You don’t necessarily have to be an animation student to know what Pixar is, but since I am, it was twice as exciting to visit and speak with Patrick James, Technical Director at the Academy Award winning animation studio in Emeryville.

It’s noon and people are leaving the building, taking a walk around the campus – which seems more like a small park – sitting outside eating their lunch or riding their skateboards. Actually, I had to meet James on a Tuesday, since playing soccer usually takes up his lunch break on the other days, “I’m the goalie” he says, “we were second in our league last year.” Aside from soccer, Patrick does a lot of things at Pixar that are not directly related to his job. Patrick recently completed shooting a live action short. Live action? Pixar? James found my disbelief humorous and told me Pixar offers numerous extracurricular opportunities to employees. Regardless of the department that you work in; you can be a Script Writer and attend a life drawing workshop. According to James, its more about experimenting and giving employees the opportunity to further and improve themselves.

On the second floor, I admired many pieces of the artwork, storyboards, sculptures, sketch ups, color palettes and background paintings. “It’s less expensive and less time-consuming to use digital paintings rather than model and render the backgrounds,” states James. As a matter of fact, paintings were used throughout many of Pixar’s films and, even as technology processes improve, digital paintings will be a very important part of the production process. When asked to describe his work environment in a few words, James says, “Red,” and smiles as he points to the walls in his office, which are all painted, of course, in red. Eventually his description expands to, “Open, flexible and what’s the word when you’re blown away all the time… Amazed, maybe?”

I asked James where he sees himself in the future - five years down the road. He states, “Not many people leave Pixar.” And, as of now, he wouldn’t want to. However, he would like to direct a short film, “There is the possibility for progress” he says, “but it’s always a question of `are you going to get up and do it. `” For him, motivation and satisfaction comes from children watching the films, especially his daughter, who, just like all other children, loves the characters and is patiently waiting – like we all are – for the next release.

Questions for Patrick James

What was helpful in your career?
Definitely my education (Patrick James graduated from Texas A&M with a Masters in Visualization)
Also my early interest in computers, when nobody knew what a modem was and there were like 200 websites on the internet. I was ahead of the game.

What kind of personal traits does one need to be successful in this work environment?
Rarely has one been fired because of lack of knowledge. It’s important you have skills, but if you just don’t get along with anybody or you make enemies that will be your biggest obstacle.
You need to be able to work in a team; I wish schools stressed that more. They usually try and get you to learn everything rather than crafting your individual skills. Be supportive and able to critique and receive critique without taking it personal, that’s very important.

Has there been a situation where you thought “this is really going to be hard?”
All the time! There are so many challenges here, but the result is that we are at the top of our industry. I started out in the rendering department and didn’t know RenderMan. As long as you know who knows how to do something and you maintain a good rapport with them you’re fine. It’s ok to not know something; you just need to be able to figure it out.

logo and picture from the movie Cars are property of Pixar Animation Studios