My younger brother Nick Wade, who has died suddenly at the age of 50, was a talented professional 2D Flash animator. He worked on many cartoon programmes, bringing joy to millions of young children – and their parents.
Nick displayed artistic talent from an early age. He was full of energy and mischief, but also had a meticulous, exacting nature – a quality that paid off in the animation industry. He was sensitive and expressive, and in his own way was a performer, which was evidenced by his different styles and looks, ranging from mohicans, to Dalí-style moustaches, to quiffs. He once even crafted his hair into a spike at the front of his head, using metal glue. Nick described himself as a “dancer who doesn’t dance”, which to him was what it was to be an animator.
Nick was born in the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, where his parents Jim Wade, a computer software engineer, and Sylvia (nee Kenning), a language teacher, were living. The family then moved to England, Switzerland, back to England and then, when our parents relocated to France, he boarded at Leighton Park school, Reading.
He went on to train with the London Animation Studio at Central Saint Martins, where he gained a distinction in traditional character animation in 2003. He lived in London with his wife Harumi Tanaka, an artist, whom he married in 1999, and their son, Victor.
He worked for years as a lead animator at various studios, including Astley Baker Davies, Karrot Animation, Chase Imagination and also on his own projects.
Nick worked on Bafta-winning productions such as the See Something, Say Something TV campaign (2008) for Nickelodeon; Quiff and Boot (2010) for BBC Learning; Peppa Pig (series four, 2011); and The Donkey Tooth Fairy (2011) and The Cyclops Whose Eye Fell Out (2012) for CITV. He also worked on The Secret Show, Sarah and Duck, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, Pedro and Frankensheep, Monkey Dust and Simon’s Cat for various channels.
Music was always very important to him; he loved psychobilly, old rock’n’roll, ska, punk and other musical genres. Many of his friends have some of his artistic creations, including logos, caricatures, album covers, music videos, illustrations and his eclectic music mixes. I still treasure the chair he painted beautifully – to look as if it belongs in a wild garden – for my 30th birthday.
He is survived by Harumi, Victor, me, our half-sisters, Hattie and Tilly, and his father, Jim.
