The Creative Industry Today Series: Part 6 — Dale Hayward

2025 Applied Arts Advertising Awards multiple award-winning campaign "Hanging by a Thread".

For over two decades, Dale Hayward has built a career in stop motion—moving between directing, producing, and educating while helping ideas travel from sketchbook to screen.

As co-founder of See Creatures and See-Learn Academy, his work spans indie films, global campaigns, and award-winning projects including Netflix’s The Little Prince, Kiri & Lou, and CNESST’s Hanging by a Thread. We spoke with him about stop motion in today’s creative industry—and why its human touch still matters.

What do you see as the biggest drivers behind today’s creative pressures?

I think there will always be the classic challenges of faster and cheaper, but there has definitely been some unique ups and downs recently with the uncertainty of the global economy and the threat of AI. These new tools have given us the temptation of increased speed and capabilities, but when it really comes down to it, it can never replace the humanity that comes from real craft. So for us, in our stop motion niche, we’re always looking to improve our skills in all crafts, but to still stay aware of what tech can help amplify our craft rather than replace us. 

How have these changes affected the way you price, scope, and choose projects?

With the advent of AI, there was the initial terror of the threat of our job, but as time has gone by and people have seen the limitations of what it can and can't do, it highlights what we can bring to projects even more. Stop motion is such a contrast to what is easy for AI, which is cold and digital, stop motion naturally has imperfections and a humanity to it that CG or AI has to work hard to imitate. The more we've embraced this instead of trying to fight this fact, the more comfortable we are with our position in the market.

What strategies help you protect your creative integrity while meeting commercial demands?

It’s really important to me that I make sure to dedicate personal time in my day. This could be my daily drawing practice, journaling or even working out, they’re all disciplines that I don’t really need to do, but help sharpen the axe. The benefits from them come around in unexpected ways. Uniqueness is the most important trait to have in a globally saturated market, so it’s crucial for us to constantly push to find it in our client and personal projects. 

We're all about the craft, so if there is a project that isn't highlighting the humanity or the craftsmanship of what we can bring, then it's not the right project for us. The environment, veganism and making a positive impact are core principles of See Creature and they become integral reference points that help us make decisions in all aspect of our studio, 

How are you integrating—or resisting—AI in your practice?

We've used it in small but profound ways. For example, Photoshop's content aware has been amazing to extend images and create pieces of photographs that would not be available with the original archival footage. I think Adobe (in all their imperfections) are doing AI right by incorporating it into their software in actual practical ways, but it is annoying to get AI shoved down our collective throats by all of these companies. 

It’s been very helpful with my writing. It’s been great to use it with the structure of content, presentations, art council grants or decks, but it takes a lot of massaging afterwards. I never want AI to be the end product, it’s just part of the process for tasks that it’s better at and when the time is right. I'm very conscious of the ethical and environmental impact that AI has, as well as the laziness that it creates within our brains. If we don’t develop our skills and push through the creative and mental challenges then our brains will atrophy and we’re worse off. We have to be aware of where the end goal is with AI. Just because it can do some cool stuff, is the journey worth it and is this where we all want to go? Is this really helping us or just spreading slop everywhere and filling someone else’s pockets? 

What does success look like for you now compared to five or ten years ago?

I'm an animator first, so the more I wear the producer hat in our productions, the more satisfied I am with a project when my budget estimates come true or total strangers seek us out to get our advice on their project. It quiets the imposter syndrome and proves to myself that the 20 years are paying off. I occasionally need to be reminded that what we do has value and it’s not just pretty pictures or goofy cartoons, it’s impactful, it’s relevant and necessary to help us make sense of our world. When I see the emotion in people from something that we created, it makes it all worthwhile.

Do you feel optimistic about sustaining an independent creative career long-term?

I gotta be honest, sometimes i don’t and this past year (2025) was a tough one, to the point where we almost hung up the towel. But the more we explored other options the more we kept coming back to the realization that we’re doing what we love and that’s worth fighting for. It deeply saddens me to imagine myself telling a student not to pursue the arts, it’s such an integral part of our humanity and if we give up on it so easily then the future does look bleak.

What skills or mindsets feel essential for creatives working outside traditional agency structures?

Business skills are a must. We always need to see past the initial request and find the deeper reason for the project, this can lead to more work but also a stronger project overall. 

Relationship building is our key source of work and finding the right freelancers. It has always been important to our future, so fine tuning how we attract the best people is a constant WIP and it’s worth spending the time on to get right because it changes over time.

In stop motion education is a massive element for us. Not just for learning skills or training new comers, it’s to the client and partners as well. Once everyone has a clearer idea of how the stop motion production works and when their input is best used, they’re reassured and get excited about the process. 

As for mindsets, I always love the saying “A rising tide rises all boats”. It’s why we share so much of what we do, both on the creative and business side. The more we can share knowledge the better all our work becomes and the less we all get taken advantage of.

If you had a magic wand, what would you change about how creative labour is valued?

I think we live in an extremely fortunate time where creative work is so prevalent, most of what I do now would never be possible 50 years ago. I actually love that it requires us to share the process in order for people to believe that it was made for real. I would love for this aspect to continue in the future and for clients to recognize that this stage is an essential part of the final product and that it is worth financially supporting.

I would love for the creative industry to recognize that the work that is done in the client space is just as valid as the "independent art”. For example, none of the government grant organizations will support attending festivals or awards for a project in competition if the project is commissioned. Just because we got paid to work on a project shouldn’t mean that it isn’t worth supporting. 

Society has a tendency to take the arts for granted. There's a sentiment that I've heard many times in my career that “I’m so lucky to do what I love” which then people use to justify not financially supporting us equally or respecting our time in the production process. Creativity can be a mysterious beast, so it’s important for the “non-creatives” to trust the team and give the space and resources that we feel that the project needs.

With decades of experience in stop motion, Dale Hayward continues to champion a form of animation rooted in craft, collaboration, and unmistakably human storytelling.