Tell us a bit about yourself.

I was born in Switzerland in 1974. In 1991, after failing big time at business school, I realised that my passion lay in art (drawing, painting). I went to a fine art college, then discovered animation after that. I couldn't find any courses in that area in Switzerland, so I went to Ireland and did an animation course, hoping to work for Disney later on. I did 'summer training' at Disney in Paris and realised that it wasn't for me. Then I came to the UK and tried my luck at a video game company, where I learned 3D animation. I was hooked ;). I left work after a few years and started work on my personal project "A Barbaric Tale".

Do you do any 'true' sculpting, with stone or clay, or are all your 3D models made in the computer? :)

I used to do clay modelling during my years at the Fine arts college in Switzerland...I did all kind of classical mediums like oil painting, water colours, etc... But now I work only on the computer, still draw though as its very important for me to plan and design on paper first.

How did you end up in England, if you are Swiss?

I ended up in England by accident because my mother is English (my father's Swiss). I was at an animation expo in London and found the address of a games company - I always thought it would do me good to work in England so I could improve my English!

Which games company did you work for?

I worked four years at Rare Ltd in Twycross. I was an animator on Donkey Kong 64 then went onto being concept artist on Kameo, their new Xbox title.

Since your native language is French, wouldn't have been better to go to France, or even back home to Switzerland?

I might well have ended up in France (destiny had other plans hehe!), but I didn't want to stay in Switzerland - there isn't much animation going on there.

How long has it been since you've been to Switzerland?

Last time I went back was for Christmas 2002. I'm planning to go back this summer with my girlfriend. We both need a holiday and a change of scenery ;). I wouldn't say we're living in the best part of the UK.

When did you see LightWave for the first time?

The first time was in Ireland in either '96 or '97, during my animation course. A friend had it on an Amiga, the monitor was a 14 inch TV so picture quality was awful. I didn't have much time to learn how to use it as I was studying...

When did you first start using it?

I saved some money to get a licence when I was working for the video game company, I saw the release of LightWave 6, then 6.5, and fell in love with it. It was the cheapest as well, out of a choice between 3ds max, Maya and Softimage. It seemed easy to use, that attracted me as well. I was using Maya at work, which I always found a bit complex.