Well, I clearly didn’t get the job, but I did receive a callback, and I theorize that one of the factors that worked against me was that I was still in high school at the time.

Well, five years later, and some practical story and art experience under my belt (helloooooo Spongebob), I may be ready to try again. Seems that Pixar is looking for a story artist.

So, I am thinking I might submit an application. I believe I fit the mold of what they’re after. My responses are in bold.

The responsibilities of a story artist?

- Receive written and verbal descriptions of a sequence from the Director (or Head of Story).  Check.
- Create quick thumbnail sketches through to finished detailed storyboard panels. Do that all the time anyway.
- Perform background research to inform the story process.  Half of my stories are researched through various sources.
- Illustrate script pages and come up with story ideas.  Comics?
- Pitch storyboards to the Director and other members of the team.  I am energetic, and my original application included a video of me pitching a storyboard sequence.
- Work with Director and Head of Story to define staging, pacing and camera action. As adamant as I am about storytelling and camera techniques in comics, I believe I qualify.
- Come up with inventive ideas with a sense of entertainment and humor. I’ve been told I have a knack for physical comedy sequences in my work.
- Develop character personality and dramatic/comedic action. Do that in my comics.
- Draw storyboards for scenes assigned.  Check.
- Refine dialogue where needed. I am a writer, and I edit people’s work all the time. I try to write how people would speak.
- Revise, edit and modify sketches as needed, per Director’s notes. Revisions!

What are the qualifications they’re seeking?

- Practical knowledge of cinematic language, acting and staging.  Bingo.
- Strong storytelling abilities that feature character, emotion and movement. Some of my Dash stuff definitely can fit under here.
- Strong understanding of the principles of animation; emotion, acting, movement is required.  I love animation and cinema, and have studied them.
- Ability to analyze scenes in written form and translate into visual product. Script to drawn panels.
- Ability to express story and character through drawings. I think I do that well.
- Ability to invent action and express it through drawing. See previous statement.
- Ability to present work in a clear and entertaining way.  I polish my work fairly well.
- Ability to work collaboratively. I love collabs.
- Ability to work under pressure, in a fast paced, deadline driven environment. Were they watching me during the last few weeks of any of my college classes?
- Must be open to direction and able to embrace change.  Yo.
- Experience with Photoshop and Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet helpful. Work with tablets all the time.

As you can see, I believe I am in good shape to apply here. So maybe I should focus on getting this together on the weekend? If you don’t agree, please tell me why. And if you think I should go for it, please let me know. I’ll go for it anyway, but some cheering on will really amp up my work.

Every once in a while, I like to post a work in progress image to show you guys snippets of the process as I move through my pages.

Panel from the comic that is not quite dead yet. Thought you might find this interesting.

That’s it, Dash. You tell them.

Just a sample of an upcoming set of brushes I will be making available for anyone who wants them. More details later.

More muppets.

Also, maybe I will do some greeting cards or something featuring robots. What do you think?

Also, the visuals of the game are fantastic, and I really want to point out how truly expressive the character artwork in this game truly are. Little Mac looks tough without going into ‘roid-rage territory. This is just pure, awesome character design. Check the website for more information about this soon to be classic game.