News: Thursday, 4 December 2025
The Primary Learning Resources Centre (LRC) was buzzing with excitement as our Year 4 students welcomed a very special guest. Nani Thomann was visiting—a character animator from the much-loved Australian TV series Bluey! Yes, that’s Brisbane’s very own Bluey, created by writer, filmmaker, and animator Joe Brumm.
Nani is a character animator who joined the Bluey crew in 2017 after an eight-week animation course and selection process. She worked at Ludo Studios throughout seasons 1 and 2, animating a total of 30 episodes, including fan favourites Yoga Ball, Takeaway, Squash, The Quiet Game, and many more. Nani’s animations helped develop the cheekiness and warmth that Bluey fans know and love, and once, she even took on the role of voice actor for a backpacker character in the episode Explorers.
During her visit with Year 4, Nani revealed the processes involved in bringing animations to life. She taught students how digital puppets and software are used together to display emotion, personality, and movement. She also shared insights into some of the challenges faced during animation, including how they manually animate frames to correct computer glitches.
Students were intrigued to hear about the show's first screening at ABC Studios and the journey to it becoming an international success and winning numerous Logies, Emmys, and other television awards. The simple Bluey character, first imagined in our very own city, is now much loved by millions of children around the world!
To finish her presentation, Nani guided students through an activity using custom Bluey animations, which they cut out, coloured, and turned into an animated flipbook. This showed how they could use their visual art and design skills to help create captivating animations.
Overall, Nani Thomann’s visit was an enthralling experience, showing Year 4 students how their imaginations and creativity are amazing gifts, and that one day they may bring stories like Bluey to life for other audiences.
- Written by Mia McCrostie (Year 10)
- Photos by Matilda Harris (Year 10)
