What happens when Adult Swim invites fans to play exquisite corpse?

Exquisite corpse is one of those games that seems to be permanently mulling around in your subconscious, only to be pulled out of hibernation at very specific times. As a child, when you found yourself faced with an array of half-working felt tip pens and you wanted to have an excuse to draw something crude with your friends; and, as an adult, when you’re a few drinks down and you’ve realised there’s only so many times you can play charades. But Adult Swim is re-energising the paper-folding fun, turning it into a means of connection and collaboration, a chance for animators, aspiring animators and animation fans to get together, chat, network and joust with poster pens.

The live drawing challenge started in 2022 in Germany as part of Adult Swim’s various tours to animations festivals and screenings, and quickly became a fan favourite fixture. We joined the latest at Manchester Animation Festival (the UK’s largest animation festival) which coincided with an Adult Swim screening of shorts from emerging talent from the UK and Europe – including a screening of Uncle Shortbread’s Peter Hair, part of Adult Swim Smalls; the premiere of a spot from animator Harry Mead; and a special screening of Double or Nothing, presented by animation director and creative producer Tokay. And, this time round, the event saw the inclusion of an individual drawing challenge, all focused around Adult Swim’s hit series Smiling Friends, brilliantly titled ‘Smiling Friends, But British, Innit?’ (other iterations include one in Germany titled ‘Rick and Morty in Leiderhosen’).

So why does Adult Swim do it? Mark Taynton, who heads up Adult Swim EMEA for Warner Bros. Discovery, says it mainly comes down to reconnecting with creativity off a screen. The event has become something of an antidote to the influence of increasing worries around new tech. “With all this talk of AI, we decided to go back to pen and paper,” Mark says. “Drawing with strangers creates such a sense of warmth and community.” It’s also a chance for the Adult Swim team to meet face to face with fans – always as informative as it is rewarding. To make things even more exciting for attendees, it’s also an opportunity for talent scouting – each attendee to the challenge has the chance for their work to be picked up for a paid commission, fully produced and supported by AS. Talent scouting is something Mark has always found better to do in person, and if he were to give one piece of advice to aspiring animators, it would simply be to have the confidence to approach people like himself, put a face to a name, and start a conversation the organic way: “Meeting someone – even in a crowded room – is infinitely better than reaching out digitally,” he says.

The event space was packed with eager participants, some sporting Adult Swim Merch (one very hectic Rick and Morty t-shirt stood out), and before getting started Mark affirmed that, more than anything, the event was about “making friends”, and the animator who had won a paid commission with Adult Swim gave their two cents: “Be yourself but don’t scare us too much.” Kicking things off with the exquisite corpse challenge, drawers were told they’d have five minutes to draw the head, before passing on their artwork to another table, repeating the process for the trunk and legs.

After the countdown reached ‘go!’ and the gates opened, some sets of hands took a moment to deliberate, while some got stuck in straight away – one pen lid was flung across the room in one artist’s earnest desperation to get started! The previously chatty room descended into near silence, the only sound the scurrying and squeaking of poster pens on paper. It was quite astonishing to see how quickly participants managed to create something recognisable with simply a few lines and marks – it was a clear sign of seasoned drawers. Some individuals seemed to be going for characters they’d previously developed (one artist stuck to their rendition of Sailor Moon the whole time, meaning there was a deconstructed anime icon littered across the pages), or characteristics they knew how to nail off the cuff, while some threw a plan to the wind. Heads (or some vague description of the word) began to emerge: a slobbering pug, aliens, a giant foot, even a slice of pizza with eyes.

When it got to handing over the artworks and starting the middle section, things felt a little different – the artists were slower, more tentative to start, as if worried about doing justice to another person’s hard work. One attendee even included a speech bubble stating ‘sorry, I just can’t draw’. Honesty is the best policy, as the saying goes. But when things did eventually get restarted, things got a little weird, as Mark had assured would happen. Mark recalls in previous challenges having to tell people to tone it down, for fear of not being able to post the artworks anywhere public. Seems those crude kid instincts do never truly leave us!

When the middle and legs had been completed, it was time for the live challenge – Smiling Friends but British, Innit? Each attendee was tasked with taking one of the characters from Adult Swim’s hit animated TV series Smiling Friends by Zach Hadel and Michael Cusack, and turning them quintessentially ‘British’, with the chance to win big (prizes included a Wacom tablet, a pair of Airpods, and an iPad). It was both a charming and damning indictment of what it means – or looks like – to be British. Some people looked to history and tradition, bringing in references to the plague, or cladding their character in swathes of tweed, while one piece saw the lengthy Smiling Friends character Alan Red turned into a plate of bangers and mash. Others looked to more contemporary references, with the iconic Bo’ohw’o’wo’er meme and one rendition of a football match emblazoned with ‘it’s coming home!’. Some of the best took recognisable characters and blended them with Smiling Friends, like a Glep-meets-Paddington-Bear, and my personal favourite, Mr Boss crossed with Wallace from Wallace & Gromit. Similar fellas when you think about it, right?

When the 15 minutes was up, the live drawing challenges went for judging by an expert panel, while the exquisite corpses were judged by attendees with clapping and cheers, panel by panel (expertly whizzed through at lightning speed by Mark, who’s clearly a seasoned exquisite corps-er) with winners awarded Adult Swim merch, from the niche character hoodies to Rick and Morty door knockers.

But (queue the cheese), the night wasn’t about prizes, or being the best artist. It was a reminder of something which can be easily forgotten or sidelined; that creativity isn’t just a job or a hobby, but a vehicle for connection. Although (very well designed) bespoke business cards were being handed around at the end, the evening was proof that sitting alongside other creative minds and getting the chance to create together really can’t be beaten. We do it as kids, why should we stop now? And without a doubt, it proved the unifying power of animation and fandom. “Everything you can do with animation, escapism, pushing the boundaries, storytelling is amazing,” says Mark. “I think the world needs animation more than ever.” And, may we add into the mix, a piece of paper folded in three and a few felt tip pens too.