About Paul G Newman

Despite being raised by Christian parents, and witnessing a healing miracle in my youth, seeing so much pain and suffering in the world caused disillusionment. In 1987, as a fine-arts student at the height of spiritual rebellion, I reluctantly transported my brother to church one Sunday.

Not looking forward to prolonged discomfort in the car, I joined the church service next to my brother. The theme was God’s destiny for your life, something I desired to know above all else. Against my introverted nature, God pulled me up from my chair to stand upfront weeping next to a missionary couple who were being released into ministry that day. That’s when I experienced my very thoughts answered one after the other by God, through the mouth of the pastor.

Paul (thinking while sobbing): “Will it involve the whole world?”

God (speaking through the Pastor): “It will involve the whole world.”

Without knowing the details, that was the day God called me into a worldwide ministry.

A few years later I sought to hear God’s voice just like the people of faith did in the Bible. At the time I was dodging military service by studying at University. The first command God gave me was: “Go and do your military service. There are people I want you to meet.” Following intense prayer during basic training in the South African Air Force, I ended up as video editor at SAAFTV. This was 1992, the same year I got married to my beautiful best friend, now wife and mother to our four children.

God again spoke, revealing filmmaking. To me it seemed unlikely that a severe introvert could direct people to make movies, so I challenged God: “If You want me to make movies, please change my personality.” The very next day my shyness was gone.

After SAAFTV we started doing commercial 3D animation from our apartment in Pretoria. In 1995 we registered Newman iMotion as a corporation. Our first customer called from Mozambique without us having marketed our animation services (in the days before websites and search engines).

In those early days God showed me visions of future film production technologies which would only be available about 30 or more. I saw a vision of virtual 3D film production hardware and software which allowed a filmmaker to be in the 3D scene, moving the virtual camera and see the shot by gliding my hand through the air between the 3D buildings in a virtual town. I could walk onto the set at any scale and review the artist’s modelling and texturing progress. Since I saw the technology I naturally thought of developing it. However, God told me He would lead others to build it, that I had to learn production instead. Today we see amazing real-time virtual interactive 3D technology realized and advancing.

Our studio became the vehicle for a varied media career with a focus on animation, editing and visual effects. Art, graphic design, writing, web development and video production was also part of the mix. Commercial work was done for television stations, TV programs, adverts, music videos, product visualizations and more, providing rich experience.

Over the past few years commercial work has been both good and bad. For years I pushed hard, hoping it would one day enable us financially to make movies. The harder I pushed the more I got burned out on the altar of achieving my calling. Both me and my time were spent, leaving me dry. Relationships suffered. Failure weighed me down. With no capital, a family to sustain, and counter to natural reason, I gave up worldly commercial work in order to live out my God-given calling. We’re blessed to have an amazing team and the support of gracious people around us.

We’re now working on books, movies and animated series which—God willing—we’ll publish worldwide. I frequently imagine members of our future audiences being eternally touched through our movies and books, perhaps even giving their hearts to Christ, just like I did.