Fat Squirrel Studios is where all of Illustrator Christopher Whittle’s work can be found. The company name is based around a clever real-life squirrel called Barry who lives in a garden in Los Angeles and sits underneath a bird feeding station all day long getting free snacks. Clever.
Fat Squirrel Studios was first developed in 2015 and after continuous hard work was officially launched in 2020. Owned and operated by Atlantic Images Ltd, a registered incorporated company of England and Wales, Fat Squirrel Studios is all about having a fun approach to creating original content.
Christopher Whittle is from Worsley in Manchester, England and became first known for his drawing skills in primary school because he could draw Garfield. Moving to Knutsford, Cheshire when he was eight, Chris studied Art & Design at A-Level at the esteemed Sir John Deane’s College leaving with an A, before going on to Newcastle Under-Lyme College to complete a foundation course, winning an award for his photography. It was here where Chris was at a crossroads. He had offers to study fine art, film-making, or photography at University, deciding that a Photography in Europe BA (Hons) in Nottingham was the choice for him at the time. After he completed his studies in 2001 Chris joined Cavendish Press in Manchester as a professional photographer before being head-hunted as a photographer for a media company in Los Angeles, California in 2004.
After eleven years working and traveling across the world as a professional photographer based out of L.A. Chris saw it was time for a change and set up his own media company back in the United Kingdom. Originally called The Fat Squirrel Media Company it was changed to Atlantic Images Ltd and in 2015 his company was born. Atlantic Images now acts as the umbrella company for several brands, with Fat Squirrel Studios finally becoming a reality in 2020. While Chris still acts as the Creative Director for Atlantic Images his full time focus is at Fat Squirrel.
Chris lives between Monteroni D’Arbia in Italy, Cadgwith in Cornwall, and Los Angeles in California. He also likes to pop to Cheam to visit the official Atlantic Images headquarters in Jane and John’s front room.