Your Full Name
Malcolm Sutherland
Tell us about yourself and what you do
I am an illustrator, animator, frisbee-player, collector. I grew up in Calgary and now live in Montreal.
If you have a bachelor degree/education background; what is it?
My education is a mixed bag – I have 2 unfinished degrees in Astrophysics and classic print making, and one finished degree in film from Concordia University. I also spent some time living and studying in India and Nepal, which I consider an important part of my education.
Where are you located?
So far as I can tell, right here. No, like i said, I live in Montreal.
As a creative person in several different art forms, do you consider yourself as one particular artist in a specific discipline over the others? Which would that be?
Honestly, it is only when talking to other people that I assosicate with any artform at all – when talking to myself I just feel alive. I dont mean to sound arrogant, it is just that any formal assosication I have with an artform strikes me as fleeting. But associations aside, one thing I find myself doing consistently is drawing.
Explain your creative process in a project? What are usually the challenges and how you go around it?
Well, I think I could boil it down to this – I like to set up some kind of formal framework, and then as much as possible to have the project grow a life of it’s own inside that container. The container could be a storyboard, a structural element in the film, or in the case of commercial work it would be a script.
What would be your strangest assignment you have done? Why so?
The strangest thing I have worked on was to animate a city full of uncircumsized penises running for their lives from an invading army of giant mohels and scissors.
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The Astronomer’s Dream (2009) from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.
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How do you promote yourself?
I try not to worry about it as much as possible and just get on with enjoying what I am doing – if there was no such thing as money promotion wouldn’t be part of life at all. But, I have got a lot of exposure on vimeo and for hard-core advertising work I have an agent.
Who is the person you look up to in this industry? Why so?
I look up to a lot of people in the animation world, i think the animation community is full of devoted, talented people so it is hard to chose one person in particular. One of the things I love about animation is the diversity of approaches and techniques, so really I admire everyone for doing what they do, because there is a lot of “following your heart” and perseverance that has to happen in making an animated film, and I admire that in people. Well, uh… if I had to name a name, right now I am really admiring the work of Bruce Bickford. His work is incredible, I think he is some kind of modern alchemist.
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The Tourists (2007) from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.
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How does the global economic recession affecting the industry, or the least affecting your business/ work/project?
So far I have not noticed, in fact this past year was an explosion of projects and work offers for me. But I dont work with big corporations or studios, so I am probably not the right person to be a barometer for the corporate / capitalist side of “the industry”.
What’s one thing you wish you knew when beginning this passion?
I don’t know, my trip has been incredible and I have no regrets. I feel like I am still like a child learning all of this.
A great story-teller is…..
Louis Trondheim! I love his work, whenever I pick up one of his Dungeon graphic novels I cant put it down until I have finished the whole book, even though I have read them all 5 or 6 times.
Name 3 your favorite books.
1 – Musashi – by Eiji Yoshikawa
2 – Capacity by Theo Ellsworth
3 – Diamond Age – Neal Stephenson
If you have online portfolio (website/awards/credits/client’s showcase), what is the URL?
www.animalcolm.com
www.vimeo.com/animalcolm
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ParticipACTION Ad “Karate Family” from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.
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Star Wars Uncut – Scene 415 – “All wings report in…” from Malcolm Sutherland on Vimeo.
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