A Day at Pixar

On Monday I had the privilege to visit Pixar Animation Studios for a private tour and portfolio review. A friend of the family, Arun, is a programmer there and was kind enough to take time out of his day to show me around the main studio. Pixar’s main building has a rotating exhibit of the most current movie in the case Wall E and some sections of their older films. It was a great honor to be given a private tour since Pixar is closed to the public and does not give any public tours. People who know me well know I’m a collector of concept and “art of” books and so to see the concept art in person was really exciting and awe inspiring. While we walked around Arun pointed out all of Jay’s (his friend I would meet later) pieces on the walls.

After the tour we met up with his friend Jay for lunch, which was very taste. After lunch Arun had to run to a meeting so Jay, who worked on Star Wars Episode 1 before coming to Pixar 6 years ago, was kind enough the go through my portfolio with me. He offered me some insight on what the directors would be looking for in portfolios and about the hiring process. I know have a better understanding of the difference in what directors look for in book portfolios vs. concept or story artist portfolios. I would like to give a big thanks to both of them and I hope to someday work with them there.

On a different note Pixar has its one store at the studio that sells some special things. I picked up a shirt some Golden books (another thing I collect is children’s books) and this cute plushy box set that was marked at only $10.