tl;dr: Nick Park spent most of the 1980s single-handedly making *A Grand Day Out* as his film school graduation project, completing roughly 90% of the work alone over seven-plus years while commuting from a tiny flat and eventually continuing production in a curtained-off corner at Aardman. The film premiered in 1989 alongside *Creature Comforts*, launching Park from unknown student to BAFTA winner and establishing the "Nick Park look" that would come to define Aardman. His style emerged from constraints: Gromit lost his mouth due to animation difficulties, becoming an expressive, silent dog.