My dream was to draw for 'The Beano.' When I was 10 years old, I started drawing cartoon strips with 'The Beano' in mind. I lived in that world. You own a comic, it's yours and adults don't understand it. You could pile them up under the bed, and if you were off school ill, you'd go through them all.

Nick Park

Categorized in : You School World Mind

We can do things that we never could before. Stop-motion lets you build tiny little worlds, and computers make that world even more believable.

tiny littles world

I think we all have a Wallace and Gromit inside us. Wallace is the part that has wild plans. Gromit is the sensible side, reining you in.

sensible sides thinking

Get out and make films. There are so many cameras now to suit any... by Nick Park

Get out and make films. There are so many cameras now to suit any budget, so there are no excuses.

no-excuses suits cameras

Gromit was the name of a cat. When I started modeling the cat I just didn't feel it was quite right, so I made it into a dog because he could have a bigger nose and bigger, longer legs.

The nice thing about animation is that you can realise your inventions without understanding all the hard theory.

invention nice understanding

After studying in Sheffield, I went down to London to do my post-graduate degree at the National Film and Television School, embarking on the movie that would eventually become 'A Grand Day Out.

film-and-television degrees school

My father, an architectural photographer, was an incurable tinker... by Nick Park

My father, an architectural photographer, was an incurable tinkerer, maker and mender.

incurable-disease photographer father

When I was a teenager, my dad watched my films and told me I could go to art college and study animation. He made me see that I could do this for a living.

teenager dad art

With some CGI, I think the brain slightly perceives that things aren't real. There's no gravity, the light's not quite real, the shadows aren't quite real.

light real thinking

Like my father, I would never as a child throw anything away, keeping old toys, electric motors and bits of broken machines under my bed in what I called my Box of Useful Things.

electric-motors father children

I have to admit to not being the greatest technician, but stop motion animation gives me licence to create machines that wouldn't otherwise be possible - inventions that seem real and actually work.

machines real giving

I always considered Ray Harryhausen's work so fine that it was way out of my league: in terms of realism and naturalism, in terms of animal movement.

rays league animal

We have to look forward and keep filming new films and not get st... by Nick Park

We have to look forward and keep filming new films and not get stuck in the past.

film looks past

Americans like the British kind of quirkiness and the strange accent. They find it kind of cute or something, with a certain charm.

strange kind cute

But I think people see 'Wallace and Gromit' as something akin to an elderly couple. These two know each other so well. Nothing can split them apart.

elderly couple thinking

If you respect the audience enough, they can take onboard many th... by Nick Park

If you respect the audience enough, they can take onboard many things.

audience ifs enough

I'm always there at home thinking of Wallace and Gromit ideas. by Nick Park

I'm always there at home thinking of Wallace and Gromit ideas.

home ideas thinking

There is something about the Australian psyche that seems to like... by Nick Park

There is something about the Australian psyche that seems to like films that are slightly offbeat.

offbeat australian film

Wallace and Gromit's contraptions are created purely for gags, but we all have the urge to invent - especially children. If they're bored, kids will make something from cardboard boxes, yoghurt pots, tape and elastic bands. Often, those constructions are the best.

will best bored children

I love doing features, but it's a very different ballgame. Sometimes I yearn for short films again, working with a small team, getting my hands on the clay.

team sometimes love hands