Matthew is De Lucozade man

Remember this commercial? A little stick man, complete with headband and mas costume is dancing in the hot sun. As the heat rises mercilessly around  him, he loses energy, so... he grabs a Lucozade, glugs it down and puts down a sexy “fast wine” to the ground.

Then there was the Panadol commercial with its protagonist Solomon Grundy, who also ends up doing a similar wine after getting relief from his headache. All of these commercials (and more) have one name in common, animator Matthew Hudson. Hudson was one of four persons who, through the success of the last Animae Caribe Festival, won the FCB award for Best use of Animation in the Media. He was also part of a small contingent that went to London, visiting schools and animation studios, learning about their techniques. But before all that, he was one of six (three brothers and sisters) growing up in Newtown, who loved to draw. He still has scores of his early drawings (and some from his days at Newtown Boys’ and QRC) neatly packed into large manilla envelopes, carefully labelled and dated.

“You never know when these could be brought to life,” he quipped, showing his renditions of local superheroes, based on our local folklore.
He usually works from his home in Woodbrook, which squashes that first impression that he is attached to any “one” advertising agency. His services are for hire. “This is very convenient for me here,” he says, relaxing on his couch. “When the agencies come calling, I don’t have very far to walk to meet them, you know? How it usually works is that they come up with a script and I do my best to interpret what they have. I also do story-boards, which helps with interpreting the story. When I draw I try to put special characterisations into the character and that way people relate to the ad better. But I always do story-boards beforehand, which determines the look of the ad.”

The former QRC graduate learned animation here in Trinidad at the John Donaldson technical institute; it was the first time they had ever taught this craft. Said Hudson, “We learned some amazing stuff, you know? There is so much that goes into making a cartoon... it was all about gravity, motion, physics... we learned about momentum, like looking carefully at how a person lifts an object, how to break it down into separate movements. There were new terms to learn and execute like ‘squash and exaggeration,’ which is what makes your drawing come alive...but what makes the difference between my stuff and other people’s is that I don’t follow all the rules, that’s the key.”

He was ready to share the John D experience after obtaining his certificate, but it would be a hard road. He worked as a graphic artist at a few companies before the people at John Donaldson approached him to teach a subsequent class. That done, he tried his hand at other companies, but was repeatedly shafted. Promises would be made to him, but payment was not always forthcoming. Frustration mounted.
“I started working with a guy (he’s now in Venezuela) at Video Associates and through him I started to make contacts with the agencies. I still had problems getting proper pay, but it was a progression, like my story-boards. I said to myself, ‘You see this, is better to do it on my own, because people just taking advantage.’ So, I went on my own and set up from home. I made my own rules, pay scale, everything. I also made a personal decision to do mainly 2D work (cell animation) because most of those jobs they give to Venezuela, like the Chubby ads and so; this meant that I would always be paid and have a little money in hand and carve my own niche in the market.”
And it has definitely paid off.

Looking back, he knows he’s paid his dues and the recognition he receives now more than makes up for those trying times. His wife Sharla (who’s also an artist) and three year old daughter give him the encouragement (and inspiration) to go on. When the Animae Caribe Festival came about, he was ready to show his work to an eager audience. A collection of his works (including past ads for Food Giant and Nagib Elias) were shown, but what took the cake was an animated “short” called “Some Things Doh Change,” which showed a “twenty-something” man going about his daily routine in a Trinidad of the future, set in the year 2071. Maxis had hover jets. The conductor was a robot sporting gold teeth. KFC was still around, but it was called TFC. The difference was that it came in a small cube and had to be rehydrated.

“I’m really proud of that one,” Hudson smiled, chuckling. “The reaction alone was worth it, because I put in a lot of elements that everyone is familiar with, the sign that says, ‘No Dumping of Rubbish’, yet the rubbish is there watching you. Dogs barking when you pass them, only the dogs are robots. I was just showing that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It was very well received though... very well received.” Nowadays, Hudson is busy working on other projects from home for future ads (top secret of course) along with personal projects of his own. He would also like to see a school for animation in this country and more. “I’d like to see an animated children’s programme that can educate, but not in a cheesy way,” he explained.

“People like seeing the local stuff, so why not use it in a positive way? We need to get the opportunity to make something else, show something else. Even people who do these independent films at the festival, we need something of a forum to see our stuff, why is there nothing for that? I don’t know if anyone ever approached anyone about it, but it is needed. We need writers to produce parts for these projects, or other animators. The good news is, there is interest in the art form. “For our trip to London we learned a lot, and we even shocked our hosts in a pleasant way. Over there, projects like these get immediate funding, so they were completely surprised to see that we did our work without that kind of assistance. Shock is a better word. Yeah, they were shocked. We do this because of a love for the art form, but it’s expensive too, eh? (Laughs) To do shows like this, we can get people to do voices, people like Jarred Butts come to mind. Then there is the music. Somebody else can come up with music, or write scripts... it will come together in a big way, it’s just the start we need.”

With the second festival coming up, he has something on the drawing board, literally... but he’s keeping it mum for the time being. When he’s not creating new characters, he’s puttering around with his aquariums. He even confessed that he would like to retire to the country someday, with his family and his fish. But  until that day comes, he will continue to churn out innovative ideas. “You know, something hit me the other day... I was one of those fellas who used to do the stick men in the corners of textbooks and make it like a flip book, now I doing this for money. But like I always say, you could do whatever you want in this life yes, once you like it, you could make something out of it.”