Them Dogs Can Talk!

Here's the rest of the poster series I created for Up. I finally got to see the finished film and to say that I loved it would almost seem like an understatement. It absolutely blew me away which says a lot because one of the perks of working with Disney and Pixar is getting to see the film at various stages of production. To get that access is amazing but at the same time, it's difficult to see the final film with fresh eyes. More often than not, I find myself concentrating on the changes they made rather than the film as a whole. I knew early on that Up was a special film. Even in early storyboard form, it already had all the strong emotional and comedic elements. I guess it was so good that even after round after round of screening it, it really held up and continued to grow and resonate more and more with me. I can't wait to see it again...for the umpteenth time. It's definitely an honor to get to work on a tiny part of the awesomeness called Up.

More UP!

Here's another poster from the Up series. This one features the villain in the film, Charles F. Muntz. The look and tone of the series all came from this one. It was the first one I started and it was the first to get approved. After you get one under your belt, the others fall into place a little more smoothly (knock on wood). I seriously can't wait to see the final film!

That House can Fly!

Over the 10 or so years I've been at this profession, one of the cooler moments definitely came when I got to work with the filmmakers on the style guide for Up, the latest Pixar film. It's always an honor to get to see one of their awesome creations come together from initial story pitches and character sketches, to animation tests and final renders. It takes years and years of hard work and long hours for them to get to the hour and a half or craziness you see on screen. With anything I do for them, I really hope to put in as much effort as I can to do justice to their film. As long as I've been working with them, the pressure's always on to create something that they can appreciate.
With Up, I got to work really closely with their Character Artists Ricky Nierva and Albert Lozano. They went out of their way to make sure I got to the essence of this film and its characters. You definitely can see the passion they have for everything they do and it's inspiring to see. Even Director Pete Docter would always be on hand to throw overlays on top of my individual poses and let me know if i was doing anything out of character or not in line with the story. They have an innate attention to detail and i got a kick out of hearing how they justify everything they do in the film. It was such a positive learning experience and I surely hope I get to do it again.
This time around, I ended up with 6 posters and about 12 character poses for the guide. Here's one Acme Archives offered as an exclusive print at the San Diego Comic-Con last year. Hopefully, I'll get to post the rest as soon as they are made available to the public.
Now, I'm headed over to Party City to snatch up every balloon they have so I can float over the Miller Beer factory and drop into one of those huge pipes into a beer vat. Yup, that's a good way to go.