Jonti Picking

Jonathan "Jonti" Picking (born 17 May 1975), also known as Weebl and Mr Weebl, is a British Internet personality and Flash animator and is the creator of Weebl's Stuff.

Jonti Picking
Picking in 2003
Born
Jonathan Picking

(1975-05-17) 17 May 1975
Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England
Other names
  • Weebl
  • Mr. Weebl
  • Jonti
Years active2002–present
Notable work
Spouse
Sarah Darling
​
(m. 2007)​
Children2
Websitewww.weebls-stuff.com

His animations are known for repetitive melodies and surreal dialogue; the majority feature a catchy tune with silly lyrics, paired with a looping animation. He does most of the voices in his animations himself, and several feature himself in live action, including "Haricots Verts", "Chutney", "Boogie", "CAMRA", "Stockmarket", "We Are Mature", "Tangerine" the Weebl and Bob episodes "DJ" and "Safety", the fourth On The Moon episode, and "Jazzmas". He has also worked with other animators on YouTube, such as Edd Gould in the video "Nuts [Weebl]".

Career

Picking is a trained sound engineer and artist, and has also worked on 3D visual effects for the film Resident Evil. In 2003, he made several advertisements for Anchor Butter in the style of his Weebl and Bob animations, but featuring cows, which were broadcast in the UK. The television program Totally Viral on UKTV G2, consisting of video clips and cartoons from the internet, has an animated title sequence and links made by Jonti.

Jonti set up his own production company called Sumo Dojo, which he later left to set up Weebl's Stuff Limited, also known as Weebl Ltd. Weebl's Stuff Ltd was dissolved in 2014, and Jelly Penguin Productions Ltd was set up in its place shortly afterward. In 2009, Picking produced several radio and television adverts based on the tune of the first "Magical Trevor" for the 118 24 7 service of Yell.com. It appeared on the ITV television channel,[1] amongst others. It was voted 6th Most Irritating Ad of 2009 by Marketing Magazine.[2] He is also an admitted fan of Wesley Willis and created an animation for Willis' song "Merry Christmas".[3]

Weebl's Stuff
Main articles: Weebl's cartoons and Weebl and Bob

Weebl's Stuff is Picking's personal website. Whilst initially starting with his own creations (The show "Weebl and Bob" was previously hosted on Newgrounds before moving to Weebl's Stuff), it quickly grew to incorporate numerous series and numerous staff. As well as providing the site with animations, usually at least twice a week, Weebl's Stuff also provides animation services to companies. Clients have included E4, Yellow Pages, and Anchor.

HuHa

In 2012 Picking began contributing to the YouTube comedy channel HuHa under the name of Jelly Penguin. He produced several shorts, including Evil Guy (a parody of super-villains from comic books and Saturday morning cartoons), Beef House (a parody of the A-Team in which the protagonists are butchers) and BAD Advice (a parody of public information films from the 1970s and 1980s). As of 2014, no further works for HuHa have been produced, either by Picking or others.

Team Badger
Main article: Save The Badger Badger Badger

In 2013, Picking teamed up with Queen guitarist and animal rights activist Brian May and actor Brian Blessed, along with a number of animal rights organisations including the RSPCA, to form "Team Badger", a coalition against the British Government's proposed badger cull.[4] Picking, May and Blessed recorded a single, Save The Badger Badger Badger, a mashup of 2003's Badgers, and Queen's Flash, featuring vocals by Blessed. Picking also animated the music video, which parodied elements of the original "Badger" animation, as well as a scene from the 1980 film Flash Gordon, in which Blessed played Prince Vultan, and for which Queen provided the soundtrack. On 1 September 2013, Save The Badger Badger Badger charted at No. 79 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 39 on the UK iTunes chart[5] and No. 1 on the iTunes Rock chart.[6]

Savlonic

Savlonic[7] is a synthpop/synthwave virtual band consisting of singer Rosco (formerly Roscoe Thunderpants) portrayed by Picking, singer/keyboardist Eve (formerly Evangeline D'isco) portrayed by Sarah Darling, backing vocalist/drummer Kandi Flaus (portrayed by Katt Wade[8]), and guitarist Kaspar Funk (Daniel Dobbs).

