Grant wanted to work in 3D himself, having used mostly 2D on his past films.

DS: What part of your work gives you the most sense of satisfaction? 

GO: Well it’s not seeing the finished project, which always fills me with a peculiar sense of unease - like I’ve missed something.  I think you always feel there’s an element that could have been better, and that’s probably over familiarity.

I do like the animatic stage, that’s always fun, but I’m picking one part of a process that as a whole I love.  So to answer your question, I pretty much find the whole shebang satisfying.

DS: What are your stylistic influences?

GO: Comic artist Chris Ware. Painter John Currin. Ye olde pioneering animator Emile Cohl and Woody Allen. 

DS:  What are you working on next?

GO: I’m currently working on a series of American commercials with a super-talented designer named Chris Gray.  Also I’m developing a pre-school show.  There’s a small abstract piece of animated erotica that I’m finishing off, and I’m working on another short called First Class.  It’s based on a short story by the amazing Craig Taylor. He’s a Canadian who wrote a book called One Million Tiny Plays about Britain.   One of them is about a father and daughter who sit in a first class train carriage without the proper tickets.  Sounds terribly ordinary and dull but it’s not. It’s beautiful.

Sue Goffe, my producer, has managed to get the rights to it. I’ve designed it so I can do it pretty much myself, without budget. It might take me a couple of years of chipping away at it but it’ll be worth it.

Dan Sarto is Publisher of AWN.