A SELF-TAUGHT author, illustrator and now animator has created a magical short film just using her mobile phone – and a lot of patience.

Lorna Gibson from Tarporley had written and illustrated a charming tale called Mr Bear’s Christmas in 2019, but wanted to add a little more magic by bringing it to life as a stop-motion animation.

The 39-year-old even taught herself how to needle felt so she could create the characters and set on a small budget.

"I thought it would be really complicated but it was actually quite simple when I had a go," Lorna explained.

"Once I got to grips with it, it was such an easy way to bring it all to life.

"I'd already written three stories about Mr Bear, and it was just so tempting to bring it to life."

Without any training or experience the story of Mr Bear was lifted from the page, using an iphone, a £5 stop-motion app and plenty of patience.

Six months and thousands of images later, the 11-minute Mr Bear's Christmas animation was born.

Lorna's creation was helped along by a lighting specialist who works on professional animations and a composer who made a beautiful soundtrack to accompany the story and characters.

"The feedback from the animation has been so lovely," Lorna said.

"I had the idea of putting it into screenings but with Covid, it was not the right time.

"It was actually so lovely because I just got inundated with pictures of people watching it from their own TVs instead.

"It blew my mind, it was really nice to watch people enjoying it."

Lorna described the project as 'one of the best things' she has ever done.

She said: "The thing I loved was that it was done so low key, I just did it on my iPhone.

"I already had everything I needed it and was really fun just to make it up as I went along.

"I hope other people will have a go themselves."

Lorna is the founder of Toots Designs and sells prints, books and cards.

To find out more or to watch Mr Bear's Christmas, visit tootsdesign.co.uk.