Bucks Graduate Anthony Smith - Private Eye Cartoonist

Anthony Smith

Anthony Smith is a Bucks graduate who has forged a successful career in cartoons and animation.

Anthony is best known in the animation industry for his ads for the Dairylea Cow, but he also does regular cartoons for Metro, the Spectator and Private Eye.

You may not know Anthony Smith - but you are very likely to have come across his work.

We asked him a few questions about his work, and how he got started in the industry.

Dairylea - Kung Fu Cows from Anthony on Vimeo.

How did you get started?
I started out as a cartoonist, working for various publications. Then in a radical career change I went off to study advertising at Bucks. Whilst I was studying at Bucks I won a student D&AD award, which came in very handy and helped me get a job at the ad agency J Walter Thompson.

How did your first job go?

"Learn to Speak Cat", published in Metro

I got rather lucky with my first TV campaign at JWT. Nestlé had worked with Interbrand and decided to position Yorkie as 'not for girls'. This much sought-after brief was doing the rounds in the agency and I managed to get a series of scripts to the CD featuring a disguised woman.

The ideas researched extremely well, and I ended up writing and art-directing the TV launch campaign. The commercials helped increase sales of Yorkie bars by 40%, and won some very favourable reviews. I also got a BTAA award for my efforts.

What animation have you done?
Whilst at JWT I also created the ‘Dairylea Cows’ adverts for Kraft, and produced press and TV for various other clients. The cow adverts were animated using stop-motion puppets at Aardman Animation in Bristol.

And you do cartoons as well?
I created the cartoon feature 'Learn to Speak Cat' for the Metro newspaper. I wrote and drew this for a few years and worked on assorted merchandising spin-offs. 

What are you doing now?
I've now returned to freelancing in advertising as a Creative, as well as contributing cartoons to various publications.  I also do the "Logos As They Should Be" series that runs weekly in the satirical magazine Private Eye.

Oh, and I've just edited a new TV showreel here: http://www.anthonysmithcreative.com/television/#/new-gallery-4/

You can see samples of Anthony's work at: www.anthonysmithcreative.com