Sam Watterson and I met through a literary festival last year when he volunteered at the photo and videography department. We were lucky to have this calm, willing and adept artist in the mix. A year later, between my second and third quarantine, Sam and I reconnected and became promenade buddies; in tandem, he was drawing up a storm for his animation project. 

Our over-caffeinated conversations seemed to have helped inscribe the icosahedron life has given us, to play this game called Pandemic. When we are just about fifty days away from calling it a year, I invited Sam to speak about part of the infantry we believe would help us through uncertain times.

LoP: It is so great to see you, Sam. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us about passion. You got your cuppa ready?
Sam Watterson: Yeah it’s alright! [grins] I made some tea, yeah. 

Let’s do it. What does passion mean to you?
Half of my view on passion is the path one is born into, something you are born with and feel naturally for, very strongly about. Something you have as a child.

The other half, I think, passion is a continuous motion, that you keep moving forward, chasing something, persevering on the path that feels most right to you. This path feels right, but may not be straightforward or easy.    

The process of passion is tiring, isn’t it. You’re constantly looking for inspiration, learning, surrounding yourself with the right people, focusing on positive progress, getting closer to your goal. Well, it should be this way anyway, I think, if you want your life or career to be passionate.

What is your passion?
To engage with other people through character design. I bring messages to life through animation.

How is animation important to the world?
It depends on the message being told and why we do the art of making, to share our story and experiences promote love, peace and connection; or the opposite, like anything else, it can be good and bad.

Which animation studios do you resonate with?
Mondo Media, Nicktoons, I like their cutesy styles, as well as Adult Swim, they have zany and crazy visual stuff and often philosophical dialogue. It feels deep.

Can you share two animation productions that you enjoy?
At the moment I’m liking the TV series The Midnight Gospel and Rick and Morty.

A collaboration Watterson and his friend Ignasi Pi-Sunyer did for a band called “Kings Will” back in 2012

And your personal story with art, can you speak about that?
I used to like copying characters and doing illustrations at school. Then I did photography, went to college in Haverfordwest and started using an Apple computer and Photoshop. I was really amazed by it. I saved to buy a colorful iMac, got a digital camera, which in hindsight it destroyed photography for me. I was using a film camera and did dark room stuff before that, it felt more personal.

I went into graphic design working for bands, music events and evolved into doing videos for events in Cardiff, Wales. At this point, I wanted to do better graphics for events so I played around with animation, which connected with my earliest interest in drawing characters and illustration.

About 6 to 7 years ago, I decided to go less digital and worked on canvas and paint. I sold my Mac and camera and got a cheap PC, pretty much stopped using a computer for anything now. I did a lot of abstract painting in Vietnam where I was teaching art.

Along the journey I got some advice from professional people suggesting I needed to focus. Probably a year and half ago, I started to rethink, brainstorm, mind map. I wrote down all the things I was interested in, tested out the ideas, went through that searching process, and now coming back to character and animation.

Character design and animation are both very big fields to work on. It feels funny to just do character design because I feel the responsibility to bring them to life. My current research topic of life and career is where and how I would fit in the filmmaking industry. 

Having tried so many things, I’m now establishing myself as a 2D animator and character designer. My goal is to specialize even more so into one of these areas. Overall it is an ongoing discovery process. 

Do you still play with the other mediums?
I have left other mediums behind to be honest, this way I can really focus on one direction and go further. It’s very hard and time-consuming to do animation but I love drawing, designing characters and composing narratives. Expressing thought through visuals is really fun and attractive. 

Can you share with us the project you are currently working on?
It is an independent animation film called Ivor and the Storm. It is a story I wrote two years ago and it has evolved quite a lot since.
It’s a short of three films, about two minutes each. I am working towards short-and-sweet with the best possible quality.

How has the story changed since two years ago?
Less direct with the message and more entertaining. There’s a lot of exploration going on still. Feedback from people really helps. This project is my work in progress.  

What is the story about?
It is a story about yin and yang, the two opposite forces fighting against each other and their resolutions. It’s about seeking harmony, bringing balance into nature.

Tell us about the main characters. 
There is a blue Asian water dragon called Shaan. She flies around, scouts the waters. She is a peaceful dragon, yin.

Ivor is a Welsh, western dragon, more fierce and aggressive. He’s the yang. 

The Goddess of Nature is the instigator and catalyst who brings the two dragons together. She kidnaps Shann and puts her to interact with Ivor. She can control lightning and animals. She’s not a baddie, she’s not great either. She electrifies. 

