Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen has had a huge impact on my love for stop-motion animation. Ever since I was a child, I had this deep fascination in animation within my subconscious, an interest that eventually clawed its way out in the near present when I decided to pursue a career in that field, so whenever I'd see a Ray Harryhausen film was on TV, I would always be absorbed by my couch seat just from looking at the stop-motion monsters. It was funny though, I never knew why I had such a love for the monsters, but I think it was because they were so well designed and the way they moved made them seem even scarier to me. The famous skeleton battle from Jason and the Argonauts in particular stuck with me. I've never imagined skeletons moving any differently since I saw that film. As far as I know, this was how I was introduced to stop-motion, rather than Wallace & Gromit and the lesser-known Trap Door which I used to constantly. They had such an impact on me as kid that I even preferred those special effects over CGI, I've even grown to detest most CGI (most not all).