Millions of hits on the Web, calendars, prints T-shirts - Simon's Cat has gained worldwide fame (in December in Russia about him came another book). The author of cartoon and animal owner Simon Tofield - the passion for cats.

B uduschy cartoonist and a world celebrity Simon Tofield began drawing as a child. But the main theme of his work (animal), he determined - in the British De Montfort University. Now, Simon creates animals on the London studio TandemFilms, whose work has received many awards of various reputable film festivals. Some of the cartoons filmed there, it seems, even exhibited in Russia. Although, I may have seen them somewhere on the web, because with the hire of the animation, we simply do not matter, but a real disaster.

In short, the artist's life was normal, while Simon did not draw first cartoon of the future series Simon'sCat - CatManDo. "I just wanted to learn Flash, - then told Tofield. - In the morning, Hugh, who was then still a kitten, jumping around me and demanded his breakfast. And in general, I did not take long for inspiration ..."

Cartoon once won the award for best comic movie to BritishAnimationAwards 2008. And away we go - now that the first series has already gathered more than 20 million hits on the web, and its hero, brash and constantly hungry cat, the popularity has overtaken many real online characters and does not intend to take positions - cartoons Simon's Cat appear with enviable regularity (regular episode, StickyTape, released February 28).

Mr Tofield afford to be distracted by cats, which turned out to be an essential part of his life, to answer a few of my questions.

- I want to ask you about something a little strange - have you ever heard of Yuri Kuklachev? This is such a famous Russian trainer who works with cats. - Yes, and not just heard - several times I've seen excerpts of his show on the Internet.

- So, you know that it in some incomprehensible way possible to train cats. Although many believe that this is impossible. What do you think about this?
- To be honest, I'm a little worried when reflecting on what it means Yuri Kuklachev enjoys the process of training. The fact that any man who ever lived in one room with a cat, knows very well that these animals have a very strong and freedom-loving character. In short, they like everything to be as they want, they like to feel themselves masters of the situation. That's why I think many believe that to teach a cat some tricks to tame it - it's unbelievable.

- Based on Simon's Cat, you are just not possible ...
- We say: "Cats have no masters, but servants" (Cats don't have masters. They have servants).

- And yet somehow you cope with them - you have the same three of them?
- Oh, you're behind the times, now I have them for four: Hugh H. Macy, Jesse and Teddy. The prototype for the movie Cat Man Do, the first of a series of Simon's Cat, was Hugh, it was with it all began. Still have Teddy - the youngest. Then there is a Macy's - a huge cat, and her appetite was appropriate (as the snow leopard). Well, even Jess - chief among them, and he most likes to sit on his lap. In general, such as coping.

- So who is the master in your house? What is the hierarchy?
- To tell the truth: cats, of course, included in top management. They are my daily schedule. When to get up when it's time to eat, when to go to sleep - all they solve. But the main boss - Macy's, the rest evince her undisguised respect. Then Hugh, Teddy, and at the end - Jess.

- Why did so many animals? You lonely?
- Not sure if this is always a sign of loneliness. Although, of course, some people see their pets as companions, without which they feel very lonely. But there are others! For example, a child brought a cat walk - it is unlikely at this point thinking about loneliness. Most likely, the kid simply involves the idea of ​​taking care of some living being, which is weaker and more vulnerable. As for me, I do not take their cats as a great company - they are affectionate and often make me laugh. I think this is evident from the adventures of Simon's Cat.

- Why did you choose such a simple technique of drawing?
- In my drawings and cartoons, it does not matter how good looking cat, but how he behaves. And in order to show the nuances of behavior, do not need Hollywood 3D-graphics, sometimes simplicity is more advantageous.

Simon uses in his work AdobeFlash. Draws on the Intuos3 A4 paper production Wacom (if someone is suddenly interested in technical details.) In one second of animated film in 1925 painted pictures. So do not ask why the next series of Simon's Cat may not appear as often as we'd like.

- People around the world watching your cat painted all know it. But few people know you. Not hurt? Do not you think that Simon's Cat to the public is more interesting than you do?
- I do not mind if people are more interested in my cat, not me. In the end, it's great that so many people appreciated my work. That's enough, and I'm not sure that I still need to worry about some kind of personal glory.
Actually, I was just lucky. It so happened that I came up with Simon's Cat in the Internet era. Network allows a completely different (and often unfamiliar) people to share something with each other. Partly because it helped my cat become so popular - users to send links in emails and through social networks (well, you know how it's done). Ten years ago this could not happen - if in fact there was no YouTube or Facebook.

About the cartoons, which are laid out on the Internet, everything is clear. But there is, for example, books about Simon's Cat - they are published in more than 20 countries, shared their circulation exceeded half a million copies.

- I was not feeling that your cartoon cat for something avenges his master.
- Well, Simon's Cat is not doing anything out of malice - he just mischievous and playful, like most cats. And the chaos that he brings to life - it's just a coincidence, he was not on purpose.

- If someone from your cat decided to paint their master, that's you, how would he do it?
- Ha! I think he would paint me as a large canning knife.

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Simon Tofield, 39 years, British artist and animator. He was born in Leighton Buzzard (Bedfordshire). He studied graphics and animation at the University of De Montfort in Leicester. For ten years he was a freelancer, has collaborated with various studios - in particular, worked on visual effects for the fantastic film "Lost in Space" (1998, dir. Stephen Hopkins), took part in the creation of a full-length animated film "Christmas Carol" (2001, dir. Jimmy T. Murakami). Since 2006 works at a London studio Tandem Films. In 2008, exploring Adobe Flash, made a short film Cat Man Do, and began a series of cartoons Simon's Cat. Roller collected 60,000 hits in two days. Now the number of subscribers YouTube-channel Simon's Cat has almost 400 000 people, and the total number of views of all 13 clips of a cat Simon is approaching 125 million, Russia has published two books drawings Tofield - "Simon's Cat" and "Simon's Cat in itself." In February 2011 the artist signed a three-year contract with the newspaper The Daily Mirror in an exclusive publishing comics about cat.

Source - Entertaining portal F5.ru

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