David Bowes wants to make one thing clear - he's not anti-cgi. Bowes, the president and senior creative director at Vancouver stop-motion/claymation studio Bowes Productions, believes puppets and models can co-exist quite nicely with digital creations.

"I'm not against [3D animation] at all," he says.

In certain cases, he explains, photographing a real object is just the preferable way to go. He cites the example of Voyage of the Unicorn, a tv miniseries his company recently worked on for producer Sextant Entertainment and Hallmark Entertainment, slated to air on Odyssey in the u.s. this month. The movie tells the fantastic tale of a modern-day family, led by Professor Aisling (Beau Bridges), that is sent to a mystical world to combat an evil troll named Skotos.

bp created a dream sequence in which Miranda Aisling (actress Heather McEwen) dances on a stage and confronts a serpent, realized in stop-motion animation. A bronze Mermaid rises from the waves and tries to cast a musical spell on the viper.

"When we arrived, director Philip Spink said, 'We have so much cgi on this show, I want something different, something that's really going to stand out,' " Bowes recalls.

Bowes can point to stellar work in both disciplines.

"Everything definitely has a place right now," he says. "Look at [the 3D-animated] Toy Story - that in itself is its own entity. The same can be said for [the stop-motion] The Nightmare Before Christmas. It always boils down to that it has to be a good idea. You can have the most spectacular looking animation, but if the idea is not there, it's not going to fly."

bp recently celebrated its 12th anniversary. Bowes says a big reason for his company's longevity has been keeping its full-time staff down to its principals - himself, business associate/production manager/producer Jim Pescitelli, and veteran cinematographer Bob Ennis - while maintaining a strong network of freelancers to call upon as projects dictate.

"I've got the pick of the litter," Bowes says. "When people come and work with us - and I stress this to other studios - treat your workers really well, pay them right, respect them as artists, and it works out fine. These people keep coming back to us."

One of bp's chief freelancers iskey stop motion animator Jeff Mulcaster, who frequently collaborates with renowned cgi/stop-motion shop Will Vinton Studios, out of Portland, Oregon. Ennis, bp's regular dop, has worked on an array of projects including Jumanji, and is a big selling point for the company.

"I send out his resume every time we do a bid on a job, and as soon as people see his cv, they can't help but be affected, because it's nothing short of excellent," Bowes says.

According to Bowes, many of the jobs his company works on require six or seven pairs of hands. He believes the practice of Vancouver studios hiring as the workload demands has been unfairly treated in the press.