A Hero’s Journey: Animation Workshops in North Lanarkshire - Visible Fictions

A Hero’s Journey

Animation Workshops in North Lanarkshire

From workshop to the big screen: inspired by the stop-motion animation Papergee and the Spider, a group of young filmmakers in North Lanarkshire have been crafting their own stories, building characters, and animating their heroes from scratch. After ten weeks of workshops, these creative journeys culminate in the much-anticipated Inspire Fest 2026 — a showcase of imagination, skill, and a whole lot of movie magic.

Project Overview

Animation workshops inspired by Papergee and the Spider, delivered in partnership between Visible Fictions and North Lanarkshire Council.

Papergee and the Spider is a charming, stop motion animation created by Visible Fictions and Clubhouse Animation (check out more of Clubhouse’s fabulous work here…)

Following the film’s international festival success, we shared Papergee and the Spider with aspiring filmmakers in North Lanarkshire and guided them in creating their own animations inspired by Papergee, her trusty sidekick Spider, and the timeless theme of A Hero’s Journey.

Workshop Process / What They Learned

Over a period of 10 weeks, 15 high school pupils came to Summerlee Photomedia Studio to work with our practitioners. Every Tuesday the participants would attend for 90 minutes to learn about:

Storytelling – how to craft the story outline for a film

Storyboarding – how to plan the shots required for film
Model Making – creating the characters to appear on film
Stop Motion Animation – the processes involved in creating a film
Editing – when you have all your shots… what next!
Sound scape – how to add music or sound effects to a film

At the end of the 10 week course, each participant created their own short animation, learning creative skills, meeting new people, and discovering a little more about themselves along the way.

The workshops provided learning directly linked to the Curriculum for Excellence – for more details on what CfE links were covered please click the button below to download a PDF.

Project feedback

Here is what Mr Boyd, key worker at Cumbernauld Academy, said about the workshops:

Outcome / Inspire Fest 2026

These films will be showcased as part of North Lanarkshire Council’s Inspire Fest 2026, an annual celebration of arts and creativity featuring activities, workshops, and performances for the whole community. We hope you will come along and enjoy the films and celebrate the imagination and hard work of these young filmmakers.

Full programme details will be available nearer the time via North Lanarkshire Council’s website.

Project Gallery

Step behind the scenes of our Hero’s Journey workshops. This photo album PDF captures the storyboarding, model-making, puppets, teamwork, and movie-making moments that shaped the project.

Work With Us

Interested in bringing a creative learning project like this to your school, organisation, or community? We’d love to chat.

Get in touch with our producer, Laura Penny, at laura@visiblefictions.co.uk