A student from Bristol, who grew up "loving Aardman", has been chosen to attend a series of European animation workshops.

Joseph Wallace, 21, who studies animation at University of Wales, is one of just two students in the UK who will attend Animation Sans Frontieres workshop, which starts today.

The eight-week programme will see Mr Wallace, who grew up in Knowle, attend workshops at four of the leading animation film schools in Germany, Budapest, Paris and Denmark.

Billed as a boot-camp style taste of European animation training, Mr Wallace can look forward to overnight presentations, industry pitches and studio visits.

He said: "When I was three years old I saw Wallace and Gromit's A Grand Day Out. I said to my parents 'that's what I want to do'."

Mr Wallace now specialises in stop motion animation, painstakingly moving puppets and models to make his films.

He once took seven hours to shoot just four seconds of film, but doesn't think he is particularly patient.

He said: "People always say that but I don't think I am. It makes me even more eager to get the shot done."

Mr Wallace will join a group of 17 other students, who will spend two weeks at each college learning the entire process of the animation business, from techniques to the business of pitching a production.

Mr Wallace was part of a trio who ran an off-beat animation theatre at the Tobacco Factory, which mixed live puppetry with animation.

He said being chosen to attend the prestigious workshops was a "great honour", but added: "There is a sense of pressure as well though. It's a really exciting opportunity."