Chris Renaud

I always say that when I was a kid, I only played with the Darth Vadar and Storm Trooper action figures. I gravitated toward the villains. I think it's a common thing.

I get asked a lot if I'd want to get into live-action movies, and the answer, honestly, is 'no.' I'm an illustrator, and I think animation is an extension of that way of expressing myself. That's not to say I'd never make a live-action movie, but I don't strive for it.

Drawing was a cheap way for me to express myself. It gave a focus to my thinking and my life from a very early age.

The great thing about working in comics is that visually, you're the sole voice. You have to figure out the staging, the lighting, the composition, the character emotions, the action. You get a script, but you're trying to work it out in individual panels. It's a terrific exercise in creative thinking and creative problem-solving.

Whenever you have an animal and bring another one into the house, it's a very traumatic event. It's a story as old as bringing home a second child from the hospital, when the first child kind of goes, 'Hey, aren't I enough?'

We were going for simplicity with the Minions and, frankly, I think that's a huge appeal of the characters. They're essentially pills with goggles. A child can draw them quite easily.

When I was at Marvel, they were in bankruptcy, which is hard to believe now with 'Avengers 2' out, but it was during the 1990s. It was a troubled place. Comic book sales were dropping. Work was scattered.