New animation from Beakus answers the age-old question, what is Magna Carta?

With a voiceover from Monty Python’s Terry Jones, Beakus’ animation commemorating the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta takes us back to mediaeval England and Bad King John. Commissioned by the British Library for their exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, the animation was inspired by the colours and motifs in mediaeval ornaments and tells the story of our origins of liberty through jiggly paper and characters with bulbous bodies and tiny heads.

Drawn by Gergely Wootsch, it’s textured with overlapping brushstrokes and makes great use of muted tones. The animation is aimed at a young audience but with such a high quality of visuals and storytelling What is Magna Carta? may just have the draw of the very story it tells.

What is Magna Carta? was animated by Gergely Wootsch, Marcus Armitage, Issac Holland and Franky Swan and the exhibition at the British Library is open now through September.