Nick completed a BA degree in Communication Arts at Sheffield Art School in 1980 and in the same year went on to study animation at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield. While at the film school Nick began work on "A Grand Day Out". In February 1985 Nick joined Aardman Animations and it was here that he completed "A Grand Day Out" in 1989. The film won the BAFTA award for Best Short Animated Film in 1990 and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same year.

While employed at Aardman Animations, Nick has worked as Director and Animator on numerous projects, including pop promos, title sequences and inserts for children's television. In 1989 Aardman Animations produced the "Lip Synch" series for Channel Four Television. Nick's contribution to the series was the film "Creature Comforts" which has received much critical acclaim at many major film festivals through out the world, as well as picking up an Oscar for the Best Short Animated Film of 1990. "Creature Comforts" has been the inspiration for various commercials, including the ever popular electricity adverts.

Nick's film "The Wrong Trousers" was screened on BBC2 (26.12.93) and was the highest rated programme on BBC 2 over the two day Christmas period.

"The Wrong Trousers" features the continuing adventures of Wallace and Gromit, the stars of "A Grand Day Out" and won an Oscar for Best Short Animated Film from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in March 1994.

By the age of 12 years, my fervour for drawing had not abated; school notebooks were covered in cartoons. This brought me to the attention of one teacher who said, "Park, you will never make a living out of cartoons, it's just not art!". Like most children, I loved watching animated films, especially cartoons not only because they were a lot of fun but I was intrigued to know how they were made. At the time Ray Harryhausen's films were all the rage, and the way he brought his creatures to life also captured my imagination.

Just how can imagination be made reality on the screen? The answer to this question was soon to come. At breakfast one morning, I read on the back of a cereal packet about a competition to make a simple zoetrope and the prize was a super-8 movie camera and projector. I entered the competition, dreaming of what films I would make if I won. I didn't win - but it planted the idea of making films firmly into my head. I remember seeing a documentary about Walt Disney and how he started off by drawing a mouse character. I came up with my own characters, one of which I called, Walter the Rat. But the problem remained how could I bring my characters to life. I asked my father, a photographer who knew a little about animation from a project he once worked on. He explained the basic principles to me. To top all this, I discovered that my mother's standard-8 movie camera had a single frame button, the facility for animation. I was now ready to go into production.

I was aged 13 when I started my first film. It was the debut of Walter the Rat. Using a cheap notepad I produced a flip book, with Walter walking along, drinking some cider and falling over. It was my first attempt at drawing animation. Thought it was a crude attempt, the film took a week to make. However, it never came back from the labs and couldn't be traced. I didn't realise at the time but this was a taste of the trials and frustrations of an animator. Undaunted, I decided to have another go, but this time using felt cut out characters on a felt covered background. As I didn't own any lights, I set up the board on an easel in direct sunlight. The film "Rat and the Beanstalk", was shot in a day and lasted all of 2 minutes.

My catalogue of films increased. After school and homework, I would spend evenings and weekends making animated films in my makeshift attic 'studio'. I varied the techniques, using paper cut outs, cel animation (using tracing paper as I couldn't afford proper cels), puppet and clay animation. My family and friends and Tweet the budgerigar made up the entire audience at the 'premieres' of my films. One of my teachers at school, Mr Kelly got to know about my hobby and pressed me to show my work to the rest of the school. About the same time, I entered the BBC's Young Animator's Film Competition. Although I didn't win, the BBC still wanted to show the film with the winners on TV. I received instant fame in my school at the age of 15, I thought I had reached the pinnacle of my career.

After leaving school, I went to sixth form college to study an Arts foundation course. This was broadly based Arts course in which I could experiment with different media, e.g. stain glass, painting sculpture and jewellery. I continued with animation but just as a hobby as I thought someone like me could never get into the film industry. Unsatisfied with the quality of standard 8mm, I wanted to move up to super-8. In order to raise the money, I got a summer job in a chicken packing factory. However, as the picture quality increased with a super-8, the flaws became more obvious. This was my first lesson in taking greater care with the animation and helped me appreciate how humour can be achieved through simplicity. My major influences at the time were Terry Gilliam's abrupt cut out animation for 'Monty Python', and Bob Godfrey's shakily drawn 'Rhubarb' series.

