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Esquire's New Cover Star: Morph

Advertising, Art

Posted by Patrick Burgoyne, 30 January 2009, 16:02    Permalink    Comments (13)


Following the recent death of the wonderful TV presenter and artist Tony Hart, one of his most famous creations, Morph, is to appear on the cover of the March issue of Esquire. And he finally has some clothes

It's actually Morph's 30th birthday, which makes this writer feel extremely old. To celebrate, Esquire and a team from Aardman Animations, which brought the original Morph to life on Take Hart, have given the little feller a wardrobe by the likes of Burberry, Gucci and Prada - in plasticine, of course.

Morph features on the subscriber cover and, with his old mate Chaz, on inside pages (Esquire art director: David McKendrick).

Apparently, it took Aardman's Peter Lord and team 8 weeks to create the outfits and scenes.

“I must say the Esquire shoot was a hoot. The joke is that Morph’s wardrobe – which is approximately one-twelfth scale – was almost certainly worth twice as much as my wardrobe, Lord says. "Morph is really tiny – only about 12 or 13 centimetres tall. I couldn’t imagine how you could make clothes so tiny and then fit them around Morph’s body – which isn’t exactly slim – and still have them look good.”

This isn't the first time one of Aardman's characters has crossed over into the world of high fashion - last year we reported on Wallace and Gromit starring in a Harvey Nichols campaign. What next, Shaun the Sheep for Baaahberry? (Sorry)

The issue is out February 5. All images (C) Aardman 2008 for Esquire magazine

13 Comments

Very brave, but I think it'll definitely pay off. I can't imagine a single person in Esquire's target readership who won't love this.

Is that the subscriber-only cover? Is it really going out that text-naked?
Daniel
2009-01-30 16:14:58

… wait … just read the whole thing again. So it is the subscriber cover … what I meant to say: is Morph on the regular shop-shelf cover?
Daniel
2009-01-30 16:19:33

@Daniel
We're just awaiting confirmation on which issues he will appear on. Will update the story once we have more details
CR Patrick Burgoyne
2009-01-30 16:21:38

@Daniel
Yep, it's just the subs cover
CR Patrick Burgoyne
2009-01-30 16:45:26

@ Patrick
That's a shame. I thought they were being really daring, but no. (Except now I feel like I have to subscribe just to get that one cover … damn it … they've won).
Daniel
2009-01-30 16:48:24

Do UK Esquire have any readers? They certainly don't have any proper writers.

Stick to the US version.
Simon Coxon
2009-01-30 17:09:57

I didn't know anything about this. Thanks
logo design
2009-01-30 20:03:11

Very imaginative, have to agree with Daniel, I may have to subscribe just to get hold of it!
thepicklebot
2009-01-30 22:22:06

strange, and sadly ignorant, comment from simon coxon. two of esquire's regular contributors have been shortlisted for the booker prize (andrew o'hagan and colm toibin), a number of the magazine's other writers have numerous other literary awards on their bookshelves (john lanchester, david baddiel and rachel cooke). and two others have just had rave reviews for their first novels (anthony quinn and richard t kelly).

i'd stick to manga comics if i was you, simon. you'll find the pictures will help you follow the story more easily...
jem sambrook
2009-01-31 10:07:19

Wow. This is amazing. So weird to see Morph in clothes.

It's only when you read that it took "8 weeks to create the outfits and scenes" that you can start to appreciate the level of work that goes in to such animation.
kelvinwins
2009-01-31 15:36:16

Were his eyes always that big? He's reminds me of the the stoned Mr Burns in the Simpsons episode, when everyone thought he was a martian. (No, I'm not stoned myself).
Pinky
2009-01-31 18:02:07

I think it is a huge shame about Tony Hart I was a huge fan and he really helped inspire me from a young age, we should have more people like this with passion to encourage young design. Morph was great!
lucy
2009-02-02 11:33:07

They should probably have credited the creator as well as Aardman on the cover...
Kenn Munk
2009-02-04 13:13:36

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