Do You Really Need a London Animation Studio?

London Animation Studio Vs The Best Animation Studio for you

If you're looking for an animation studio, there's a good chance your search starts with London, or which ever city you’re based in.

It's understandable. London has one of the biggest concentrations of creative agencies, production companies, brands and animation talent in the UK, and you’re probably based in London.

Search for a London animation studio and you'll find plenty of options.

But there's another question worth asking:

Does your animation studio actually need to be in London?

The answer, increasingly, is no. At Cub, most of our clients are actually based in the US, we use the timezone as an advantage! Our sound engineer is based in New Zealand for exactly this reason!

Animation production isn't tied to a postcode and there’s a good chance the studio will use remote freelancers!

Animation has always been a collaborative process. What's changed is how easily that collaboration can happen across distance.

Scripts can be shared instantly. Storyboards can be reviewed remotely. Animation can be presented over video calls. Files can be transferred securely. Feedback can happen in real time.

The physical distance between a client and an animation studio can be considerably less important than the creative distance between them.

In other words, finding the right studio matters more than finding the nearest studio.

What should you actually look for?

When choosing an animation studio, there are probably more important questions than where the studio is based.

Do they understand the brief?

Do they have the right animation style?

Can they develop characters and stories rather than simply execute artwork?

Do they understand how to make work for different platforms and formats?

Can they manage a production from initial idea through to final delivery?

And perhaps most importantly: do you actually like working with them?

A studio that understands your creative ambitions and communicates well is likely to be a much better partner than one that's geographically convenient but creatively wrong.

The rise of the distributed creative studio

The creative industry has been moving in this direction for years.

London remains a major creative hub, but it is no longer the only place where great creative work happens.

Studios across Brighton, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow and beyond are producing work for clients around the world.

That is particularly true in animation, where much of the production process is digital from beginning to end.

What about meetings?

This is probably the biggest perceived advantage of choosing a London animation studio.

And yes, sometimes you need to be in the room.

But sometimes you don't.

A good animation studio should be able to work effectively either way.

At Cub Studio, we've worked with London clients for years. Being based in Brighton doesn't stop us jumping on a train, meeting a client, or getting into London when a project calls for it.

It simply means London isn't the boundary of where we look for creative talent.

So, do you need a London animation studio?

No.

You need the right animation studio.

And sometimes the right studio happens to be in London.

Sometimes it's in Brighton…

Sometimes it's somewhere else entirely.

The postcode is worth checking.

The work is worth checking much more closely.