diddleysquatt.com

What It Is

DiddleySquatt Studios is an independent animation studio project launched by New Zealand animator and illustrator Tim Hunt. The site currently centers on the original animated short film The Telescope: a hand-crafted animated short about an elderly man obsessed with stargazing. The goal is not just to complete a single film, but to use it as a starting point for building a New Zealand-based short animation studio for international audiences.

Core Strengths and Creative Positioning

Based on the site copy, the project emphasizes a “hand-crafted” production approach. Characters, environments, and elements are planned to be modeled specifically for the film rather than relying on ready-made assets. The script and storyboard have already been completed, and production has begun on the opening animation. Founder Tim Hunt has over 30 years of experience in the creative industry, including more than 9 years in children’s TV animation. He also mentions having worked on studio projects related to Disney, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros, and others, as well as long-term work in advertising storyboards, children’s book illustration, TVCs, and corporate video animation.

Pricing and Funding Model

This is not a standardized SaaS tool or design outsourcing service, and the site does not provide service pricing, packages, or licensing fees. The project mainly relies on support through Patreon, PayPal donations, and the arts crowdfunding platform Boosted. As of May 2026, the page states that 15,000 has been raised through Boosted, though the currency is not specified. Funding will first be used for pre-production and a teaser animation, with the aim of securing further financing later.

Pros and Cons

The strengths are a solid founder background, a clear artistic direction, strong originality, and a long-term vision. The project also already has a script, storyboard, and some production progress. The downsides are also clear: it is still at an early stage, primarily driven by one person, and does not yet have a stable team or a completed work. The website does not disclose production tools, delivery formats, copyright cooperation terms, or commercial service capabilities. External collaboration also appears to be mainly voluntary at this stage, so short-term commercial certainty is limited.

Who It’s For

It is better suited to patrons who want to support independent animation and New Zealand original creative projects, or to 3D modelers and animators interested in participating in an independent short film. If a business client is looking for a mature animation vendor, it would still need to further discuss availability, team capacity, pricing, and delivery capabilities.

Access from China

The crawled text does not provide information about access performance from mainland China, so it is not possible to determine whether the site can be reached directly. Access status is marked as unknown.