Moving Pictures.

Moving Pictures.

 

Campbell McGrouther goes digital to produce his animations for TV. But he's all for learning traditional drawing skills first.
by Chris Bell.

 

K12 is a bug that promotes Blis ThroatGuard and Blis Bio Restore. Mr Mallow sings and dances about marshmallows during kids' afternoon TV. Both are the work of a company called One Glass Eye, founded in 2001 by 25-year-old Christchurch computer whiz kid Campbell McGrouther and his business partner, Hawick Inkster. The company produces digital animation and special eff ects for fi lm, television and advertising.

 

As well as making short animated fi lms for a number of diff erent clients, One Glass Eye's fi rst major contract was to produce animation for a children's programme called The Big Chair. It has also done smaller animation and illustration contracts for TV adverts and documentaries, and worked on an animated project called Magic Book.

 

Campbell and his business partner were both big computer users, so they already had all the equipment they needed when they started, and were able to borrow some money privately to cover the costs of setting up their business.

 

They're now making enough money from their work to cover their own wages and to pay two other people and any contractors they have working for them. One Glass Eye is the only digital animation studio in Christchurch, a fact that's helped them to get more work.

 

He fi nds it challenging switching between animation and the skills needed for running a business. "You have to be very clear in your communication with people. Some business training might have helped, but I may not have been all that interested in it. You learn a lot of it on the way and it's not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. If I'd been looking at making this into a big money-making venture when I started at 20, I'm sure I'd have focused more on business studies." Early on, Campbell wanted to train as an architect. "Before I did that, though, I wanted to do something fun, so I thought I'd do a graphic design course."

 

Campbell went to a couple of private arts schools, including the Design and Arts College of NZ in Christchurch, where he did a certifi cate in graphic design. He also has a diploma in multimedia and later got a graduate diploma in animation from Christchurch Polytech.

 

The real turning point for Campbell was at high school when he fi rst saw Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. "That just blew my mind. I never conceived that I could do that sort of thing, and it wasn't until I studied graphic design that I realised it was possible."

 

Campbell and his partner have put a lot of eff ort into making sure One Glass Eye stands out from other animation studios through the high-quality work they produce. He says the most exciting part of his job is being able to create and breathe life into a world that's come out of his imagination. "It's one thing doing an illustration but it's another when you see it moving about and acting and it's got perspective and depth that you can explore, as well."

 

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