‘Dragon tamer’ animator shows Swiss kids how it’s done

The chief animator of the hit film trilogy “How to train your Dragon” is Swiss. Simon Otto, who has lived in the United States for 21 years, comes from St Gallen in eastern Switzerland. He returned home recently and showed school children how he works his magic.

Otto started his career in banking, but later went to study animation at the prestigious Les GobelinsExternal link animation school in Paris. He has been an important part of the DreamWorksExternal link character animation team since joining the studio in 1997.

SRF

Drawing strength from his characters

Otto worked on “The Prince of Egypt”,“Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” the Aardman co-production, “Flushed Away” and “Over The Hedge” before starting on the “How to Train Your DragonExternal link” series. He won a VES AwardExternal link in 2011 for “Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture” for the first film in the trilogy. 

Swiss Public Television, SRF, caught up with Otto in Zurich, and also interviewed Dean DeBlois, who directed the epic fantasy, in which  a band of misfit Vikings learn to coexist with the creatures they once feared most. (Movie clips courtesy of DreamWorks)