Amin Abbas

Paul Williams is a British animator who started working on animation nearly 20 years ago and worked on major western animation projects such: Klaus (2019), The Illusionist (2010) and The Red Turtle (2016) as well Japanese animation projects such as: Atom The Beginning (2017), Pokémon: Twilight Wings (2020) & Recovery of an MMO Junkie (2017).

He moved to Japan a few years ago and worked on various animation projects since then.

Speaking to Arab News Japan, Williams shared his inspiration for animation: “My path into anime started with ‘My Neighbor Totoro’, when I was working on my first film, ‘Asterix and the Vikings’ in Barcelona. many of the workers were Ghibli fans and I managed to see the first half of this film.”

“Unfortunately, as we were too busy that I couldn’t see the second half until I worked on the Red Turtle. And after this, I got into the works of Isao Takahata, and I finally saw films that gave me a glimpse of where animation can go,” he added.

Speaking of the first people who introduced him to the animation industry, Williams said: “I would like to say Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston, they came as a pair really. whilst in university I had the pleasure of corresponding with them when I created a short film for my final year, it was a wonderful experience and it wasn’t until then that the dream of becoming an animator became a reality I guess.”

About the establishment of his career in the animation industry, Williams said: “I started in the industry in 2003, travelling most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Canada before coming to Japan, If I can summarize animation into a single concept, I would say empathy for me finding the moment of character and presenting it in a way where the audience will emphasize with that character, means a lot to me as we watch films to be entertained by great stories, but we really connect to great characters.”

“My first project was a short animation work on ‘Gerald Scarfes’ animated sequence in Miss Saigon, working with old Disney animator Richard Bazley, it was a great learning curve as you can imagine,” he added.

About the challenges that he faced during his career, Williams said: “In a positive way, adapting to new styles of acting, animating, finding the character within the work and meeting the directors wishes for the scene, I think over the last years though, the role of the European animator has changed from how it started out, where scenes are to be tied down more and the assistant has evolved more into a final line artist it varies between productions, but rarely is there a direct link between animator and the next person that works on a scene and I do think the knowledge animators possess is being lost to the next generation at times, The old apprentice system was far more successful at this.”

About the differences of animation style & working conditions between Japan & Western countries in his opinion, Williams said: “Animation style at feature film level is more delicate acting in Europe and more dramatic acting in America. But in Japan, acting isn’t really as revered, it’s more like the Sakuga shot that an animator takes pride in since acting is often quite restrained by comparison culturally. You can see this in the way a character would cry, the difference between a Japanese, American and European is quite dramatic visually. And this is the kind of things, a character actor must be aware of.”

About the most anime project that he had so much fun working with, Williams said:” I’d say working with Yoshikazu Yasuhiko on a commercial in Japan for Eallin Company, I had to replicate his drawing technique and follow his layouts through Genga to in-between. Seeing his working methods, and how talented he is even now, was a great learning curve and a privilege. Some projects you learn a lot and take a leap forwards, and on that one, I think I did so”.

Speaking of which animation director that he had most fun working with and gave him valuable tips and tricks in the animation industry, Williams said: “I think I could mention John Walsh, who supervised clean up on The Illusionist. He works at Cartoon Saloon now and he is the best clean up supervisor in Europe. I remember on that project learning the subtlety of drawing technique and differences between skin and fabric, and how the line will change when drawing each you don’t really see that in Anime per se, but that film felt like a huge leap forward I terms of knowledge so I feel I have to mention him.”

“Even if not an animation director I guess it shows you can learn something special and career changing from anyone in the industry, so long as you listen,” he added.