Pixar art director inspires U. Oklahoma students to dream

U. Oklahoma, Norman, OK, Sep 04, 2009 (Oklahoma Daily/UWire via COMTEX) -- PIXR | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Pixar Animation Studios art director Jay Shuster knows a lot about sketching and designing cars -- and he ought to. His life began in one.

"[My dad's 1969 Chevrolet Corvair] is most likely the car I was conceived in," Shuster said Thursday at a lecture at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

For nearly two hours, Shuster self-deprecatingly regaled the audience with tales of his boyhood love for all things vehicular, the shenanigans that take place at Pixar's headquarters just outside San Francisco and his awe of the original "Star Wars" trilogy.

One year, Shuster's dad designed a Jawa -- a short, hooded "Star Wars" alien -- costume for him for Halloween, completely with glowing LED eyes, Shuster said.

"I'd hang out at the house in this thing," he said. "[And] it just freaked kids out walking down the sidewalk."

His love for "Star Wars" eventually led Shuster to a job at Lucasfilm Ltd., where he designed environments and vehicles for the prequel trilogy, including many of the podracers in "Star Wars: Episode 1."

But just because he worked on the prequels doesn't mean Shuster thinks too highly of them.

"The original trilogy was fantastic," Shuster said. "What they did with the technology they had back in the day was phenomenal. 'Star Wars' changed my life; 'Episode 1' changed it back."

From there, Shuster moved to Pixar in 2002 where he began designing vehicles for 2006's "Cars." He said it was then -- designing mechanical things -- when he found his niche.

He went on to design main characters WALLA-E and EVE in 2008's "WALLA-E," a process that took a year and a half, he said.

Shuster showed pages and pages of sketches and the extensive preparation work that goes into designing characters. WALLA-E required the biggest model packet of sketches of any Pixar character ever, Shuster said.

Brian Wright, University of Oklahoma freshman, said he was impressed with the sketches Shuster presented.

"It was really interesting how he showed the process of making WALLA-E," Wright said. "[The Pixar movies] are very artistic."

Shuster also worked on "Toy Story 3," scheduled for release in 2010, and is currently the art director for "Cars 2," slated to hit theaters in 2011.

The demand for excellence at Pixar is high, and can create a lot of pressure to live up to the studio's successful track record, Shuster said. Indeed, one of his slides showcased a handwritten note plastered along with sketches on an art room door -- "Pain is temporary, suck is forever."

Pixar artists and animators work hard doing what Shuster called "a relentless keeping your eye on everything," but that's what ensures quality, he said.

"It's just people caring about the product," he said. "It creates a lot of stress, but also, people are so happy to work on these films they know are going to be great."

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