By addressing a long-standing gap in stop-motion filmmaking, the team at Animation Toolkit are creating a first-to-market digital platform with the potential to scale globally.
Grant towards a £49k project
Increase in turnover predicted
New digital development jobs forecast
Animation Toolkit are specialists in stop motion – the animation technique used to create films like Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run. The Altrincham-based company contributed to 2025 Oscar nominated production Memoir of a Snail, and has supported legendary directors and some of the biggest names in animation, including Disney, Laika, Netflix, and The Aardman Academy.
Not content to stand still, BAFTA-nominated CEO Wes Wood set out to address a long-standing gap in stop motion by exploring new digital ways for creators to learn and work. With targeted support from the innovation ecosystem at key stages, Animation Toolkit has progressed towards the launch of a new platform that marks a significant step in its evolution.
Modernising a traditional craft
“Stop motion is one of the most magical art forms in the world,” says Wes, who founded Animation Toolkit in 2011, before offering a simple explanation of how it works. “At the heart of every professional stop-motion puppet is a metal skeleton, called an armature. It’s usually made from joints, wire or ball-and-socket systems that act like bones and joints. Everything else – clay, foam or fabric – is built around that.”[MF1.1]
The challenge, and the problem Wes wanted to tackle, is what he describes as the “significant barriers” that still limit stop motion’s accessibility: “It’s an extremely labour-intensive craft that has a steep learning curve for newcomers. What we’re passionate about is enabling students, hobbyists and storytellers everywhere to animate with confidence. So we set out on a bit of a mission to give a new generation of creators the tools to bring their ideas to life.”
The mission involved bringing the kind of digital tools used in CGI and 2D animation into stop motion for the first time. Despite representing a £1.2 billion segment of the global animation market, the sector still lacks equivalent digital resources.
Unlike CGI and 2D animation, which benefit from vast digital asset libraries and content marketplaces, stop-motion has no equivalent resource – despite being a £1.2 billion segment, growing at 5% annually, within a global animation market valued at £400 billion.
Bridging the gap to commercialisation
But Animation Toolkit found themselves hampered by a funding gap probably familiar to many people reading this: their stage of development was too early for traditional investment, yet required more capital than the business could self-fund to reach the commercial milestones needed to attract private investors.
Here’s we came in. Through our Innovation Service, and with support from a Commercialisation Specialist, Animation Toolkit secured a £19,460 Innovation Grant to cover 39% of the £50k cost of bringing their new market-first offer to market.
The team worked with a specialist digital partner that had the specialist knowhow the company lacked in-house. Creating stop-motion digital content requires skilled 3D designers, specialist software and extensive testing – all beyond the company’s capacity at the time.
As Wes explains: “We had proven the concept, but creating enough high-quality digital content to make the platform genuinely useful required certain skills and a level of upfront investment we couldn’t cover ourselves. Without the support of GM Business Growth Hub, we just wouldn’t have been able to bridge the gap between R&D and a commercial launch.”
Over the course the project, Animation Toolkit’s physical stop-motion armatures – the metal skeletons inside puppets – were translated into 50 digital assets. This included creating digital character ‘skins’ to match existing armatures, alongside ready-made walk, talk and gesture sequences that users can follow frame by frame in industry-standard software such as Dragonframe.
These assets now sit within Anibild Studio, a subscription-based online platform that gives users access to professional-quality digital characters, animation guides and files for 3D-printing custom parts. Together, they act as practical ‘training wheels’, helping users learn faster and reducing the time, cost and skill barrier traditionally associated with stop-motion animation.
The growth initiative builds on earlier R&D supported by Innovate UK through a £50,000 Creative Catalyst Grant, which helped validate market demand and technical feasibility.
Increased sales, turnover and jobs
Due to launch in May 2026, to coincide with the company’s 15-year anniversary, Anibild Studio shifts Animation Toolkit from a purely physical product business to a scalable hybrid digital-physical model – a move that significantly strengthens the company’s long-term ambitions.
“By creating a first-of-its-kind Content-as-a-Service platform for stop-motion animation, Wes and his team have secured a first-to-market advantage in an underserved sector,” says Jeremy Goodwin, Commercialisation Specialist at GM Business Growth Hub. “This positions Animation Toolkit to scale globally, moving beyond its roots as a niche supplier to become a platform business with international reach.”
The platform is also expected to drive increased demand for the company’s existing physical products. As more creators adopt hybrid workflows, physical sales are forecast to double to £500,000 annually, contributing to a forecast turnover increase of more than £750,000 by 2028. And the company expects to create three additional roles in digital content and technical development by mid-2026.
Targeted support for ambitious businesses
This phase of growth is opening up new opportunities for Animation Toolkit to work with studios, schools and creators worldwide. Anibild Studio has secured backing from leading figures in the stop-motion sector, including Chris Tichborne (Beetlejuice 2 and Wednesday), who will deliver courses through the platform with students at Manchester Metropolitan University, and acclaimed animator Tim Allen (Corpse Bride, Coraline, Wallace & Gromit), who is creating exclusive content for the platform.
“What this project shows is how targeted external support can help ambitious businesses move from concept to commercial reality,” says Commercialisation Specialist Jeremy Goodwin.
Contact our team today on 0161 359 3050 or at bgh@growthco.uk to find out how specialist support can help your business, whichever sector you’re in.
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