Another gong for Jonathan

A college lecturer was voted animator of the year by a prestigious industry magazine '“ but he has no idea who nominated him for the award.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd Mar 2017, 16:00 BST
Updated 24th Mar 2017, 11:07 BST
28-02-2017. Picture Michael Gillen. FALKIRK. Animator Jonathan Mortimer voted Best Animator in Scotland in 2016 by TMT Entertainment Awards. Jonathan has trophy at home.28-02-2017. Picture Michael Gillen. FALKIRK. Animator Jonathan Mortimer voted Best Animator in Scotland in 2016 by TMT Entertainment Awards. Jonathan has trophy at home.
28-02-2017. Picture Michael Gillen. FALKIRK. Animator Jonathan Mortimer voted Best Animator in Scotland in 2016 by TMT Entertainment Awards. Jonathan has trophy at home.

Jonathan Mortimer (31), from Falkirk, was given the coveted accolade of best Scottish animator for 2016 by TMT News (Technology Media Telecoms) for his animation and storyboard portfolio.

His work features short animated films, mobile games, a parody of actor Benedict Cumberbatch doing a Chewbacca impression and a short on the bombing of Hiroshima during World War Two called 43, which secured him the top animation prize at the Swan Lake Moving Images and Music Awards festival in Germany in 2011.

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His Manga-style, one minute 55 seconds long film is called 43 after the number of seconds it took the atomic bomb to hit the Japanese city of Hiroshima when it left an American warplane on August 6, 1945 killing up to 166,000 people.

Jonathan said: “I honestly don’t know who nominated me for the award. I just got a phone call one day telling me I was being considered and then I got an e-mail a few weeks later telling me I was successful.

“Obviously I’m really chuffed about it. I do a lot of different kinds of work in 2D animation for the likes of adverts, games and storyboards on a freelance basis so maybe one of my clients put my name forward.”

Jonathan’s work has also seen him nominated for the Audience Award at the Swan Lake Moving Images and Music Awards festival and the Animation Award at Ireland’s Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival.

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The passionate animator doesn’t keep his skillset to himself either as he currently works part-time at both Fife College in Glenrothes and Edinburgh’s Napier University as a lecturer teaching 
the next generation of animators.

His skills don’t stop there either. Being “heavily” into martial arts, Jonathan is a 4th Dan jujitsu instructor and does kung fu, judo and kickboxing.

The former Larbert High School pupil studied graphic design at Forth Valley College before heading on to Paisley University and graduating with a Masters degree in multimedia and computer animation in 2008.

To see some of Jonathan’s amazing work, including 43, visit https://jonmort.word
press.com.

Related topics:FalkirkAmericanGermany