Storyboard of the 2D animation series, Ivor and the Storm

What was the spine in your thought process?
Conflict can be resolved when the two battling can be quiet for a bit and listen, stop resisting each other. This seems to be the law of the universe and we are constantly going through this cycle of difficulty and conflict becoming resolved through calm and listening.

I used to think animation was for kids or childlike people only then Wall-E came out and corrected this idea for me completely. What about Ivor and the Storm, who is the audience?
I would say it’s for adults because it’s more subtle and I think kids often prefer a lot of action and noise to keep them watching. There is going to be sound effects but no dialogue in this series.

What is the funnest part working as a 2D animator and character designer?
When you create something, there is a sense of connection that comes alive. Some personality would appear out of nowhere…or from the creator’s personality I guess. Subconsciously these can be parts of me that I wasn’t aware of, and also things that are just strange to me but fun to create.

Maybe it’s like having children, that the child is part of the parents and has their characteristics. I have control over the characters I’m making so it feels in check, but at some point I’m learning to be more spontaneous, I’ll be super happy when I can more freely animate, once it has become more second nature to me and I can just make the characters perform freely.

It does sound fun to have many digital, fantasy children. And what is the hardest part?
To be free with the character performance, it is a really complicated and slow process so I take time to learn everything I need to and practice until it becomes intuitive and simply happens; when the parts can come together in harmony like a going for a walk.

How long have you been doing animation and where did you learn the skills?
I have been drawing characters for fun since being a child, I started getting more serious about character design slowly over the years as I learned animation. It takes time and a lot of practice, I still have a lot to learn. 

I started doing some animation in about 2005 and then did a course in 2009, freelanced and worked on independent films until about 2014 went to do fine art for 5 years then returned to making animations about a year ago.

Is there a theme or message that you produce and create around on a regular basis?
Human and nature re-connectivity. Nature is not a separate entity – an idea a lot of people are fixated by. Big cities, concrete, you know. We are part of nature. We are the planet’s property, not the other way round. The planet isn’t going anywhere even if we die. We create so much importance around things we created…a passport in the jungle isn’t that useful.

I’d like to work on this theme through positive messaging and entertaining expression. There is a stronger sense of purpose if you’re delivering a message that is helpful to the world so people evolve well as a species, rather than creating something that is just fun for myself.

In 2012, Watterson collaborated with London-based illustrator and artist, Virpi, on this piece called “Tubes Dream”
Show reel: https://samwatterson.co.uk/
Earlier work of Watterson’s reflecting on polarity between nature and human

What kind of negative message have you received lately from our environment?
I think it’s unhealthy to see everyone has guns on TV and in films…it’s just really violent. It also seems to stereotype American life in a way. I’m aware of the value of entertainment but after a while I feel like I am a little child not using any intellect and just being occupied by some exciting motion pictures. It feels really empty. I have started watching nature documentaries again, they’re more intelligent and peaceful. 

What are some of the communities you get inspirations from and stay positive with?
Spittoon in Beijing and Festivus on Facebook. I’m enjoying the Drawing Beijing group on WeChat at the moment and I enjoy connecting with other creatives whenever I can, face-to-face and online. As I have relocated so often recently I don’t really have a strong sense of community physically anywhere, so it’s online mostly.

If you have pixie dust, what would you use it for?
I’d use it to hypnotize us all to reconnect with nature.

Thank you for sharing so much with us! We will wrap up with fill in the blanks.
I am a 2D animator.
I feel joy when I bring characters alive. 
Blind faith is the biggest obstacle to humanity. 
I wish I were immortal.
Three essential elements in my life: freedom, community, creativity.
I want to invite people to watch my films.
Life would be boring without laughter.
I am grateful for good health.
I deserve a gold medal in patience. 

Original animation characters created by Sam Watterson

You can check out Sam’s work and connect with him personally at:
https://www.facebook.com/samwattersonanimation
https://samwatterson.co.uk/
WeChat ID: swattart

River Ice

Fish dead

turtle dead 

ice the price 

morning walk

silence 

hear the still

gripped in ice

river of life

river of death

shiver

cosy warm

life suspended 

life ended 

disease and decay 

now its melting 

releasing those within 

to float freely

settle some place

mold and rot

take hold

cells atoms 

to break and release

return to the river

of life and death

a cycle 

group and ungroup

come together

then separate 

release 

summer to winter

ice to water

— Sam Watterson 


How is the signal strength between you and nature personally?