Creative Director - Phil Watson

Phil was born a shell's throw from the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia. He now lives, works and surfs on the northern beaches of Sydney.

After school he completed a degree in Science, majoring in Coastal Geomorphology. But it was his other skills in cartooning and story-telling that would become his career.

Here are some highlights:
- 15 years as a freelance cartoonist, illustrating kids educational material and telling original stories to thousands of school kids throughout the Sydney region.
- Created animations for the Australian TV show "Burgo's Catch Phrase"
- Creator of Shaaark! (the world's largest collection of shark cartoons)
- 2005-2008 worked with SeaLife Aquarium Minnesota (formerly Underwater Adventures Aquarium) to turn their mascot 'Sharky' into a cartoon character. Phil created some short animations of Sharky on his YouTube channel, and these animations have over 2 million views.
- 2012 Wrote/directed/animated the online series Shaaark with Movie Extra, to date over half a million views.
- Has worked with RaboDirect (Australia), Ocean Park (Hong Kong), Comix35 (USA)

These days Phil is passionate about his family, the ocean and telling stories to a kids- of all ages. He would love to hear from you, and is keen to help Aquariums all over the world communicate to a new generation the wonders of the ocean.

Animation team

Matt Baker worked for over five years at DisneyToon Studios in Sydney, in roles including Senior Cleanup Artist and Cleanup Instructor. He's worked on 9 Disney animated movies. To quote Ian Harrowell (director of animation), "everyone at Disney wanted Matt to draw for them!". Since the Sydney studio closed its doors in 2006, Matt has been working as a freelance artist and animator. You can view Matt's latest project here.

After studying the fine arts, Leigh Hedstrom settled down quickly into a career of freelance illustration, design and animation. She has been professionally illustrating for 7 years. You can see some of Leigh's recent work here.