Tippett Studio worked on friend and foe alike on celebrated children’s classic, The Spiderwick Chronicles. Our founder, Phil Tippett, oversaw the design and development of sidekick Hogsqueal, villain Red Cap, Red Cap’s army of goblins, the rampaging Troll, and the final crow form of shape-shifting Mulgarath.

The first task was to envision a fantasy dimension that existed, unseen, alongside our own and characters that looked believable alongside the human cast. Though The Spiderwick Chronicles’ intended audience were children, Phil felt it was no less important to underscore the importance and urgency of the narrative by grounding the movements of its CGI antagonists in the physical world. Of bad guy Red Cap, Phil observed, “He’s not a Saturday morning cartoon character. He’s made of genuine flesh and bone and has to obey the laws of reality.”

The Spiderwick Chronicles earned Tippett Studio a 2008 VES Award Nomination for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Motion Picture.