Lindsey graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in
2009. She's been at Dreamworks PDI working as a Visual Development artist ever
since.
Short Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuZRcE9J3Gc
1) Could you walk me through your hiring process at
Dreamworks? How long did it take from the time you applied, to the interview,
and awarding of a position? Did you do anything special with presenting your
portfolio? Were you nervous when they called you for an interview? What was
your initial reaction when Dreamworks awarded you a position?
I had been in contact with some people from Dreamworks
throughout my senior year. I was featured on the character design blog and a
Dreamworks artist saw my interview and artwork and showed it to his production
designer. This really got the ball rolling and when Dreamworks came to my
school (Ringling College) for their recruiting visit they told me I had a job
offer during that interview. I found out the details of that offer in the week
after and accepted the position officially a few days after. I was incredibly
excited and called up family and close friends to let them know the good news.
2) How is it like working at Dreamworks? Did you start off
as an intern, or were you hired fulltime? Did you have to do training or
drawing test when you started, or were you given work to do on Madagascar 3
immediately? Was the learning curve a difficult hurdle to overcome coming
straight from school or was it a smooth transition? What are the work hours
like, and how is the work atmosphere? What are some of the neat things you have
learnt from other artists that you have worked with or seen?
I started off hired full time. I had a day of basic
orientation training, but I pretty much started work on the film immediately.
Since at school I mostly worked in 3d and animating I haven't actually
digitally painted a ton. So I'm still learning a lot and trying to improve
constantly. Work hours are 9-6. I don't really put in overtime. Its relaxed and
not a stressful work environment.
3) Tell me a little bit about yourself, about your life?
Where did you go to school, and what classes did you study? What challenges did
you face, and what helped prepare you to become the artist that you are today?
Roughly, how many hours a week did you spend polishing your skills to reach the
level you are at now?
I grew up in San Diego California. I knew I loved to draw at
a young age. I came from a very creative and supportive family. My father is a
professional guitarist/musician, my older sister Brooke is a very talented
painter, and my mom is the type of mother who'd let her kids paint murals all
over the walls in the house. Growing up I was surrounded by people who
encouraged my passion for creativity. Like most little kids I loved animated
Disney movies; these movies made me want to be an animator. I didn't really
know what that meant, but I knew those movies were all moving drawings…and that
was too cool. I had my first real taste of animation at Cal Arts' summer
program for high school kids called CSSSA. That sealed the deal for me as far
as my decision to go into the animation world. Then I decided to take the 3D route.
I ended up moving out to Sarasota Florida to study computer animation at
Ringling College of Art and Design. At Ringling I took classes in concept,
drawing for animations, 3d character animation, figure painting, landscape
painting, graphic novel illustration, children's book illustration etc. I felt
challenged in balancing my time. I spent most my time animating but wishing I
was drawing. That was a big challenge for me and trying to find time to draw,
paint, and create the type of work I wanted to be making. I worked nonstop,
it's hard to say. At school It seemed like I was always working, unless I was
eating or sleeping. But sometimes those overlap too :)
4) What inspired you to become a Visual Development Artist?
Did you always know that you wanted to do that, or do you have ambitions to do
other specialties like animating, modeling, texturing, etc? What are some of
the things that you do to keep yourself creative?
Originally I wanted to be an animator. I wanted to be a
traditional animator since I was a kid. When the industry went 3d I decided to
go to Ringling College to study computer animation. I still thought I wanted to
be an animator but didn't really understand the pipeline. In our first year we
take two semesters of 2d animation. I really enjoyed those. But when we got
into 3d I just couldn't find myself enjoying animation. I just craved to draw
more. Drawing is really where my heart is. We had a concept class where we
focused on story, character/environment design. I loved this class and started
to learn of what visual development was. I realized this is what I wanted to
do.
To stay creative I try to go out drawing. I like to go to
malls, food courts, and cafes to people watch. Aside from drawing, I don't do a
ton to go out of my way to be creative and get inspired. Inspiration seems to
happen on accident when you're living life. It's hard to plan. I guess for me
it's more about trying to see the artistic charm in our daily life experiences.
My favorite ideas have come from personal experience, sometimes it's a
character, memory, or story message that rings true to me. I love thinking in
cars...driving around late at night, or as a passenger staring out the window.
5) What inspired you with the idea for your short film,
Anchored? Were there any challenges you faced when doing the film, and how did
you overcome them? I was wondering if you could talk about the shading style
for your shorts; is this a diffuse map connected into a toon shader?
The inspiration came from my personal life experiences and
what I believe. When thinking of an idea I was reading the Bible and looking
for inspiring verses. I read, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting,
for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind"
James 1:6 and "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you
trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit" from Romans 15:13. I also wrote down notes from the parable of the
lost sheep..."What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of
them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to
look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth,
he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander
off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these
little ones should be lost." Before I figured out my story I had written
out verses like these. My sketchbook was full of verses, quotes, parables, song
lyrics, and many loose pieces that I tried to sort together to find an idea. I
wanted to make a film with a strong message, and I wanted to create a feel-good
piece. I wasn't sure what message I wanted to share and felt stressed over
trying to find something meaningful. When I put aside all the pressure of what
I wanted my film to be and started naturally working out the story, the
original meaning of the verses and metaphors were clearly revealed in my story.
It worked out so smoothly that I really felt like it was a story from God, and
I was able to use my art as a messenger.
