The initial inspiration behind Tim and Bash came when my friend Andy Bashforth and I were looking to develop a new animation project. After several years of working in the animation industry on films such as Klaus, Space Jam 2, Sonic 2 and Disenchanted, we really wanted to create something by ourselves and see if we could turn it into a business. We felt like there was a space in the TikTok/YouTube Shorts realm for a high-quality CG character, and we knew it had to be something that would appeal to lots of people.

Dragons have been popular in stories for centuries, and have recently come back into fashion thanks to shows like How to Train your Dragon and Game of Thrones. Dragons have always captured our imagination because they have an indefinable presence, and we feel there is still a lot of ground untrodden when it comes to dragons as they appear in films.

We felt that a baby dragon was a more unique angle that we hadn’t seen too much of, and was packed with fun story opportunities. We knew there had to be a human figure in this series that would look after Bash. We toyed with the idea of keeping everything in the fantasy realm, but the idea of bringing recognised fantasy themes into a modern-day context felt the most appropriate for engaging with people on TikTok.

Eventually we landed on the idea of pairing Bash with a firefighter, because who else would be better to look after a fire-breathing pet? This also gave Bash a great purpose which will be our overarching storyline: Can Bash be used in the fire service? With the characters set, I then contacted my friend Tim Northcott, who used to be a firefighter, to see if he would be interested in the project. As a lover of comics and films, Tim was extremely excited to be cast in the role and kindly let us use his name for the character.

For the past couple of years we have been developing a collection of live-action videos, alongside a weekly webcomic to help introduce the world and the characters.

We wanted to create a unique design for Bash, and wanted to try something more bird-like for the head. We were inspired by harpy eagles, as they have an incredible set of head feathers which we felt could be arranged to resemble the familiar horns that lots of dragons have. We also wanted him to move differently to other dragons we’ve seen, so we were inspired by the twinkle-toed bodies of bear cubs, which give a clumsy but adorable look. 

After drawing 47 comic issues, the characters have gone through a small refinement process. Each time I draw a comic, I’m trying to keep the characters on-model, whilst drawing them in the most appealing way possible.

The biggest challenges we’ve faced in developing the live-action series of Tim and Bash has been achieving the quality we want in the timeframe that we have. Unfortunately, in the world of art, everything takes longer than it’s supposed to. We have never wanted to compromise on quality, and have been faced with technical setbacks as we have pushed ourselves into areas we’ve never explored, such as creating believable fur and fire simulation. This project really tested our ability to keep going back and improving things until we hit the quality we were after.

The dynamic between Tim and Bash revolves around the idea that no matter how troublesome, dangerous or embarrassing our pets can be, they just have to look at us with those big round eyes to make us remember it’s all worth it. We wanted to push that idea to the extreme, making Bash the most destructive and adorable pet that it’s possible to have. Tim is doomed to a life of doting servitude, and Bash knows it.

Fans of Tim and Bash can look forward to more live-action shorts coming out each month! We have a stack of incredible videos in the pipeline and we can’t wait to share them with you. We also have big plans for expanding the series into longer videos, starting with the story of how Tim came to adopt Bash!

All of this will only be possible with the help of our audience. If you want to see more of Tim and Bash and help us develop more videos, there are several ways that you can support us!

Firstly we have an exciting Kickstarter campaign which runs until November 6th. We have some incredible rewards for you including our adorable Bash plushie, signed artwork, and the chance to feature in a Tim and Bash official comic! Secondly, we have a growing Patreon community with fantastic rewards including behind-the-scenes content, merch discounts, and portfolio reviews!

Also, if you’d rather just make a one-off donation, you can buy Bash a bag of dragon treats here!