've been working on an idea for a children's series for several years now. Ideally I'll be able to get the project some funding but it is becoming increasingly more difficult these days. Either way production should start within the next 6 months and I will offer frequent updates on the site. As with any animated project, it's going to take a considerable amount of time and effort, but I'm sure the hard work will be worth it.

I have also been involved in several animation workshops recently and this is certainly something I hope to continue.