At last year’s NODE event we met an incredible creative and we’ve been dying to know more ever since.

So we caught up with Bonnie Taylor Forsyth - an Animation Director currently working for Mighty Nice Sydney and Nexus in the UK and LA.

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Can you share with us the Bonnie story?

I grew up a cattle wrangling, horse riding, never take your boots off country kid. Apart from a love of drawing, I was the least likely person to end up in advertising. I’m a total nerd too. Was the DUX of my year, a complete type-A people pleaser, and was totally on track to do environmental law. But then (and I don't know if it was teenage rebellion or a fear of wearing a suit every day) I randomly changed my mind and chose to study animation. 

At uni I made a short film full of tits and vag and (mildly naive) feminist storytelling. It got nominated for an AACTA, did the rounds at film festivals and then suddenly I’m hired full time at a studio. Within four years I was directing. I’ve worked with the big boys like Apple, Nike, Samsung and Google. But I also like to keep it local in my downtime; helping launch Summer Camp Festival, music videos for Hope D and tackling a few VIVID installations. 

I’m also a pretty open book when it comes to my personal life. I’m very proudly queer and disgustingly in love with my girlfriend. I religiously watch the snow cams during the ski season, still ride horses and am all about the ocean. I also sound way cooler on paper than I actually am.

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Where did you learn your craft?

At the good old University of Technology in Sydney. It was the first year they offered the BDES Animation program. It's pretty well known now for churning out some great artists, but at the time we were the guinea pigs. The small, experimental cohort meant lots of one on one time with tutors, which I think ultimately makes the difference between a good student and a great student. The people teaching you should actually care about your success, personal and professional.

"There’s something pretty powerful about getting young animators motivated and thinking outside the box."

Funnily enough I ended up back at UTS teaching the same degree I graduated from. I really loved it too, for a while. But what ruined it for me is how apolitical universities and educational institutions are becoming. There is very little sense of student communities challenging the norm, questioning course outcomes or disengaging from this late stage capitalist pit we all struggle to live in. Instead the students are stressed out of their minds, fixated on their marks and trying to figure out whose career and style to mimic to land a safe job. Also this is absolutely no fault of the students or the teachers - it’s the factory mentality of the education system as a whole. How can universities be a place of critical thinking when there is an increasing interest in funneling students from their door to the biggest studio? 

[.rf-2col][.rf-fun-card][.rf-fun-question]3 essentials for a deserted island? [.rf-fun-question] A freedive kit. My record collection. A picture of my girlfriend.[.rf-fun-card][.rf-text-column]I said this to all my students, and I'll say it now to any aspiring animator, artist or creative reading this. You should absolutely go to uni, or TAFE or whatever online course there is - IF you think it will teach you the skills you need. But never forget that you are paying through the nose for that education. An education which the deans, old boys and politicians who get fat off our dollar got for free under the Whitlam government. And so considering the amount of debt you will be in for many years to come, you should use the maximum amount of every resource available. Eat every free campus meal. Go to every university provided therapy session. Make the teachers review your work and chase them for insider industry information. Make those dollars work because the people that your tuition is paying out probably sees you as a statistic.[.rf-text-column][.rf-2col]

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WHY DID YOU LEAVE SYDNEY FOR TASMANIA?

Ssshhh keep it secret. Keep it safe! Tasmania is Australia’s best kept secret. Maybe not for long… I feel like everyone I meet here is a transplant from the mainland. And they all have the same mentality of “the first rule of Tasmania; you do not talk about Tasmania.”

My partner and I moved here mostly because we both felt crushed by the weight of city living. Covid really opened my eyes to the fact that my love of Sydney wasn't the heaving throng of terraces, trash and fig trees. It was our friends. And for me that wasn't enough to keep me grounded. I wanted a home where I could put my feet into the ocean every morning, grow my own food and still see a good band on the weekend. All of which we have here. 

We’ve been here almost a year now, and the industry from what I can tell is bursting with talent. It just doesn't have anywhere to go yet. That seems to be all of Australia though - never enough funding. There are some cool small studios here doing fabulous work. Some creatives I’ve met fly in, fly out. Others are disengaged from commercial creation. Then you have some surprising heavy weights in the industry down here. Darren Price is running a satellite Mighty Nice out of Launceston. For the People are based here as well. Eddy and Laura of See Gee have just arrived. And then there's people like me who work remotely. 

We're currently setting up an artist residency on our property. We live on Bruny island, just south of Hobart and about an hour from the nearest airport. Dom and I acknowledge how lucky we are to be home owners, and to give back we have decided to have an open door for artists and musicians to come and stay. I'm in the middle of renovating a shipping container to be a big studio space with enough desk room for up to three people. We are hoping for people to come and stay for a week or two, help out in the garden, then work on their own personal projects. You get your own cottage, high speed internet and a farm to wander around. We want to help people find the time and space to create, not for a client, but for themselves.

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What is your design/animation philosophy? 

To never be a gatekeeper of information. As you can no doubt guess while reading this, I’ll talk for as long as someone will let me. And if someone wants advice I’m always happy to help. 

I think that a strong industry is one in which there are as many artists as possible making work, experimenting and forging new paths, which I dont think can happen without those a step ahead reaching back to lift those up behind. Probably a bit of my socialist side slipping through there, but c’est la vie! 

Also there is an undeniable truth in that the more marginalized someone is, the more likely that access to education is a struggle. Which ultimately results in a more uniformly white, cis, neurotypical industry. We all know this. So the more I can hire or support animators with intersectionalities different to my own, the better. 

