“Glurch, the slime planet was the most challenging for I think every department,” Goodland admits. It’s the books come to life.”Įach Donaldson/Scheffler book inevitably presents some technical challenges in bringing to the screen, of course, whether it’s water, hair or, in the latest adaptation, slime. “We work hard to have that that kind of aesthetic feel,” says Goodland. To that end, those looking closely at the Smeds and Smoos will notice their skin retains a Claymation feel, with thumbprints and irregularities in the surface. “But we’ve worked very hard at keeping the aesthetic so all the stories feel part of the same universe, so you can watch any two together and it not feel like there’s an interruption,” explains Barney Goodland, a producer at Magic Light. While “The Gruffalo” was a combination of stop-motion sets and CGI characters, the later films are entirely CGI. The resulting films, which have starred some of Britain’s top talent from Olivia Colman to James Corden, are now a staple of the BBC’s annual Christmas fare. Since the 2009 adaptation of “The Gruffalo,” Donaldson and Scheffler have also had a long-standing partnership with Magic Light. So I did enjoy drawing them and making them up.” But obviously Gruffalos and aliens give me a bit more freedom than foxes and squirrels, for instance. “So I knew these had to have hair and shoes and jump about like kangaroos and things like that. “Although I never had complete freedom because Julia always tries to keep a bit of a control,” he adds drily. “I do enjoy made-up creatures because I have more freedom,” Scheffler says of drawing the many aliens that populate “The Smeds and the Smoos.”

The interplay between the whimsical Donaldson and Teutonic Scheffler, who have worked together now for around thirty years, is often as amusing as that between their characters, with the duo playfully sniping at each other throughout their joint appearances.

The smeds and the smoos julia donaldson