Since his debut in the mid-1960s, the Pillsbury Doughboy was brought to life through stop-motion animation. However, in 1992, it was decided to change the technique to CGI. It was my pleasure to animate the Doughboy for his final stop-motion commercial campaign at Apogee Inc., for the Leo Burnett advertising agency. A couple of commercials were created simultaneously under the direction of effects legend John Dykstra, and I was chosen to animate one of them, which had a Christmas theme. The budget for the project was clearly high, as they offered me more than my normal pay rate. Of course, they also expected the highest quality animation possible in return. I was given a luxurious amount of time to do tests and experiment with the character's performance, which was far from the norm of a typical stop-motion shoot.

Introducing The Umblebums, who could have been one of television's weirdest families ever. I created this series of pictures to illustrate a potential stop-motion show for the now defunct Limelight Productions in 1991. Limelight then pitched the idea around Hollywood in an effort to find backing for the project. For me it was "spec work", as I made no money on it, under the agreement that I would direct the show if it was given the green light. The project never happened, leaving me to seriously examine if it was worth the trouble. At least I have some cool pictures to show, which have not been seen for 20 years!

As a general rule, I don’t include painting in the artistic services I offer for clients. Painting is my fine art, intentionally kept free, pure, and uncorrupted from commercial use. One exception was a tiny piece I made as a prop in 1987 for the film adaptation of Frog And Toad Together. It was created for a scene in which Frog reads a story to Toad about a knight fighting a dragon (which I also animated).

In 1987, I was part of a group of dedicated artists hired to animate critters for the ABC weekend special Runaway Ralph. For one particularly successful sequence, director John Clark Matthews came up with the bold idea of shooting the stop-motion animation outdoors. The concept sounded crazy at first because the stop-motion process would exaggerate the changing sunlight, clouds, and wind blowing on the landscape. For “realistic” animation, filming outside should not work, but it did! The sequence in question involved Ralph the mouse running away from home and riding his motorcycle on the highway. Initial tests proved that if the camera shots were animated in large increments, necessary in order to follow Ralph’s motorcycle, the wind and changing sunlight would be imperceptible.

One of the most unusual projects of my career was Red Riding Hood and the Well-Fed Wolf, an educational film that featured characters representing the various food groups. As Animation Director of the 1989 film, I created and brought to life talking food interacting with live actors who portrayed Red Riding Hood and the Wolf. Stop-motion animation was the main technique used, and traditional puppetry was employed for the shots involving the actors and the talking food together.

Most of the images in my collection were captured using a Nikon Stereo Rig or the Nimslo 3D camera, accompanied by the iconic Kodachrome film. Unlike converting regular 2D photos, I prefer the authenticity and impact of genuine stereo photography. The Nikon Stereo Rig may appear ordinary, but it holds the power to produce extraordinary results. It consists of a conventional Nikon camera mounted on a sliding rail, enabling smooth horizontal movement. To capture the perfect shot, I set up a tripod and ensure a stationary subject. Click! The camera captures the first image, and with a gentle glide, it moves horizontally to the ideal distance for eye separation. Click again! Two images, one for each eye, form a dynamic "stereo pair." (Remarkably, even modern digital cameras can be used in a similar manner.) For moving subjects, like people, I relied on the Nimslo, a charming camera from the '80s that captured four photos simultaneously. While its four lenses were initially designed for lenticular prints, I utilized only the outer two pictures to create classic stereo effects. Both these cameras produced slides that can be viewed through special 3-D viewers or projected in stereo with compatible equipment.