Jay Shuster, Wielder of a Pixar Pencil

JF: How do you approach drawing differently as an artist for a CG film?

JS: Presently there’s no huge difference here. As I continue to dial into the needs of technical directors, shaders and painters, I suspect my skill set will grow to forecast the needs and wants of the technical. This doesn’t mean accommodation at the price of design – it just means designing smarter so when a specific kind of shader, for example, needs to be applied a particular way, the geometry is there to accept it. Speaking of my actual physical drawing materials, they’ve remained unchanged for decades. I’m using ellipse templates I bought with lawn-mowing money in high school, the T-square I bought in college, and Pixar provides all the pencils, pens and markers. I’ll do some simple Photoshop re-work if necessary for presentation. Since starting at Pixar about three years ago I’ve experienced a re-birth of sorts concerning the finish of my artwork. Previous job customs and expectations drove me to execute a certain level of polish in my drawings. Not a bad way to hone a technique. But spending time on my presentation skills was cutting into my invention time. I’d much rather spend a week pumping out reams of ideas as opposed to producing a few pieces of fine art. Pixar is a perfect fit in this respect. Knowing I can sketch on a piece of paper towel (with stain) at a moment’s notice, hang it up at a review and the idea gets noticed blows the creative process wide open.