Leigh Ryan

Born in Geelong (Australia) and raised in Bannockburn (Also Australia), Leigh is an illustrator, animator, and author. Intelligent, driven and genuinely passionate about the process, Leigh loves the possibilities that can arise when working on a new creative project. Leigh has worked for commercial companies such as Toyota, Coca-Cola and Aeroplane Jelly and has worked on animated TV shows for Galaxy Pop (Get Ace), Working Dog (Pacific Heat), Moose Toys (The Grossery Gang) and Zuru Toys (Smashers - Series One). In 2017 Leigh founded Geelong based creative studio Pillowfort Creative, which over its seven years in operation saw him work on numerous innovative projects, for clients locally, nationally and internationally and allowed him to fully draw upon his fifteen years of industry experience.
 

His most outstanding achievement during this time was the creation of the Meet Orby app for the Geelong Gallery. Installed at the Gallery, the app housed an animated avatar whose main function was entertaining and informing children visiting the Gallery. In 2022, the app offered an "At Home" version, which allowed the public to display pieces from the Gallery's collection at home and at scale, with Orby in tow.

He also wrote and illustrated a series of kids books under the title Big Crow and Little Pumpkin, which he only did because he wanted to show off to his children. The shine wore off after book twelve.
 

Leigh also embarrassed himself early on in his career in front of celebrated radio host Waleed Aly and Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot on live national radio. He hopes to one day write a novel about this experience and burn it.