Manipulate Arts announces the four recipients of the Animation Research & Development Fund 2026/2027, our new seed fund for Scotland‑based artists working in animation. The fund supports the visual and technical development of new independent projects helping animators get their ideas out of their head and into the sketchbook, studio or screen. After a very competitive selection process, each of the successful applications brings a distinct artistic voice, technical ambition and deeply personal storytelling to Scotland’s animation landscape. Their projects span emotional metamorphosis, childhood memory, dyslexic experience and Victorian spectacle, a cohort that reflects the breadth and daring of contemporary Scottish independent animation.
“This year’s Animation R&D recipients embody exactly what Manipulate Arts exists to champion — artists who are unafraid to experiment and to push the craft of animation into new territory. Each of these projects reflects an exciting creative vision and a commitment to innovation. Supporting artists at this early, exploratory stage is one of our central strategic aims, and we’re thrilled to help lay the foundations for work that will shape the future of Scotland’s animation ecology.”
Dawn Taylor, Artistic Director & CEO
Canan Isik — The Void Within
A Glasgow-based visual artist and animator whose practice explores emotional transformation. Originally from Türkiye, she works across drawing, video and design, merging analogue textures with digital techniques. Canan searches for ways to translate inner experiences into visual form, using animation as a method of self-discovery as much as expression.
Her R&D project, The Void Within, follows Noa, who lives alone, watching the world from a tree. They express their inner life through coloured smoke that drifts from their rounded body. Everything changes when they witness two lovers kiss and feel, Noa confronts a lifelong sense of emptiness and begins a quiet metamorphosis. During the R&D period, Canan will refine a hybrid workflow combining frame‑by‑frame animation with Moho Pro rigging, and develop the film’s coloured smoke as a “visual narrator” that shifts with Noa’s emotional states.
Michael Hughes — Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars
A stop‑frame animator and director with over twenty years’ experience, Michael Hughes has worked across TV, commercials, music videos and Oscar‑nominated features including Fantastic Mr. Fox, Frankenweenie and Isle of Dogs. His own short films have screened widely at festivals.
His new project, Shooting Rubber Bands at the Stars, is an animated short about childhood dreams, friendship and loss. Through the R&D fund, Michael will expand the visual and narrative foundations of the film, developing a proof‑of‑concept using his signature paper cut‑out techniques to support future production funding.
Sean Begg — Alone in Ma’ Heid
Caithness artist and filmmaker Sean Begg blends gritty realism with fairytale elements, drawing on punk and DIY aesthetics. His project, Alone in Ma’ Heid, follows a young man navigating childhood to adulthood while hiding his severe dyslexia, a secret that isolates him and shapes every part of his life.
The film aims to give audiences a visceral sense of “the difficulty of navigating the world through dyslexic eyes,” using its animation style to reveal the emotional and practical realities of illiteracy in a word‑saturated world.
Sharon E Sørensen — The Great Delaney
Multi‑award‑winning writer and director Sharon E Sørensen brings nearly three decades of experience in 2D animation across globally distributed films, series and commercials. Her new project, The Great Delaney, is an historical biopic adventure set in a dilapidated Victorian circus, a world of glitter, grime, woodblock prints and moving‑image toys.
During her R&D period, Sharon will explore how to build a 3D inky, papery, mixed‑media world in Blender, expanding her 2D background into a richly textured digital paper theatre.
A cohort shaping the future of Scottish animation
Together, these four artists represent the experimental, emotionally resonant and craft‑driven animation that Manipulate Arts champions. Their R&D periods will support technical innovation, narrative development and bold visual exploration, strengthening Scotland’s animation ecology and nurturing the next wave of ambitious independent work.