I started in the Animation industry as a Modeling/Texture Artist at a small Studio in Chicago almost 11 years ago working on a cartoony kids’ video series Veggie Tales. During my 3 years there I not only modeled characters, props and sets, but also got involved in concept design. I then moved to Atlanta where I was hired as a Generalist at Fathom Studios (an even smaller studio of 15 people), to work on the still yet unreleased animated film Delgo.

While building several sets for the film I discovered lighting. I had to create lighting setups to test the shading and texturing, and soon found I really enjoyed illuminating the scenes. I was later promoted to Lighting Supervisor. In September of 2003 I made another big move across country to California where I was hired at Pixar Animation Studios as a Lighting Technical Director. My first project there was The Incredibles where I learned Pixar’s proprietary lighting software and pipeline. I then got to work on more complex master lighting setups on Cars, Ratatouille, and Wall-E.

Of all of them, Ratatouille was by far my favorite project and the one I’m the most proud of. The level we were able to take the lighting on that film was truly the closest thing to pure art I’ve experienced while working in 3D. Sharon Calahan was an amazing leader for our team as the Director of Photography and I learned a lot about color and light. The team was top notch, and besides being a HUGE amount of work, the production went amazingly smoothly. And Brad Bird is the best Director I have ever worked with (I really enjoyed working with him on The Incredibles too). He has an amazing way of telling you not what to change in a shot, but why something needs to change so you understand fully his motivations and can much more easily figure out what needs to change to make the film really work.

Whether you’re working on films or games a strong understanding of design, composition, light, and color are necessary. The eternal basic principles of art will always apply to visual projects. No matter how much “technology” is needed to create a project, the concepts of good design need to be adhered to.

Remember: the computer is not your master! You should be the king of technology and not let the programs lead you down the paths they want to wander. As an artist you should have complete control over the scenes you create and understand what is needed to make the images players see on screen really move them emotionally. A game is similar to a film in that a story is being told and the player that is involved emotionally will have a much more impacting experience. If you can see the project as a story it will allow you to create better games.

As with any form of art, understanding what light does in the real world is the most important thing. You cannot create a fake version of light unless you understand the real thing and how our eyes and brain interpret the light into meaningful images. We all know the concepts of light subconsciously. As proof—how are we able to tell from looking at a 2 dimensional image how big objects are, how near or far they are supposed to be, what materials they are made of, whether they are soft or hard, wet or dry, smooth or rough? The answer is light. So if we can tap into this knowledge that our brains already interpret and understand it consciously we will be able to better recreate art that lets viewers get the correct visual cues and see the amazing worlds we want to create.

(I could write 40 pages here on color and light but that would take too long. A couple years ago I had the idea to get this information that I’ve learned over the years of working as a Lighting Artist and find a way of sharing it. I approached the Gnomon Workshop about producing a training DVD on light and color, and in September of last year it was published. Have a look if you want to get a much more detailed view into my thoughts on light and color.)

Whether it’s the game industry or film, having a passion and focus for what you want to become is one of the biggest factors to your success. Passionately pursue what you love most and eventually doors will start to open. Your passion will allow you to learn the art to a level that is marketable professionally. Spend your time creating art and not just talking about creating art. Be careful not to just browse web forums that talk about art creation and not actually go and create some art. I once heard that we all have a million bad drawings in us so we might as well get them out now… and I agree. Create with passion and do as much as you can.

If you’ve already made it in the door and you want to survive long term… Have integrity! Be professional! This industry is too small to burn any bridges and you will be rewarded for building trust and friendships. Also, negativity is a choice. Every studio has things that suck, even the best of places. You can choose to be happy no matter where you are and choose not to be weighed down with criticism. If you do this you’ll last so much longer and be more fulfilled as an artist.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Art, INSPIRATION. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.