I hope it’s the kind of work you can’t sum up in a sentence.

There’s a list here at DN, not written down anywhere and rarely discussed by myself or El Vez, yet despite its lack of physicality it drives everything that we do. This list contains the names of every director whose work we absolutely adore and therefore feel certain that someday we’ll sit down with for an interview, in an attempt to reveal a little of that creative magic which raises their work to such awe inspiring heights. Run Wrake’s name has been on that list since we saw Rabbit, his genre busting narrative about the dangers of greed which we were fortunate enough to include in our 2006 Reading & Leeds screenings. We shall always regret that we never pursued an interview with the talented animator/director/illustrator whilst we had the opportunity – regrettably Wrake’s wife posted the following message to his Facebook page earlier today:

It is with incredible sadness that I have to let you know that our darling Run passed away very suddenly at 5am on Sunday morning as an end result of his cancer. He had spent a beautiful Saturday with his two children Florence and Joe, his sister Fiona and myself. We left him at 7pm doing what he loved best- drawing and animating with peg bar and paper.
I was with him for his last moments. We love you Run.
Lisa Wrake.

Our thoughts go out to Run Wrake’s family, friends and those who found inspiration in his work. It goes without saying that you should re-watch or discover his body of work on runwrake.com and share it far and wide. We’ve posted Rabbit below, that initial piece of his work which caught our eye.

https://youtu.be/fw3XyOyl47Q

And thanks to APEngine we can hear the man himself talk about his work and influences. We’re sure Run Wrake will be listed as an inspiration to many animators for years to come.

https://youtu.be/tOzza6ItU5k

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