Winnipeg animator Richard Condie has donated thousands of drawings and memorabilia from his animated films to the University of Manitoba.

An animation still from Richard Condie's 1985 Oscar-nominated The Big Snit.
(National Film Board)

Items from the donation will go on display at an exhibition whimsically entitled "Aarrgg!" at the university's Gallery One One One on Thursday.

The exhibition will include screenings of The Big Snit, Getting Started and La Salla —Condie's first 3-D computer animation — as well as animation cels, pencil drawings, dope sheets and background paintings by Condie's sister, Sharon Condie.

"We've actually brought his light table from home, and we're going to go through the process of how he created his characters," university archivist Shelley Sweeney said.

"We've got the final product, and then we've got the drawings where he created that shaky style of his."

Condie's work is hugely popular around the world, Sweeney said.

"There's, like, cult followings for The Big Snit and Getting Started," she said. "I just ran across a blog that's in the Czech Republic where people were talking about it.  People are very interested in his work."

Condie's work is the largest donation her department has received in 25 years, Sweeney said. The artist donated his work in part because he wanted it properly preserved, she said.

Born in Vancouver in 1942, Condie received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba. For years he considered his drawing talent as "fooling around," until he was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts in 1971 that launched his career in animation.

The 10-minute short The Big Snit, juxtaposing global nuclear holocaust and a game of Scrabble, may be Condie's best-known work; in addition to Oscar and Genie nominations, it won 16 other international awards.