Animation Mentor:
What inspired you to learn animation?
Paul Sinclair:
I remember as a kid getting an animation book out of the local town library. To this day I still have no idea what it was called or who wrote it, other than it showed how to set up animation equipment at home, including a camera lashed onto a piece of wood, and a light-box made out of old tomato crates. At the time, thanks to my Civil Engineer Dad, I was living in some part of Southern Africa probably attached to some dusty construction site in the middle of the African veldt, so I had access to plenty of old wood, but no camera! Then again this was the early Eighties, and animation equipment was very expensive!
I did draw a lot though, I loved comics, and we didn't have a television until I was about twelve. My dad used to bring home these massive blue-tinged surveying maps about eight feet square, and I would dive onto it and fill it up with comic-inspired drawings. It wasn't until some time later in my life though that I got into animation but I always knew I would be some kind of artist, as I would draw comic super heroes on the walls of whatever house/caravan we were in at the time - much to the annoyance of my parents!
Animation Mentor:
What would be your ultimate dream job?
Paul Sinclair:
My dream job would be to work on a feature film at one of the top UK or US studios. I am constantly blown away by the beauty and poignancy of the work produced by the folks at ILM and Pixar especially, but there are so many good studios out there – to be honest I wouldn't be picky! I would love to go into creature animation at some point in addition to character animation. I have a friend, Jason Snyman who was a Senior Animator on Kong. He showed me these awesome shots he had done, and I thought Wow! I love the idea of getting a beast such as Kong to go on the rampage and throw a few cars around, bliss!
Animation Mentor:
How has your experience at Animation Mentor been so far?
Paul Sinclair:
Animation Mentor has given me the thing that was missing in my education thus far, and much more in addition. It really is the complete foundation for the animator, and equally it is the tool that sharpens the animator into a razor edge. I have never known such attention to detail for every frame and every tiny nuance. I feel like I have jumped into a swimming pool full of animation knowledge, and only wish my mouth was bigger so I could suck in more! The energy and enthusiasm of the students here is amazing, I know this has been said before, but for an online course it is unique to feel so much a part of a worldwide family. I just can't wait to go over to the mother ship and meet everyone who made this possible!
Animation Mentor:
What's one of the most important and/or interesting lessons you've learned while at Animation Mentor?
Paul Sinclair:
The biggest lesson for me has been planning. Before Animation Mentor, I would muddle my way into animating my work, and as a result, my work looked muddled! Another big lesson was the notion of separating out actions in order to make the animation look natural and fluid. This is still something I am getting to grips with, especially as initially the work is so centered around absolute poses, so it is important then to go back in and get the motion to overlap.
Animation Mentor:
Who is your favorite animator?
Paul Sinclair:
It is difficult to pick between the top animators, they all seem to have the ability to find new ways to surprise the audience, and to create work which at its essence is elegant and magical. I have to be biased on this occasion and say that my favorite animators have been my mentors to date, Bill Diaz, Brett Coderre, Mike Walling and Sergio Pablos! If I had to make a decision, I'd have to pick Brett, I just love the work he has done at Pixar.
Animation Mentor:
What is your favorite animated/CG scene of all time?
Paul Sinclair:
Well I love creature animation, so that would have to be the Smeagol /Gollum scene from Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers, the bit where Gollum calls Smeagol a "murderer". That scene still gives me goose bumps now! I think LOTR was the first time an acting CG character looked really grounded in the physical world of humans, and in the case of Gollum, he was twice as tricky to animate because of his split personality, so that was a fine achievement in my books.
Animation Mentor:
Anything else you want to say to your fellow and prospective students of Animation Mentor?
Paul Sinclair:
To present students I would say: Just keep going guys! The work I have seen at the school is great, and just proves how tremendous the tuition is. You can literally see students improving within days and weeks of starting the course. To prospective students, I would say: the course is worth every penny, if you work hard, there is no reason why you shouldn't flourish into a great animator and go on to realize your dreams.