A lot of the details are influenced by my life. While I was
thinking of a story I was at a low point, feeling discouraged and doubting
things I knew. I had some moments feeling adrift at sea. Also during this time,
two of my really close friends were away for a couple years and the only form
of communication we had was through handwritten letters in the mail. Sending
letters was such a change from the instantaneous communication we have these
days. I was interested in that type of conversation and really appreciated the
meaning of receiving a letter from someone you don't see anymore. Some of the
letters I received were so encouraging and hopeful. They really helped me gain
perspective. I think that feeling shows through in my piece when the man adrift
at sea is surrounded by all the origami crane letters. When I was working out
the story, I didn't plan to put specific details from my life in the film. It's
subconscious and natural. We do what we know, it makes our work honest and
truthful. You need to share a part of yourself to really give a story that
heart and emotion. I really don't feel like the message came from me. I think
it was something that worked itself into my film, and something that I learned
from while working on this project. I learned from the message in my film, it
really spoke to me. I truly have felt like both my characters and have learned
from the message in my film. The inspiration comes from God and how I've
interpreted my life into story.
Just finishing the film was a challenge. When I think of a
concept, I try to be practical about how much work I can take on, but at the
same time I don't like to limit myself with worries about the things I don't
know how to do. Taking on challenges is a great way to learn. This was my
thesis film at Ringling College of Art and Design, so the curriculum was set up
that we'd spend a semester in our 3rd year planning the film with story and
art, and most of our senior year executing the film in 3d. There were so many
parts of the film that I assumed I'd just figure out later..during the second
semester of senior year "later" was approaching fast. I didn't know
how I'd make the water, how I'd rig a rope of words that the characters
interacted with, and how to transition between 3d and After Effects. Some
things didn't seem like too big of a deal, but when it came to actually
executing it, they were much more challenging that I had assumed. My film was
experimental in style and combined several elements so executing the look of
the film was a challenge. I had a lot of manual tracking in After Effects that
was very tedious. I was working in full HD scale so it was slow and challenging
to maneuver in After Effects at times. The shot with the cranes flying from the
man in the boat across the sea to the woman was tricky. It's a mix of After
Effects and Maya and was difficult to blend the two. In 3d it was too difficult
to animate the words moving over such a large distance and have the camera
tracking the words over such a distance while attempting to have words move by
smoothly as if your reading them.
Smoothing up all the loose ends and tightening up the piece
took a long time. There were a lot of pops in the animation's motion, pops when
a 3d model of a crane switches to a stop motion After Effects crane, pops with
the transitions come in too suddenly and etc. There were a lot of jarring
sloppy pieces that interrupted the flow of the piece. Just cleaning up was hard
for me, catching glitches, intersecting geometry etc and getting everything
fixed in time. As a one man team making a 3 minute short in a school year, my
time was so limited. There's still so many things I would've liked to do with
the piece that I didn't get around to. I had to learn how to prioritize and
keep everything in perspective. It was hard finding a balance in my priorities,
working the piece closer to a finish as a whole and sacrificing certain aspects
that remain very unfinished in my eyes. I overcame this challenge by keeping in
mind that I was making this film to motivate and uplift people, The story was
already working so I held on to the hope that my film would have that effect
regardless of the unfinished cloth, various rough parts in the animation, or
all refinement in the water, transitions, and effects that I never got around
to.
The characters have exaggerated color maps for their
textures. I exaggerated the colors in their faces and clothes, including
variations in values. I wasn't relying completely on the lighting to show the
form. A lot of the value and hue shifts are built in to the textures and
shaders. The look was achieved in compositing my render passes in After
Effects. I used a diffuse color pass which is the raw color without being
affected by lights. From there, I manipulated a series of other passes in After
Effects and composited them together to create a look with a watercolor/ hand
painted sensibility.
6) Do you have any plans to produce more short films on the
side?
Currently my greatest ambition is to make short films. I
recently finished my thesis film "Anchored" It was the greatest
project I ever worked on. Working on it was so stressful, exciting, and
addicting. I loved making my own film. After completion, being able to share it
with an audience was such a blessing. I received so much wonderful feedback and
a lot of emotional response. It means the world to me to hear that someone can
feel uplifted and happy from watching my film. I'm craving to do more work like
that in the future.
7) What is your most favorite subject to draw? And why?
I like drawing animals or funny looking people. Generally I
don't like drawing kids and pretty people…I have more fun when things are
chunky, droopy, wrinkly, aged, awkward, etc. It seems more real to me to draw
unappealing things and try to give them appeal. Animals are fun because there's
already a lot to work with when designing them. I think of God as the ultimate
designer… he must have had a blast with the animal world creating so many
interesting shapes, sizes, patterns and textures. Human shapes are more
familiar but the animal world seems to have more unique elements to work with.
8) Who are some of your favorite artists?
When I was interning at Disney I gained such an appreciation
for raw beautiful drawings. I was able to see collections of original animation
drawings…they were incredible, I think some of the most amazing artists and
draftsmen are the 9 old men and other Disney artists ranging from Mary Blair to
Glen Keane. Some other designers and illustrators I enjoy are Charles Harper,
Ronald Searle, Alice and Martin Provensen, Erich Sokol, Nico Marlet, Joe
Moshier, Paul Felix, Tadahiro Uesugi, Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Sterling
Hundley, Norman Rockwell, Dean Cornwell, Chris Ware, and so many more than I'm
leaving out.
9) Looking back, would there something you would change with
your demo reel to better meet their expectations? Do you have any tips for
students, and industry professionals who have their hopes to break into feature
film business?
My advice is to show your best work and show a diverse body
of work that will show the company that you can fit in there. That you have a
diverse range so they trust you can take on the style of their film. And to
show the type of work that you'd be doing there, so they can see if you'd be
ready for production. For a visual development job that's usually a lot of prop
design, and lighting/mood paintings.
