Dreamworks animator Simon Otto: how Toothless came to life

The black wings of the dragon spread majestically and move up and down slowly. Its green-yellow eyes have an attentive glow, its facial features appear slightly tense. Toothless, the dragon, is ready for its first flight with someone on its back. Hundreds of metres below him lay the Viking town of Berk.

Flying is freedom. Independence. The person who made sure that I perceived these emotions so clearly is called Simon Otto. As Head of Character Animation at Dreamworks, he was head of the department that designed and worked on all the dragons and Vikings in the movie for almost a decade. From appearance to personality.

His next step is directing.

From snow sculptures to the big screen

«I've known since I was a little boy that I wanted to be an animator,» Simon Otto says at the Fantoche Festival in Baden, where he presents the third «Dragon» film and introduces children to the art of animation. At the same time, he draws small artistic Toothless dragons on the overhead projector. Otto is in his element. He goes on to say that his friends always dreamed of being train drivers or firefighters. But as they got older, their dream jobs changed.

«Mine didn’t. To this day.»

Before the «How to Train Your Dragon» trilogy, Simon worked on «Prince of Egypt». Back in 1997, the Swiss from Gommiswald, St. Gallen, who was unknown in Hollywood, was recruited after having completed the animation school in Paris and thrown into the deep end in Dreamworks, an animation studio co-founded by Steven Spielberg. «It was like being called to the World Cup team as a footballer who plays in a regional league. I had to put a lot of effort into it to keep up.» Part of the portfolio which convinced the studio bosses were snow sculptures. «I met a guy in military service who’s profession it was to make snow sculptures. I was fascinated by it, so I joined in.»

The snow sculptures didn’t only fascinate him but also the Dreamworks managers. During 13 years, Otto worked his way up, had various jobs at the studio and ended up being Head of Character Animation. No Swiss has ever been as successful in Hollywood as Simon. But he’s extremely humble. He took time and gave detailed answers to my questions. He didn't let me feel that he’d probably rather seen his family who were waiting for him downstairs. Quite the contrary, we even chatted about my exchange year in the USA.

Good technique isn’t enough

«An animator is like an actor. Instead of transporting emotions with your own facial expressions and gestures, however, you do so by putting pen to paper and animating figures,» Otto says. The director and scriptwriter define how the character has to function in the story, but the inner workings are determined by the animator. «That's what gives the character a distinctiveness and a human touch. That's what a good animation is all about. «Good technique isn't enough. It takes talent and flair,» Otto says. And that's exactly what he keeps discovering as a lecturer at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where he teaches a master's class in animation every year.

Simon tells me that technology has changed a lot since he took up work as an animator. «With the new computer programs, even my ten-year-old son can make the figures move.» Furthermore, animated films are much bigger today than they were in the 1990s. Back then, cartoons were incredibly popular. And then came «Toy Story». «With its enormous success at the box office, this film opened up a completely new market for cinema,» Simon adds.

Drawing is part of his life

His job requires less designing figures nowadays, but his passion for drawing remains. «When I'm on vacation, I keep a kind of travel diary, only with pictures instead of words. A drawing is much more intense than a photo, because you get completely caught up in a moment. When I look at these pictures again later, it immediately evokes the emotions and I remember the smells that I perceived at that moment,» Otto says.

In his everyday family life, however, Simon's put his sketchbook away from time to time. «I had to learn to switch off. When I was at university, I was always drawing. This was necessary to reach a certain level. Now my priorities have shifted slightly. My wife and son who he lives with in Los Angeles have become more important. It still annoys me that my child speaks English with no accent at all and I don't, although I've been living in the USA for 22 years,» he says and laughs.

More conception, more risk

After 22 years, Simon is leaving Dreamworks: «It was the right moment to leave.» The film studio was sold, the management changed, final decisions about projects were delayed.

Now Otto is going his own way. As a director. «This allows me to be part of the production much earlier on in the process – when ideas are brainstormed and conceptualised. As an animator, these steps have already been completed by the time you come into play.» In addition, as he says, he's only now realised how many film projects fail before they really get going.

«I wouldn’t rule out returning to Dreamworks,» says the man, who has decided to concentrate on directing for the time being. He tells me he’s working on several projects, including a few series and an advertisement. That's all he can say.

The usual non-disclosure agreements.