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.

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

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.

When computer animation came in, they thought it would be the death of 3-D stop-motion, but it has a particular life of its own. It's hand-crafted and has a spontaneity. It can feel more alive. The hand of the individual is right there. Sometimes, you even see the thumbprints in the clay.

She (Ivy) goes out and gives it her all, doing everything she can. She is non-stop motion. But then once she is off the mat, she is like the nicest person. She's laughing and joking, she's a really nice girl. We still talk after.

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.