When the tutors at college discovered that I made films, they couldn't believe that I'd kept it secret. Both they and my parents encourage me to apply for a degree in animation. I went to the, then Sheffield Polytechnic, Faculty of Art and Design to do a BA (Hons) in Fine Arts (Communication Arts). It was a fairly fluid course and I opted to specialise in animation for the latter two years. During the first year, there was a crash course in video, photography, film and performance. During the rest of the course, I made two puppet animation films and one film using chalk on blackboard. This was my first experience of using 16mm equipment, which was not normally used for animation as the course was more live action orientated. Unfortunately, the two puppet films were unfinished, but the chalk film, an alternative version of 'Jack and the Beanstalk' was completed and went on to win a prize in a student competition.

After graduation, I gained a place at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, near London. I believe I got in on the strength of the chalk on blackboard film as people commented on its originality and humour. The first year consisted of a series of short courses in fiction and documentary film making also offering training in lighting and camera work, editing and sound recording. When I was in my first year, animation was not an option, but I was able to specialise in animation for the latter two years. It was then that I started 'A Grand Day Out', my first 35mm film using animation extensively. I overshot the deadline and ran out of money. An important element of the course was the talks given by practising film makers, and for me, especially those involved in animation. I remember Peter Lord and David Sproxton from Aardman Animations in Bristol, England came to address the students. I showed them my work and they seemed impressed by it. This was especially pleasing, coming from people whose work I greatly admired. A little while later they invited me to work for them. A deal was agreed whereby NFTS continued financing A Grand Day Out, but Aardman would provide the studio facilities. I moved to Bristol in 1985 and by working part time on the film it was completed in 1989 after a further four years. When I wasn't working on "A Grand Day Out", I animated a number of commercials including a series for Access credit cards and Duracell batteries.

It was during the post production of "A Grand Day Out" that I made a film as apart of Aardman's "Lip-synch" series for Channel 4 called "Creature Comforts". Both 'A Grand Day Out' and 'Creature Comforts' went on to be nominated for the British Academy awards (BAFTA) with "A Grand Day Out" winning the coveted award. In the following year, 'Creature Comforts' became the basis of a successful TV advertising campaign for electrical appliances and heating, scooping many advertising industry awards. Both films went on to pick up over 30 awards around the world, and in 1991 both were nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Short - with 'Creature Comforts' winning.

There followed a number of opportunities to pursue very tempting offers both in Britain and the United States. However, since before the Academy Awards, I had more plans in development for Wallace and Gromit, the heroes of 'A Grand Day Out' and in 1993 I completed a half hour comedy thriller entitled 'The Wrong Trousers".

The success of The Wrong Trousers was beyond my wildest dreams and consequently the BBC asked my to make another Wallace and Gromit adventure. A Close Shave was made in 1995 and shown on BBC TV on Christmas Eve. Since then the three Wallace and Gromit films have been shown throughout the world in cinemas and are available on video.

I'm currently working on my first feature film, I'm co-writing and co-directing it with Peter Lord, the co-founder of Aardman and creator of Morph. It's hoped that the film will be finished in a couple of years time and it's then that I'll make another Wallace and Gromit adventure.

When looking back on my education, it is interesting to note that I was largely self taught and didn't actually have any formal animation training! The courses I attended were unstructured and although I enjoyed this freedom, I sometimes missed a more formal approach. However, I did appreciate the opportunity to learn basic film crafts of direction, writing, story telling and editing which were part of the package of a live action orientated course. Now working full time as a director/animator I regret not taking the opportunity to learn these skills more seriously, especially since I consider myself more a film maker who animates than an animator. Overall the most valuable aspect of my education has been to make my own films without commercial pressure and to nurture my own style and ideas.

My animation has developed over the years but my fascination for the magic of animation which began at 13 has remained unchanged."