Tell us a bit about yourself.

I am freelance 3D animator/illustrator. I originally trained as a 2D animator, but switched to 3D about five years ago. This is the first 3D film I have completed.

When did you see LightWave 3D for the first time?

It was when I was working at Passion Pictures as a runner.

How did you get the runner job at Passion?

I got the job through a friend of mine who was about to leave his runner position. I knew a little bit about Passion when I started. They were working on the Virgin cola ads with Jamie Hewlett and some of the Willy Wonka ads. After I left the Gorillaz work began.

When did you first start using it?

I played around with it a bit at Passion Pictures but didn't really start using it properly until I began working for a new media company. They had version 5 I think it was.

At the new media company were you mainly concentrating on illustration work, rather than animation?

I started as a freelance junior designer and the head illustrator left, so I was given his job on the strength of my portfolio. It was quite lucky as I had all the illustration to do for the company from then on.

At the time you were made head illustrator, presumably your portfolio was purely hand-drawn, rather than 3D?

I hadn't really used computers before I started work as an illustrator, so my portfolio was all hand-drawn. It was very satisfying recreating some of the imagery in my portfolio with the computer, mainly Photoshop and Illustrator until I was introduced to LightWave.

Do you think it's important for 3D artists to have a grounding in traditional art?

I do think its very important to have an understanding of traditional art, as any package you use is just another tool to get your idea across. I think it helps if you can create a character, for example, in 2D because when it comes to making it in 3D you will already know how it will be constructed. It all saves time down the line and the final result will be more rounded.

Do you model from sketches or do you work directly in Modeler, messing around until you have something you like?

I always sketch out my ideas before I use the computer, but at the same time I think it's important to have the computer in mind when you do this as it will be easier to translate to 3D.

What do you like about the package?

Compared to most it's one of the easier packages to learn, everything is laid out in a logical way. The renderer is great, not to mention more recent plug-ins like FPrime, which has made lighting complex scenes a lot easier.