There are many international racers taking to the track in the World Grand Prix in Cars 2. Director John Lasseter has expressed his love for many of them, but one of his clear favorites is Francesco Bernoulli, a character that Lasseter has described as quite “full of himself.” Voiced by the awesome John Turturro (Monk, Transformers), the Cars 2 creative team had an interesting time finalizing his character’s design, as it was the first car with a long snout-like appearance. Disney/Pixar recently released some images showcasing his design process. Read on and take a ride through the character design of Francesco Bernoulli!
While the more polished looking images above are well done, our favorite image is the last one. Sketches allow artists to explore a character’s features and limits and are only bound by the artists’ imaginations. In this image specifically, we get a look at the different facial expressions of Francesco. The sketches may look simple, but they are actually deceptively simplistic. In each of these sketches we can sense the emotion that Francesco is feeling, which is a sign that these were done by a great sketch artist. Kudos, unnamed Pixar artist.
Francesco Bernoulli races into theaters in Cars 2 on June 24, which is now less than 50 days away!