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| Pete Western visits Escape Studios |
Pete Western has three decades of experience doing storyboards for film and television.
What was Pete's advice on how to break into the industry as an animator and storyboard artist?
"Grab your opportunities, learn to get along with people, and listen carefully - especially to the director". But above all - "be adaptable".
The very next day Pete "got a call, offering two jobs". He was asked "can you do storyboards?". Pete said "not really, but I can give it a try". Very quickly he had to learn how to board, and also to "learn film grammar".
Pete Western explained that "luck plays its part" in getting started in the business. But you have to "learn to get along along with people, and learn to listen, really listen. Especially to the director. I did anything I was asked to do. I did animation, I did backgrounds, I did a bit of everything. I had to be adaptable to keep working. It's a collaborative medium; you have to be able to work with people." Pete had a tour of the Pixar Studio in California where they explained that "we don't like lone wolves". You have "got to work in teams".
Pete Western received a BAFTA Special Award at the British Academy Children's Awards on 20 November 2016 in recognition of his 40-year career as an animator and storyboard artist.
Pete Western
Pete Western explained that he got started in the industry in the 1980s doing TV Commercials in Soho. He began working at The Animation partnership, founded by Carl Gover, and learned to "build relationships with other animators. This led from one job to another".
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Pete Western worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1987, and then later on Space Jam. At Richard Williams Studio he got to meet some of the old masters of animation, such as Art Babbitt, Ken Harris and Grim Natwick - who invented Betty Boop. It was a great privilege to work at Richard Williams Studio, where Pete was "always learning. Anyone who worked there always got better".
Storyboarding
In the early 2000s 2D animation started to dry up, so Pete switched into doing storyboards. This transition came quite randomly; in 2001 Pete was "at a lunch in Soho", with a bunch of guys who were "setting up a directory" of animation talent. Pete said, OK, include me, why not?
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| Pete Western won a BAFTA in 2016 |
He had to "learn on the job, very quickly". That job went OK, so "another one came in. And then another. And then, suddenly I was a board artist. And that led to 16 years of doing storyboards. And then eventually I got a BAFTA".
Luck and Opportunity
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| Horrid Henry |
Flexibility and Adaptability
Pete didn't always enjoy doing boards, but some projects were fun. He got to work on "Horrid Henry", which was "fun to work on". Later he worked with the same director on "The Snowman and The Snowdog".
Pete storyboarded an action sequence on that film and he - rather cheekily - asked the team, "can I animate it too?". They said OK, so Pete did the layouts (rather easy, after doing the boards) and then did the animation as well.
Breaking Into The Business
Pete recommended that our students attend industry events. For example, the upcoming London International Animation Festival, which starts on 27 November 2026.
Peter Western's Career and Awards
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| London International Animation Festival |
Pete Western has decades of experience doing storyboards for film and television. His credits include Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Fungus the Bogeyman, Horrid Henry, The Snowman & the Snowdog, Space Jam and Judge Dredd.
Instagram
You can see Pete Western's work at Instagram below:
Squarespace
Many many thanks indeed to Peter Western for giving up his time to talk to our students.
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