Deja vu, all over again.
About 5 or 6 years ago, I had applied for a job with Pixar as a story artist. Yes, that Pixar.
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.
