Annie Atkins is a Welsh/Irish graphic designer and prop maker for film and television. She is known for her graphic design work in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and has gone on to work with director Wes Anderson on Isle of Dogs (2018) and The French Dispatch (2021).
Early life
Atkins grew up in Dolwyddelan in Northern Wales. Her mother was an artist and her father a graphic designer. Atkins graduated with a degree in visual communications from Ravensbourne University London. After graduation, she worked as an art director in the advertising agency McCann-Erickson in Reykjavík, Iceland. In 2007, she enrolled in University College Dublin's master in film production program after losing enthusiasm for her work at McCann-Erickson, saying “I thought I’d leave design completely, that I’d study film and be a camera operator or a technician, and then I found this whole other world of design.”
Career
After graduating from University College Dublin, she worked as a designer on the third season of the BBC costume drama The Tudors in 2007. As the role was broadly defined, she had varying responsibilities, such as working as a stonemason, signwriter and scribe, and prop maker. After The Tudors, Atkins remained in Dublin and bounced around film jobs.
Atkins was lead graphic designer on The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014). The film won the Academy Award for Best Production Design at the 87th Academy Awards.
Atkins worked on her first video game project, "That's You!", in 2018.
She teaches workshops out of her studio in Dublin, Ireland.
Filmography
Television
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| The Tudors | |
| Camelot | |
| Titanic: Blood and Steel | |
| Vikings | |
| Penny Dreadful |
Film
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | The Boxtrolls | |
| 2014 | The Grand Budapest Hotel | |
| 2015 | Bridge of Spies | |
| 2016 | Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk | |
| 2018 | Isle of Dogs | |
| 2021 | The French Dispatch | |
| 2021 | West Side Story |
Bibliography
- To the Left of the Midwest (2008), self-published
- Fake Love Letters, Forged Telegrams, and Prison Escape Maps (2020)
- Letters from the North Pole: With Five Letters from Santa Claus to Pull Out and Read, Fia Tobig illustrator, (2024)
References
- ^ O’Sullivan, John-Michael (25 January 2020). "From fake maps to golden tickets: the film props of artist Annie Atkins". the Guardian. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ ""Imagination doesn't compare to our real life design history": Annie Atkins on the art of graphic design for film". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "On the Corner of Film and Design with Annie Atkins". Communication Arts. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- "Artist Spotlight: Annie Atkins was a graphic designer behind The French Dispatch and The Grand Budapest Hotel". District Magazine. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- Jenkins, Tom (4 July 2014). "Grand Designs: Annie Atkins". Port Magazine. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
- "Introducing Annie Atkins". Breed. 31 May 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- "Meet Annie Atkins, the Graphic Designer Working With Wes Anderson". Wix Playground | Design Blog | Design Culture. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- Wiltshire, Alex (1 February 2018). "How a Wes Anderson movie prop maker helped develop That's You!". Game Developer. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- "Annie Atkins Writes New Book About Designing Graphic Props for Filmmaking". Art Departmental. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- "Wes Anderson's graphic designer Annie Atkins on designing the past and ensuring future talent in the field". Digital Arts. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- ^ "How Wes Anderson's intricately designed props bring his films to life". British GQ. 11 March 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- Dawood, Sarah (25 March 2015). "Annie Atkins and the "secret world" of film graphics". Design Week. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
- Boyd-Wallis, Rebecca (16 April 2015). "meet annie atkins, graphic designer of the grand budapest hotel's empire of zubrowka". i-D. Retrieved 20 March 2022.