18 June 2001

When 21-year-old Mark Tennant graduates from the University of Dundee in July he will walk straight into what for many of his generation is the dream job - animator for a major computer games company.

Mark, who has been studying animation and electronic media at the University's internationally reputed School of TV and Imaging, has been taken on by DMA Design - designers of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto - as animator on their latest games concepts. He describes his reaction to landing one of the best jobs in the industry as "kinda chuffed".

It was Mark's ability to simultaneously animate 1,000 hedgehog spines (pictured) that undoubtedly impressed his employers. For the coming week Mark's work will be on show at the art students' Annual Exhibition at Duncan of Jordanstone College where he has won the department's £250 prize for the best computer generated animation provided by international electronic games company Vis.

His short film, Prickly Pair is "a character driven computer generated animated short in which two hedgehogs demonstrate contrasting opinions toward the use of the local insect population".

Mark, who is from Ardersier near Inverness, will graduate with a Bachelor of Design with honours./ends