Director and Artist Will Child Signs to Blinkink

Leeds born, Bristol based director and artist Will Child is taking stop motion by storm. After leaving his job as a graphic designer in Leeds, Will moved to Slough where his grandfather lived to pursue a freelance career in clay sculpting alongside graphic design and art department work. After a few months, he came across some very old plasticine in his kit and decided to try his hand at animation. From there he was hooked. 

Combining his love of craft and being an avid hip hop fan, Will realised claymation was a great way to apply the sculpture work to something that could be interesting for artists in the music industry. He managed to secure a low budget music video for US based rapper, Da$h. From this, the commissions gradually snowballed with globally renowned artists including FKA Twigs, SZA and Slowthai requesting their own sculptures.

In 2020, Will set up his own animation, Gravy Mercedes, and has created an extensive list of music videos for the likes of Drake, Trippie Redd, Kurupt FM, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and most recently Easy Life. His creative ventures have gotten him into some pretty gnarly situations including ending up on stage with Young Thug at a festival in Miami, eating pizza at Benny Blanco’s house in Hollywood and the late DMX calling him out of the blue on Christmas Eve. Alongside music videos, he has also dipped his toes into commercials with Old Spice, Reebok and BT Sport to name a few.

Will has created a unique claymation style which nods to stop motion founding father, Ray Harryhausen and pairs this with intricate handmade production design and action packed storytelling. An incredibly impressive feat for a one man studio.

Will shared his thoughts on joining the the Blink family: “I’ve hugely admired Blink from afar since working in the art departments on a couple of commercials a good few years ago, so I’m mega proud to now be joining the amazing roster here. I feel like we have very similar ideas as to the kinds of things we want to make and the tone of voice they’re delivered in, and I can’t wait to collaborate with the amazing production and creative talent at Blink and up the levels on my own craft again.”