Carl Youri

Artist Profile

            A multi talented artist, all round positive and interesting character, Carl  is always up for being creative and getting involved in projects, when he’s not knee deep in his own personal creative universe. He’s done all sorts over the years, carework, web design, e-learning content, illustration, film making, making music, doing visuals as well as plenty of travelling.

            ” I used to make comics and stickers and give them to people I met at parties, but my favourite thing is to conjure up characters and worlds.” This was when I first met Carl, and a number of highly creative people, at free parties in the 90’s. Making backdrops and visuals to create environments for people to dance around in and feel inspired. The 90’s were a great time for nurturing the new wave of creative types looking to express themselves with new technologies and ideals.

            His inspiration comes from quite trippy and psychedelic sources with a large sprinkling of science fiction.

” I love Dr.Suess, I got very inspired by my Roger Dean Books, and I really loved the work of Oliver Postgate (puppeteer of The Clangers).” says Carl. ” I Love all of Jim Hensons creations from Gonzo to the Gelflings, fraggle Rock was great. One of the highlights of my early telly-visual experiences was the Banana Splits…so good!”.

            This inspiration can be seen in his projects aimed at children’s television and the like.

Filming environment back plate shots for Pleebles

            What I like about Carl’s work is that there is plenty of computer usage, but loads of the content derives from an analogue source.

            “I love Adobe Photoshop, Flash and After Effects, but my real passion is model making. I use found objects, Fimo, Super Sculpy, Daz, and remixed toys. Acrylic paint and PVA are always close by”. Gotta love Acrylic paint.

            Some artists really like to depict modern issues in their work and vent their thoughts and frustration about the state our lives. Although Carl feels strongly about a lot of developments in the world, he usually treats his creative work like an escape into an imaginary realm where he gets to shape the rules. I know many of us can relate to that.

            One of Carls big personal projects is ‘Pleebles’. An imaginary world populated by fun and colourful characters. I talked to him about what fuels his creativity…

            “Making stuff and coming up with ideas is a good way to keep my mind from straying into anxiety. It is definitely a healing place to be when I’m fully absorbed in the creative flow. The Message behind the Pleebles is one of community and hope. There’s a playful and harmonious vibe. I’ve created a show that I would like to see if I was a small boy now. A show that would inspire me. Sound effects and music also inspire me…I’ve  collaborated with some real genius friends….sound is a huge part of creating animated worlds.”

            He hopes his projects can reach a global audience and one way or another he will make it happen. Although he has been blessed with amazing studio space over the years a little more space to arrange his animation sets would be nice, about 3 times the space would be ideal.

            He hopes his projects will reach a global audience and one way or another he will make it happen. Although he has been blessed with amazing studio space over the years a little more space to arrange his animation sets would be nice, about 3 times the space would be ideal.


These set pieces are filmed and used as back plates in shots where all the characters play out their lives. Lovingly modelled to depict an imaginative world of amazing fun and creativity.

The shots are layered to give a fantastic feel. Providing scope for various sky effects and reusing landscape module sections for variation and minimising production time.

Some of Carl’s characters can be seen in this example animation in all their glory. You have to see them in motion to get the full impact of their greatness and comedy genius.

“This animation was created for a Sesame Street competition…a remix of the classic pinball track with characters from Pleebles .”

To check out the Pleebles universe in full click HERE