Dave Anderson (born 1963 in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

) is a British writer and creator of

cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

and animations including ''

Bastard Bunny Dave Anderson (born 1963 in Coventry) is a British writer and creator of cartoons and animations including '' Bastard Bunny'' and the BAFTA nominated animation shorts, ''The Terribles''. He is a co-founder of animation studio Dog and Rabbit and w ...

'' and the BAFTA 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 network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Early life and Bastard Bunny era

Anderson graduated from Durham University in 1985 with a degree in Law and Politics. He lived briefly in

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

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 five albums but were most celebrated for inspired live performances. One reviewer stated they were "a band that must be seen live for a full gra ...

. Returning to the UK he worked in advertising while making ventures into cartoon writing. In 1990

appeared in his own comic. Described as "the coolest, drug-snorting, violent, club-going, psychotic rabbit in the world", Bastard Bunny became a cult 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 fieresome 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 were 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 gro ...

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

Tank Girl ''Tank Girl'' is a British comic book character created by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett, and first appeared in print in 1988 in the British comics magazine ''Deadline''. After a period of intense popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, ...

'' co-created by Gorillaz artist

Jamie Hewlett Jamie Christopher Hewlett (born 3 April 1968) is an English comic book creator, illustrator, music video director, and songwriter. He is the co-creator of the comic book '' Tank Girl'' with Alan Martin and co-creator of the virtual band Gorilla ...

) and, from 1994, in the '' New Musical Express''. 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 arm ...

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 the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Ara ...

, ''The Sensibles'' and a series of wordless animated shorts that were nominated for a BAFTA 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 ''Dara Ó Briain's Science Club'' is a British science television series presented by Dara Ó Briain which first aired on BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It cove ...

, 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
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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 People from Coventry Living people Alumni of Collingwood College, Durham