Series 01
Busy Rascal
A small monkey in a yellow hoodie with a very big day ahead. One tiny problem an episode, solved slowly, at toddler speed — almost no dialogue, so it travels anywhere.
Four slates. One small studio.
We build animated worlds from Edinburgh — for toddlers, for families, and for grown-ups who never stopped watching cartoons.
The slate
Two series in production, two in development. Different audiences, same obsession with getting the small moments right.
Series 02
Rosa & Arlo
A palace, a wedding, and a family with opinions about both. Longer episodes with a proper score and jokes pitched so the adults in the room stay in the room.
Slate 03
Adult animation
Short-form for people who put the kids to bed first. Sharper writing, darker palettes, and the freedom to end an episode without a hug. Currently at script and design stage.
Slate 04
Anime
A 2D-styled strand built around a single long story rather than standalone episodes. We're developing the look and the first arc now, and we'll show it when it's good enough to show.
How an episode gets made
Five steps, same order every time, whether it's a two-minute short or a ten-minute story.
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Write
Scripted to the shot before anything is drawn. If it doesn't work on the page, it won't work on screen.
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Board
Every shot gets a panel, a camera position and a note about what you hear.
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Animate
Shots are generated and directed one at a time, then re-run until the character stays the character.
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Cut
Timing is where animation lives or dies. Toddler episodes get slowed down, adult ones get tightened.
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Score
Music and effects written next door at BDL Music Studios, so nothing on screen is borrowed.
About the tools
We're a two-person studio and we animate with AI image and video tools. The stories, characters, boards, edit and music are ours — the tools do the drawing, not the deciding.
We say it here plainly rather than burying it, because anyone choosing what their family watches deserves to know how it was made.
A very small studio
BDL Animation Studios is a husband-and-wife operation in Edinburgh. We started out writing songs together, kept finding characters hiding in them, and eventually gave one of them a yellow hoodie.
Being two people is the point. We take a short slate each year, which means we can be picky about the work and slow about the details. If you need a pilot, a series bible, a set of shorts, or characters that belong to a brand talking to children, we're the right size for it.
Tell us what you're making
Commissions, licensing, festival programming, or you just want to know where to watch. Everything gets an answer within a couple of days.