When you think about 3D animated movies, it’s easy to forget that they’re entirely man-made creations. From the characters, to the cities, to the weather, it’s all been thought up in somebody’s head. And add to that the huge impact of graphics. Every brand is thought up, every billboard, every poster, every interface. And Mark Holmes is a guy who’s had a big impact on a stack of these brilliant graphic treats!

Working on some of the big releases of the last few years, including Wall•E and The Incredibles, we were lucky enough to chat to him about just how important graphics can be!

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For all you Pixar fans out there, there’s a real treat for you coming up! Publisher DK is releasing a new book called Pixarpedia which, as the name suggests, is an encyclopedia of everything Pixar! They kindly sent us an advance copy and we can vouch for just how good the book is. Full of brilliant artwork and in-depth detail about all the key characters from all the films, there’s also behind-the-scenes interviews with key staff covering areas such as graphic design and sound engineering. And to celebrate the release of the book, DK have teamed up with Pixar and Total Film to launch an animation competition, with the amazing prize of an exclusive trip for two to Pixar Animation Studios in San Francisco!! Here’s what’s involved:

Create an original animation on the theme of ‘An Animated Adventure’

Short-listed animations will be judged by a team of Pixar artists, so that’s a pretty darn good opportunity for exposure in itself! You’ve got until the end of November to enter, and there’s more details over on the official Pixarpedia page.

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As someone who has worked on a host of the biggest movies to have hit our cinemas in recent years, Susan Bradley has a wealth of experience in title design, graphics and direction in the movie industry. She was manager of Walt Disney Studios’ Title Graphics Department for six years before moving on to design titles for a number of live action films. In 2006 she teamed up with the Pixar gang and was involved in their animated success, Ratatouille. We were lucky enough to grab some of her time to ask her some questions about the film, the studio and her love of title design.

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Welcome to the world of Thunder Chunky. How’s life for you today?

Doing fine, thanks.

For the unenlightened amongst our readers could you explain briefly what you do with regard to digital graphics and also Soul Killer magazine.

Sure, first I work at Pixar as a Technical Director, which despite its name has a rather strong artistic component as well. I model, shade and light environments, and also do effects animation (like fire, smoke, water, etc). In my own time, I also do fine arts 3d images which I show on my website, mostly scifi/fantasy stuff. I also run a metal webzine called soulkiller which does news, album reviews, new release schedules and what not.

Continue reading “Inside Pixar with NEIL BLEVINS”

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