Company History

Over the last 20 years, KingBee has built a strong reputation for being a highly creative studio with a warm friendly approach. Our work spans from animated series, educational content to corporate and interactive. Here’s a brief overview of what the last 20 years have looked like:

February 2003
The Beginning
KingBee Is Born

KingBee was formed by our founder Martyn Niman from a deep passion for animated series and films, most notably by Disney and The Simpsons. So shortly after graduating from his Animation degree in 2000, KingBee was born.

March 2009
The New Hive
The Elstree Studios

During the first 6 years, KingBee operated out of Martyn’s 2nd bedroom in Essex. But on moving to Hertfordshire, with 2 kids bursting in the room at times and the 3rd born as they moved, Martyn finally decided to get some office space in the world-famous Elstree Studios and so KingBee now had a new home (near home!)

March 2022
The Evolving Team
The Hive Grows

Over the last 13 years, our in-house and out of house team of creatives have evolved. Some of our team we’re proud to have been working together for close to 18 years and still animating strong. The energy and fun has always been strong in the studio.

March 2023
Exciting TImes
Future Buzz

KingBee are excited to be celebrating our 20th anniversary this February, so what better time to launch our new bee, new website and new portfolio of work. Here's to even more fun in our next 20 years!

Welcome to the Creative Hive

We pride ourselves on the positive spirit of our team and the joy of the creative process that each member brings. Our set-up is a team of collaborative directors, artists and storytellers in the studio and a remote team of talented freelancers working in the UK and beyond. We are able to respond quickly to our clients’ needs and save time and money whilst still delivering high-quality production values. Meet a few of our team below:

Martyn Niman

Company Director
My love for animation was sparked by watching classic Disney movies during my childhood and then discovering the Simpsons in my teenage years. I could really see myself and my family in the characters - I just fell in love with the medium and knew I wanted to make my own cartoons and tell stories.

Sam Walters

Production Manager
DreamWorks Animation's films like Shrek and Madagascar brought a smile to my face growing up. The way they combined humor, adventure, and heartwarming stories resonated with me and made me want to create animations that could touch people's hearts.

Louise Fogerty

Lead Designer
I’ve always loved creating stories and drawing cartoons since early childhood, and animation seemed to combine all of my passions. I was particularly taken by the charm, artistry, and humour of 2D animation and knew from an early age that this was my calling.

Alex Sinclair

Lead Animator
Looney Tunes' timeless classics with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck were my all-time favorite characters as a kid. As I grew older, I discovered Aardman Animations, especially Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit, which left me inspired to create my own unique creations through animation.

Saskia Hansen

Art Director
I loved 2D animation as a child, watching shows like Winx Club and Scooby Doo religiously. As a teenager, my anime obsession grew, inspiring me to draw my own characters whenever I could. Director Satoshi Kon's work solidified my desire to pursue animation as a career. His films made me realize the incredible and unique art form it is.

Bartek Jacek

Brand Manager
My passion for animation was kindled by the hilarious antics of Tom and Jerry as a child, and later by anime like Attack on Titan, and One Punch Man. These shows left me inspired to create my own works.

+ many more

Designers, Animators & Industry Specialists

The Hive

Here at KingBee we have a wide network and scalable team that is able to tackle any challenge and project that comes our way.

New to animation?
Let us walk you through the process!

Step 1
First contact
Introductions

Contact us via any of the methods available on our website and we will meet and discuss your proposal and ideas with you either on a online video call or by having you over at our office.

We will assess the scope of the work, advise you on possible ways of proceeding and answer any of your questions.

Step 2
Contracts
Getting the ball rolling

Before all the fun begins we have to get the boring stuff out of the way first. Once you decide to proceed with the project we will draft a contract that outlines the payment terms, deliverable agreements and time frame. If all the terms are agreed upon, the contract gets signed and the next stage can commence!

This ensures both parties are in agreement of all the terms before production starts and presents a clear project scope.

 

Step 3
Pre-Production
Creative development

This stage includes concept development, storyboarding, animatic creation, character design, background design and layout. This is where the animators come up with ideas for the animation and develop a basic plot. They create rough sketches of each scene to visualize the story and plan out the animation. They also create the animatic, a rough version of the animation with sound.

Having a strong concept is an essential component of a video. But unfortunately, spending the appropriate amount of time in pre-production to nail down the video’s concept is often an overlooked step in the production process. Not on our watch, though!

Step 4
Production
Animation

This stage includes animation, in which the characters and backgrounds are brought to life through movement and dialogue. This is typically done using 2D animation software such as Adobe Flash, Toon Boom, or Anime Studio.

The animators will create character rigs and then keyframes, which are the important frames in the animation that dictate the motion of the characters and backgrounds, and then they will use the software to automatically generate the in-between frames to create smooth motion.  This process is called tweening.

Frame by frame animation is a more time consuming technique where animators would draw each frame of the sequence individually and then combine it into a moving sequence. This process is able to produce more complex animations.

Step 5
Post-Production
Compositing & Final Delivery

This stage includes editing, sound design, and compositing. The animation is edited to ensure that it flows well and that the pacing is correct. Sound effects and music are added to enhance the animation. Finally, the animation is composited, where the animation is combined with the sound, music, and any special effects to create the final product. You are then able to recieve the final project exports in your desired format and resolution.

Step 6
We meet again
Working again together!

Eventhough one project finishes it doesn't mean the journey ends there. Here at King Bee we value building strong and long lasting relationships with our clients. An extended partnerships lets us better understand your needs and preferences over time and tailor our processes and interactions to provide us both with the most efficient (and fun!) working relationship hopefully across many years and different projects.  

Sketches to screens!

Explore the magic of design and animation through some of our recent blogs.

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