In celebration of 25 years of Pixar magic, the top creatives from the studio sat down for an informal chat at the D23 Expo on Saturday. On hand for the event were John Lasseter, Jim Morris, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, Mark Andrews, Dan Scanlon, Pete Sohn and Ronnie del Carmen. Scheduled but missing from the panel was Lee Unkrich. The “nine young men” told stories about Pixar’s past and reminisced about their time with the studio. Each Pixarian was asked to recall their favorite memory while working at the studio. Some of the stories were new and some famiilar. From the first SIGGRAPH convention to the production of the first Cars film, each panel member had a great story to tell. [Read more…]
Video: Animator Austin Madison Draws Rex
Austin Madison, an animator at Pixar who also happens to be a lover of all things dinosaurs, recently did a drawing tutorial for One Dream Studios. As a dino-lover, Austin naturally chose to show his drawing process for Rex, the constantly anxious dinosaur from the Toy Story films! View the video below:
For more from Austin Madison, check out his always fascinating blog. To see more from Victor Jimenez, the host of the video, follow his YouTube channel here.
Remembering Glenn McQueen (1960-2002)
“He was the heart and soul of our animation department.”
-John Lasseter
Today, on this Christmas Eve in 2010, Glenn McQueen would have celebrated his 50th birthday. Born in Canada on December 24, 1960, McQueen landed a job in 1994 as an animator at Pixar Animation Studios. He played a vital role at the studio, working on Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. as an animator. Tragically in 2002, he passed away before the filming of Finding Nemo was completed. Pixar honored him by dedicating Finding Nemo in his name and then naming the main character in Cars after him (Lightning McQueen). He clearly was a man loved by many.
“Probably the most valuable thing that I’ve gotten from working at Pixar…is making all kinds of friends.”
-Glenn McQueen
Though Glenn McQueen may no longer be with us, he lives on in the great films he worked on and in the memories of those he left behind. Thank you, Glenn, for everything.
“Glenn is not gone from us. He’s still alive in all of us.”
-John Lasseter
Note: Quotes were taken from the incredibly moving Glenn McQueen Tribute on the Finding Nemo DVD.
New Toy Story PixArt: Jessie
Jessie by Jason Chalker
Looks like Jessie’s on the phone with Barbie again! Our countdown celebration continues with this unique vision of everybody’s favorite cowgirl by Jason Chalker, a Dallas, TX, based illustrator and designer. Jason specializes in pulp, pin-up and comic-book styles. In addition to his freelance work, he has a new webcomic, The Adventures of Major Maddox, that updates every Monday and Thursday.
Also check out his new Bride of Frankenstein pin-up print available at his online store. To see more of Jason’s great work, check out his website, Manly Art – the name says it all. You’ll find a whole host of great characters both original and familiar. There you will also find out that Jason worked as an animator on Richard Linklater’s A SCANNER DARKLY.
We thank Jason for contributing this sassy, sultry Jessie! And don’t forget to catch the original Jessie and the whole gang when TOY STORY 3 lands on DVD and Blu-ray on November 2!
Click here to view all of our PixArt pieces.
Pixar Animators Aaron Hartline & Everett Downing
This past week, Bobby Chiu from Sketchoholic conducted interviews with Pixar animators Aaron Hartline and Everett Downing. Their latest work can be currently seen on the big screen in the form of Toy Story 3. They each speak candidly about their journey to Pixar and how they eventually landed at the immensely successful studio. Some may think that it takes a lot of luck to grab a job at Pixar, but through interviews such as these, it can be seen that animators like Hartline and Downing also put in a tremendous amount of work for years to develop their now-great talent.
The two interviews contain great personal stories and advice on animation. I watched the interviews and was fascinated, and I highly recommend that you check them out. Both of the animators seem like such genuinely nice people who are also very knowledgable. I’ve included links to the videos below, as well as links to the animators’ personal blogs.
Aaron Hartline
Aaron Hartline
Aaron Hartline’s Personal Blog
The Daily Post-It– Aaron posts daily doodles on post-it notes
Everett Downing
Everett Downing
Everett Downing’s Personal Blog
Read Mojo: Book 1, the first issue of Everett’s comic book
365 Supers– Everett draws new superheroes each day
Note: The images above are the properties of their respective creator.
