Creativity for the planet.
Extremely low-impact animation
production from our unique
maritime home studio.
Sim’s been an illustrator and animator for more than 2 decades, and has run The Rough Idea Ltd for more than 15 years. He’s animated for major Ad campaigns, TV shows and music promos, and his illustration work has appeared on the backs of busses, in national magazines and newspapers, on T-shirts, and anywhere else you’d care to imagine.
He’s run his own small studio, been an animation supervisor at major London animation companies, Directed TV ads and run the animation department at a large Ad agency.
20 seconds of excellence beats 3 minutes of mediocrity, hands down. Awesomeness doesn’t come from an easy life - it comes from passion, determination & graft.
He and his producer wife, Jo, can help you avoid pitfalls and maximise value, regardless of budget.
He works in Harmony, Flash, TV Paint and After Effects.
They’ve lived and worked aboard a beautiful Scottish wooden ketch for more than 5 years.
They live in tune with wind, tide and the rhythms of nature in all her beauty and awesome power.
As experienced mariners, they find it the most inspirational work setting imaginable.
All electrical power is harnessed from the wind and sun, via a cutting edge hybrid PV and wind-turbine charging system. A 4G router with mast mounted high-gain antennas provides excellent broadband. All Macs and Wacom Cintiqs are Peli-case housed, as are the dual RAID super-fast 4TB SSD drives.
They aim for high levels of self-sufficiency and electrical sustainability, including the repair and maintenance of all technology aboard, from hull planking and rigging to Mac screen, motherboard or battery replacement.
As much as they witness the beauty of nature, they also witness her suffering.
Plastic pollution, biodiversity loss and unpredictable weather events are hard to miss when they’re at the front door.
As much as they’ve become determined to minimise their footprint in the natural world, they’re also starting to make in-roads using the engaging power of animation and illustration as a force for good.
They are currently in conversation with a numnber of partners regarding an initiative to make animated content to help redress mankind’s relationship with nature.
If you’d like to discuss a project, please use the form on the contact page to get in touch, or email RoughIdea.Work@Gmail.com
A large solar array and a powerful wind turbine give us year-round fossil-fuel free power
Sim animating whilst at anchor near Falmouth