As of March 2019, nine Savlonic songs have been made into music videos: "Electro Gypsy", "Tiny Japanese Girl", and "Action Causes Reaction" were all animated by Picking, the latter-most being animated in the Unity engine as a VR experience. The videos for "Wandering Eye", "The Driver", "Computer Guy" and "Spelunker" were animated by Peabo.[9] "Broken" and "Hi-Lights" were animated by Kr3id.[10]

The band has released three full-length albums: Red (2014), Neon (2016), and Black Plastic (2019). Cover albums titled Emulat0r and Emulated were released in 2017 and 2020, though there aren't counted as Savlonic's numbered albums. They have also released a five-song EP named after the band's animated frontman Rosco, and multiple tracks released as singles ("Sweet" and "00:00:00").[11] The Red, Neon and Black Plastic albums were funded by the fans of Weebl and Savlonic through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter[12] [13] [14] The campaign for Red raised £34,768 from 1,320 backers, the campaign for Neon raised £40,778 from 1,276 backers, and the campaign for "Black Plastic" raised £37,055 from 847 backers.

Personal life

Picking married Sarah Darling, a radio presenter on the station Xfm, on 31 March 2007.[15] On 23 December 2008, Picking announced his wife's pregnancy on the Weebl's Stuff forums. On 13 July 2009, Picking's wife gave birth to a girl. Picking and Darling also have a son together, born 2 June 2011.

Discography

Picking has produced several mini-albums, most of which feature extended versions of songs featured in his animations. Many are available for purchase on the music streaming site Bandcamp[16] or to stream on Spotify.[17][18]

  • Pure Yak Frenzy (produced with Rob Manuel from b3ta) (2003)[19]
  • Hands Over Pastry (6 April 2009)[20]
  • Yesterday's Lemon (26 October 2009)[21]
  • Magical Chalk Toilet (17 November 2010)[22]
  • Shabby Bacon Hut (2 November 2011)[23]
  • Ooh. Waffle Dog (23 November 2012)[24]
  • On Board the Beef Bus (16 January 2014)[25]
  • Red (as Savlonic) (18 August 2014)[26]
  • Neon (as Savlonic) (19 September 2016)[27]
  • Emulat0r (as Savlonic) (21 September 2017)[28]
  • A Right Festive Northern Christmas (14 December 2017)[29]
  • Black Plastic (as Savlonic) (19 March 2019)[30]
  • Emulated (as Savlonic) (14 May 2020)[31]

References
  1. "118 24 7 and Magical Trevor, what a team". Yell.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
  2. The most irritating ads of 2009. Marketingmagazine.co.uk (12 January 2010). Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  3. Merry Christmas – Weebl's Stuff Archived 11 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Weebls-stuff.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  4. "About TeamBadger". Archived from the original on 29 June 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  5. "Brian May's 'Save the Badger Badger Badger' song climbs iTunes chart". Digital Spy. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  6. "Badger protest song by Brian May reaches charts". The Guardian. 30 August 2013. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  7. "Savlonic – Weebls Stuff". weebls-stuff.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  8. "Kandi in the Studio – Weebls Stuff". weebls-stuff.com. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  9. "Peabo's Newgrounds Page". Newgrounds. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  10. "Kreid's Newgrounds Page". Newgrounds. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  11. "Weebl's Stuff". Weebl's Stuff. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  12. "Red, Savlonic's 1st Album". Kickstarter. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  13. "Neon, Savlonic's 2nd Album". Kickstarter. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  14. "Black Plastic, Savlonic's 3rd Album". Kickstarter. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  15. I'm married! – Weebl's Stuff Archived 10 April 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Weebls-stuff.com. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  16. "Weebl's Stuff". Weebl's Stuff. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  17. "Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  18. "Savlonic". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  19. Weebls Stuff Store: Amazing Horse, Cat Face, Badger Toys, clothing and Accessories. .printshop.co.uk. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  20. "Hands Over Pastry, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  21. "Yesterday's Lemon, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  22. "Magical Chalk Toilet, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  23. "Shabby Bacon Hut, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  24. "Ooh. Waffle Dog, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  25. "On Board the Beef Bus, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  26. "Red, by Savlonic". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  27. "Neon, by Savlonic". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  28. "Emulat0r, by Savlonic". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  29. "A Right Festive Northern Christmas, by Mr Weebl". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  30. "Black Plastic, by Savlonic". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  31. "Emulated, by Savlonic". Spotify. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
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