I've never felt really creative or intuitive using software. I like paper and pens and paint. I need to angle real lights on my artwork and work with my hands and build props. Computers just take all that fun out of it [animation drawing].

I've never felt really creative or intuitive using software. I like paper and pens and paint. I need to angle real lights on my artwork and work with my hands and build props. Computers just take all that fun out of it [animation drawing].

The only purpose of the visuals, in any film, is to serve the story.

Most people's personalities and roles are locked by the time they're nine or 10. I think there's something to that.

I have friends and illustrators who can't stand drawing on the Cintiq. [A graphic pad tablet used by digital animators] There's a certain tension and friction when you draw on paper that they miss. The tablet is very slick. It's like drawing on glass. But that didn't bother me at all.

But I had never drawn on a tablet before. I've been doing pencil and paper and film for almost 20 years. I wanted to try something different. I wanted to teach myself some digital stuff in advance of a bigger feature project that's coming up, and I took to it really quickly.

You have to leave the window open for better classes to come along as you go. You can't grow too proud of your script. You have to let the thing shape itself. It guarantees the best classes will always be used and it also keeps you from going braindead. If you grow bored and uninspired working on something, the audience will be able to tell.