Dave Anderson (born 1963 in

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

) is a British writer and creator of

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

and animations including '' Bastard Bunny'' and the

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

nominated animation shorts, ''The Terribles''. He is a co-founder of animation studio Dog and Rabbit and was a founder-director of London-based animation production company 12Foot6, whose credits include animating the first series of ''

Modern Toss ''Modern Toss'' is a British comic by Jon Link and Mick Bunnage. Renowned for their scurrilous humour and highly stylised animation, it was created in 2004, initially as a website publishing single panel jokes and then as series of irregularly ...

'' for UK TV's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

Early life and Bastard Bunny era

Anderson graduated from

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

in 1985 with a degree in Law and Politics. He lived briefly in Charlotte,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

where he shared a house with Danna Pentes, bass player in the then up-and-coming band

Fetchin Bones Fetchin Bones was a cross-genre rock band from North Carolina. During a six-year career they produced four studio albums but were most celebrated for inspired live performances. One reviewer stated they were "a band that must be seen live for a ...

. Returning to the UK he worked in advertising while making ventures into cartoon writing. In 1990 Bastard Bunny appeared in his own comic. Described as "the coolest, drug-snorting, violent, club-going, psychotic rabbit in the world", Bastard Bunny became a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

icon of the early 1990s London club scene. Bastard Bunny's stylishly simple initial incarnation was drawn by Jiouxliegh Jacobs but by 1992, Anderson's new collaborator Martyn Smith had given the weed-loving GBH-rabbit a more fearsome visual persona. It was the latter incarnation which became an ever more common sight on T-shirts and 'lop ear hats' at the Sabresonic Club. At this time, ''Bastard Bunny'' "became aligned" with Andy Weatherall's

Sabres of Paradise The Sabres of Paradise are a British electronic music group from London. They consisted of Andrew Weatherall, Jagz Kooner, and Gary Burns. History The Sabres of Paradise were formed in London, England in 1992. Andrew Weatherall formed the grou ...

label. ''Bastard Bunny'' later appeared in ''Deadline'' magazine (along with ''

Tank Girl Tank Girl is a British comic created by Alan Martin (writer), Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett. It first appeared in print in 1988 in the British comics magazine ''Deadline (magazine), Deadline'', and then in the solo comic book series ''Tank Girl' ...

'' co-created by

Gorillaz Gorillaz are an English virtual band created by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett in London, England in 1998. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (gui ...

artist

Jamie Hewlett Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is a British comic book artist and illustrator. He is the co-creator of the comic book ''Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin (writer), Alan Martin and the virtual band Gorillaz, alongside Blur (band), Blur ...

) and, from 1994, in the ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

''. The collected ''Bastard Bunny'' collection was published by

Virgin Books Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing ...

in 1998 as ''Don't You Know Who I am?! – The Collected Works''. Bastard Bunny reappeared in 2013 after some "enforced gardening leave" in a new, heavyweight on-line persona using the strap-line "He's Fat, He's Forty and He Ain't Happy".

12Foot6

For much of the 1990s Anderson contributed to Future Shocks. In 2000, with Tom Mortimer, he co-founded 12Foot6 which has since been the creative crucible for many successful cartoon and animation projects. These include Andrew Kelleher's Dog Judo which originated as an advertising campaign for

Virgin Mobile Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emi ...

, ''The Sensibles'' and a series of wordless animated shorts that were nominated for a

award in 2007. He also been involved in creating short animated histories as part of the BBC Two programme Dara Ó Briain's Science Club, which includes a sequence in Episode 1 calle
The Story of Inheritance
one in Episode 2 calle
The Story of Physics
one in Episode 3 calle
A Dodo's Guide to Extinction
one in Episode 4 calle
The Story of Exploration
one in Episode 5 calle
The Story of the Brain
and one in Episode 6 calle
The Story of Music

Dog & Rabbit

In 2014, Anderson and Dog Judo creative Andrew Kelleher parted ways with 12foot6 and set up animation studio Dog & Rabbit. Bastard Bunny joined the new set up and was rewarded by becoming the figurehead of several craft beers by MoogBrew.Bastard Bunny beer reviews
/ref>

References

External links

12Foot6 official site

Dog Judo Official site

Bastard Bunny official site

Dog & Rabbit official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Dave 1963 births English comics writers Writers from Coventry Artists from Coventry Living people Alumni of Collingwood College, Durham