[.rf-2col][.rf-fun-card][.rf-fun-question]Your fave meal? [.rf-fun-question] Iced-Latte with honey![.rf-fun-card][.rf-text-column]
[.rf-question]Where do you draw inspiration from?[.rf-question]
I draw a lot of inspiration from a lot of places. Artistically its people like Grayson Perry - people who make overly complex images that are jam packed with subtle political digs. I also love illustrators like Hannah Peck and Alex Keisling - both of which I’ve had the privilege to work with and both motivate me not to shy away from complex 2D rendering. Outside of art though I’m fiercely political which has begun to influence the way that I work and the type of clients I’m attracting. Over the past two years the majority of my clients have come to me because of my queerness, my assertiveness and my perspective. [.rf-text-column][.rf-2col]

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What have you learned in your time at Mighty Nice?

I joined Mighty Nice seven years ago - and it’s more like what haven't they taught me? Darren Price has cultivated an amazing studio culture and has been a phenomenal mentor. He taught me that directing isn't just about having a good eye; it’s people skills, it’s working to a budget, it’s managing clients and crews, smiling through stress, maintaining relationships with freelancers, keeping on trend and learning to let go sometimes in what can be a battle for your perspective. All on top of that good eye. 

What is your process for taking on a project?

This is a question that I can't answer without highlighting the producers at Mighty Nice - Tina Braham and Diana Angelius. These wonderful women are usually the ones who filter out a lot of work that is unsustainable for us to produce. As a result, projects don't land at my feet unless they've been vetted. I do however always aim to pitch to a client something that is within my abilities for the allotted time/budget. There’s nothing more detrimental to a crew than overpromising to a client. 

[.rf-2col][.rf-fun-card][.rf-fun-question]What are you great at?[.rf-fun-question]I’m really good at skiing. It’s such a niche skill but my mother is a badass OG Austrian style carver and she raised me thirsty for it. I even spent time in Switzerland as a kid race training on an exchange program. I’m getting a bit more cautious now that 30 is looming, and my joints don't take the abuse like they used to, but they still call me Bonnie 120 (top speed).[.rf-fun-card][.rf-text-column][.rf-question]What’s your production process?[.rf-question]
We usually spend a few weeks (time frame dependent) in pre-production. I tend to tackle a lot of this on my own. I like doing my own storyboards and research - it’s a chance for me to get all my ideas onto paper without anything getting lost in translation. However it’s becoming more common for me to hire illustrators as a part of my practice, rather than making style frames myself.

I’m a very flexible director when it comes to style, however I’m starting to gravitate towards highly detailed, hand rendered looks which usually require a specialist in that aesthetic. For example, Hannah Peck is predominantly a children's book illustrator in the UK, who had never worked in animation before I asked her to design Keya’s Film for the She Creates Change Project (to be released Oct 2023). Here you can see her styleframes vs the final look for the project. There’s a level of understanding that she has of pencil rendering that I wouldn't have been able to find in a generalist designer.[.rf-text-column][.rf-2col]

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How do you deal with creative block, scope creep, feedback?

Nicotine. Joking… Sort of. Usually by giving myself a break from work. A reset. I’m definitely someone who is better off walking away from a problem and having a break. I usually come back to the problem with a new perspective. I think as well, not being afraid to ask the crew what they think. They know the project just as well as I do, and might be sitting on a solution better than what I can come up with. 

I’ve also found that cold water therapy has been a big stress reliever for me. It’s another reason why moving to Tassie was a winner - our home on Bruny is surrounded by the Tasman Sea. It’s like 13’C with a fresh wind, and swimming in it every other day is taking the edge off my anxiety. It’s making me a better worker in the day to day - I feel more motivated and less on edge.   

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What works are you most proud of and why?

She Creates Change has been a big one for me. These are two films that I’ve created through Nexus for the NGO Room to Read, one of which I co-directed with the amazingly talented Claudia Chinyere Akole. The films won't be released until October, but I can share some snippets. They have been one of those rare chances in a career - paid time spent on a 4 minute, creatively open, narrative driven film. Keya’s Story hit especially close to home for me with the content, and I feel like I have contributed to something worthwhile - not just helping a company green wash an ad for their product. We all have to work on those projects - they put food on the table. But She Creates Change was the real deal. 

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What excites you about the future?

AI and automation seem to be getting footholds everywhere… But then again, in the world of IKEA everyone still wants an Eames. Forecasting a future feels stressful to me. Whatever the future is - I hope it supports people and doesn’t increase the wealth divide. But I’m really excited to do my first job as an official Nexus Director. Feel like I’d be properly minted then and can tick that off on my list of career goals.  Also the Australian season of Alone.

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[.rf-2col][.rf-fun-card][.rf-fun-header]Fun Fact[.rf-fun-header][.rf-fun-question]What are you not-so-great at?[.rf-fun-question]I'm absolutely, utterly hopeless at singing. I sound like a dying cat in a tin bucket with the lid on.[.rf-fun-card][.rf-text-column][.rf-question]How can the industry improve?[.rf-question]
If I was being idealistic; a four-day work week, bigger budgets, paid pitching, free uni education, more local original content funded and a larger, more diverse local workforce. 

If I was being a bit more realistic, probably paid pitching. At the end of the day - big companies who are often reporting year on year record profits have the gall to ask artists to work for free. And that just goes against everything I believe in. [.rf-text-column][.rf-2col]

Any final parting words, comments or advice?

Don't make animation your entire life. The more balanced my life has become the better my work has been. Moving to Tassie, living on a farm, baking bread, learning carpentry, snorkeling in my lunch breaks - all these things are making me a more rounded person and better able to appreciate animation from the outside. How lucky we all are to work in such a cool industry!

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Massive thanks to Bonnie for giving up her time and such valuable insight!

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Links

Bonnie at Instagram

Bonnie at Nexus

Illustrations used in Bonnie's profile image by Fionn McCabe