What inspired you to learn animation?
Paul Sinclair:
I remember as a kid getting an animation book out of the local town library. To this day I still have no idea what it was called or who wrote it, other than it showed how to set up animation equipment at home, including a camera lashed onto a piece of wood, and a light-box made out of old tomato crates. At the time, thanks to my Civil Engineer Dad, I was living in some part of Southern Africa probably attached to some dusty construction site in the middle of the African veldt, so I had access to plenty of old wood, but no camera! Then again this was the early Eighties, and animation equipment was very expensive!
I did draw a lot though, I loved comics, and we didn't have a television until I was about twelve. My dad used to bring home these massive blue-tinged surveying maps about eight feet square, and I would dive onto it and fill it up with comic-inspired drawings. It wasn't until some time later in my life though that I got into animation but I always knew I would be some kind of artist, as I would draw comic super heroes on the walls of whatever house/caravan we were in at the time - much to the annoyance of my parents!
Animation Mentor:
What would be your ultimate dream job?
Paul Sinclair:
My dream job would be to work on a feature film at one of the top UK or US studios. I am constantly blown away by the beauty and poignancy of the work produced by the folks at ILM and Pixar especially, but there are so many good studios out there – to be honest I wouldn't be picky! I would love to go into creature animation at some point in addition to character animation. I have a friend, Jason Snyman who was a Senior Animator on Kong. He showed me these awesome shots he had done, and I thought Wow! I love the idea of getting a beast such as Kong to go on the rampage and throw a few cars around, bliss!
Animation Mentor:
How has your experience at Animation Mentor been so far?
Paul Sinclair:
Animation Mentor has given me the thing that was missing in my education thus far, and much more in addition. It really is the complete foundation for the animator, and equally it is the tool that sharpens the animator into a razor edge. I have never known such attention to detail for every frame and every tiny nuance. I feel like I have jumped into a swimming pool full of animation knowledge, and only wish my mouth was bigger so I could suck in more! The energy and enthusiasm of the students here is amazing, I know this has been said before, but for an online course it is unique to feel so much a part of a worldwide family. I just can't wait to go over to the mother ship and meet everyone who made this possible!
Animation Mentor:
What's one of the most important and/or interesting lessons you've learned while at Animation Mentor?
Paul Sinclair:
The biggest lesson for me has been planning. Before Animation Mentor, I would muddle my way into animating my work, and as a result, my work looked muddled! Another big lesson was the notion of separating out actions in order to make the animation look natural and fluid. This is still something I am getting to grips with, especially as initially the work is so centered around absolute poses, so it is important then to go back in and get the motion to overlap.
Animation Mentor:
Who is your favorite animator?
Paul Sinclair:
It is difficult to pick between the top animators, they all seem to have the ability to find new ways to surprise the audience, and to create work which at its essence is elegant and magical. I have to be biased on this occasion and say that my favorite animators have been my mentors to date, Bill Diaz, Brett Coderre, Mike Walling and Sergio Pablos! If I had to make a decision, I'd have to pick Brett, I just love the work he has done at Pixar.
Animation Mentor:
What is your favorite animated/CG scene of all time?
Paul Sinclair:
Well I love creature animation, so that would have to be the Smeagol /Gollum scene from Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers, the bit where Gollum calls Smeagol a "murderer". That scene still gives me goose bumps now! I think LOTR was the first time an acting CG character looked really grounded in the physical world of humans, and in the case of Gollum, he was twice as tricky to animate because of his split personality, so that was a fine achievement in my books.
Animation Mentor:
Anything else you want to say to your fellow and prospective students of Animation Mentor?
Paul Sinclair:
To present students I would say: Just keep going guys! The work I have seen at the school is great, and just proves how tremendous the tuition is. You can literally see students improving within days and weeks of starting the course. To prospective students, I would say: the course is worth every penny, if you work hard, there is no reason why you shouldn't flourish into a great animator and go on to realize your dreams.