The Wooshii Blog

This is already the 3rd round of PRO interviews, where you guys can submit questions to established professionals in the creative industry. For this round, we an animator from one of the most creative and successful studios in the world answer your questions: Victor Navone from Pixar, with credits extending several of their movies, including oscar winning Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Wall-E.



William Rockwell: How important was education in your resume? Not very, I'd say. In animation (and most creative fields) it's your portfolio or reel that counts most, and then your interview skills are the second most important. If you're work is great and you seem like a team player, an animation studio could really care less about where you got your degree from, or if you did at all. I have a degree in Fine Art, not in animation, and I've never received formal animation training.



William Rockwell: How long were you animating before getting a job at pixar? Was it hard to get accepted, and get a job? I started teaching myself animation on my spare time in 1998, and I was hired by Pixar in 2000. It was my first animation job, and prior to that I had never considered it as a career. Of course, this is an exceptional case, and I don't think any one could follow in my footsteps - not even me. There is a lot more competition out there for animation jobs now!



Nath: Whats your favorite software of choice? I really like Pixar's proprietary animation software. It's what I use 99% of the time, so I'm very comfortable with it. I use Maya for teaching, and I don't care for it very much. The graph editor drives me crazy! Back when I was starting out I used Animation: Master and I loved it. I haven't touched it in years, though, so I can't really say how much I would like it now.



Eammy: Can you mention any details about that super secret pixar animation software called Marionette? ;) Not really, but it's not much different from any other animation software. Same buttons, different places. The advantage is that we have a team of programmers dedicated to building the tools we need, and bug fixes get turned around pretty quickly. Also, we don't call it Marionette - I think that's just what PR calls it. We call it "menv" (pronounced "men-vee").



Nath: Do you stick with mainly 3d or 2d? All my work at Pixar is 3D, and I don't really have time (or desire) to do animation at home. I have very little 2D animation experience, but I do draw a lot, and I do lots of planning thumbnails for my 3D animation.



JoaoNeto: Would you like at some point in your career to work again in videogames design? No.



JoaoNeto: What is the your favorite character you've worked so far? Probably WALL-E. I like working with limited characters, and I think I had a good understanding of him.



MonikaEmkey: Who is the best: Woody or Buzz Lightyear? :) That depends what you mean by "best". I think we both know who would win in a fight! But as for my favorite, I prefer working with Woody. I think he has a more complex and nuanced personality, and I'm a fan of Tom Hanks.



Nath: Do you still do animations as a hobby outside of work just for fun? Not really. Between teaching and family life, I don't have a lot of time or energy left for side projects. I have some ideas, but I haven't worked on them seriously. Usually I prefer to play guitar or work on my digital photography - things that are still creative, but offer instant gratification.



Nath: Do you still freelance even though you have a job? The only kind of freelance I do is teaching-related. I mentor at AnimationMentor.com, and I sometimes travel and lecture at different schools and animation events.



Nath: What other skills do you have or want to pick up in the future? There are plenty of things I haven't animated yet, like animals. Outside of animation, I'd like to develop my photography and guitar skills. I also enjoy acting and singing, thought I don't have a lot of opportunities to do those.



Ricardo: Pixar is one of the most creative companies out there, if not the most, so being you there for several years now, what do you think are the key points in fuelling all this creativity (and for so many years straight). The company is run by creative people - John Lasseter and Ed Catmull - and not by business executives. They know how to make movies and how to support artists, and they're not willing to release mediocre films just for money. We have a very collaborative culture, a spirit of openness and communication between artists and departments. There's not as much politics and maneuvering as you will find in a typical Hollywood studio.



JoaoNeto: What 3 movies would you take to a desert island, in the following categories: a 2d animation movie, 3d animation movie, and live action movie? That's a nearly impossible question, so here are some random choices: The Iron Giant Toy Story Dr. Strangelove



RodrigoAbad: How should we animators deal with the improvements on mo-cap and "digital prosthetics" that are removing barriers between good performance and creative character designs? We all know that animation is a world on it's own, and shouldn't be replaced by motion capture, but knowing that many animators act first and animate on top of the performance, or even the realistic style of animation... how do you see all that, and how should we animators position our selves in order to keep our singularity? What kinds of learning, training and etc? Maybe I'm naive, but I'm not worried about the issues presented in these two questions. There will always be different styles of animation and production, and characters that simply can't be motion-captured. There will always be trends, and pure keyframe animation will move in and out of favor. The important things are to be adaptable, be a good actor, and challenge yourself. -



Great stuff! On Wooshii's behalf I'd like to thank Victor for his time for answering these and keep inspiring all of us with his work. Check his blog for some more cool stuff. Also, don't forget also to check out Pixar's latest "Toy Story 3", opening tomorrow, June 18th, in the US and soon on other countries. That's it for this round, check back our forum soon for the 4th round of PRO interview by Wooshii creatives.

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