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.

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.

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.

It's very hard to adapt something. You end up changing it too much to make a good movie out of it. I prefer to work with things that are custom made for my kind of animation.

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

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