WEBVTT

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I am Ricky Nierva and I am an artist.

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I am very very lucky to say that I am

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a production designer 
at Pixar Animation Studios,

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which is one of the best 
animation studios in the world.

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It is hard to believe, 
but I've been in the industry,

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animation industry, 
for almost 20 years now.

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And one thing that really terrifies me,

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other that being on the stage right now,

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is this. Right here.

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This blank sheet of paper.

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This is very very intimidating 
to an artist, I think.

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Its emptiness could be very intimidating.

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There is so many opportunities,

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so many possibilities 
of what could be on this thing.

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You know, I have a little, a quick story


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about a theater and 
a director at a theater,

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where the director came to work, 
during rehearsals,

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the director opened the door 
to the theater

NOTE Paragraph

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and noticed, on the stage,

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that the dancers 
were basically doing nothing.

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Some dancers were stretching, 
some dancers were,

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you know, reading a book or something,

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but they were basically doing nothing.

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And the director, bewildered,

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walked down to the front of the stage

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and he noticed the choreographer 
had his head in his hands


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and he looks at the choreographer 
and angrily says:

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"What 's going on here?"

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And the choreographer 
looks at the director and goes:

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"Nothing is happening. It's nothing, 
you know, it's just not working. Nothing."

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And the director looks at the choreographer 
and says:

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"Well do something, so I can change it!"

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(Laughter)

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So, being a production designer

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is a very intimidating thing.

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A production designer 
is basically in charge

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of the overall look of the film.

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And that's very scary because

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at Pixar a colleague has said to me,

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his name is Jason Deamer, 
he's an art director at Pixar,

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has said: "Pain is temporary, 
suck is forever".

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(Laughter)

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So, I'm gonna do, the theme here is

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"Uncharted Waters" and do something crazy

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and I just said "suck",

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so I'm gonna do something 
that hopefully doesn't suck too badly

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and I'm gonna make this 
more relaxing to me.

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So I'm going to just--

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OK, that sucked but,

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there's a point behind this.

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Basically, where do you begin, right?

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Apple and Pixar founder Steve Jobs

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has said, let's see here,

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"Design is not just what it looks like 
and feels like,

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design is how it works."

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Film making is a purely collaborative

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art form, and that's why 
I love it so much.

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To make a film's design work,

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the art must support the story.

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and at Pixar we try to tell 
the best stories that we possibly can.

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You know, the first time I got 
to production design

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was on the movie "Up",

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and for those that have not seen it,

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you need to leave right now and watch it.

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(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

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But I apologize if I ruin 
the film for you,

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when I say, it's about a story, about a man

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named Carl Fredricksen.

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And Carl Fredricksen, 
in the beginning of the film,

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we meet him as a very young child

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and he meets the love of his life, 
her name is Ellie,

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they fall in love, they get married,

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they go through all the trials 
and tribulations of life.

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You get to a point were they get old

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and Ellie dies.

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Again, I'm sorry if i ruined it for you,

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but, that's in the first five minutes 
of the movie

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and I think it's the most beautiful 
five minutes of the movie.

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It's a really powerful setup

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to Carl Fredricksen's story.

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And then Carl, basically, at that point

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starts being boxed in,

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starts being stuck in his ways.

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He's basically unchanged man.

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So, the approach I took to designing that

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is all based upon that idea,

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and if you bear with me here,

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I'm gonna show you a bit about how I think

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about designing for that movie.

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And it all started with this.

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A simple square.

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Basically, I go to work,

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I draw that, I show the director

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and then I go home and

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turn on the Internet.

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OK that was a joke.

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(Laughter)

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It takes some time to translate the jokes, 
I'm sure.

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No, it starts with a simple idea,

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the square.

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And the square to me, while I'm designing,

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it's static, it's not dynamic,

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it's solid and stable,

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but it's also basically boxed in.

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So, as I'm thinking of these things 
while I'm designing

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on the shape,

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things come together.

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And all of these ideas,

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and here's some square glasses,

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is supported by that square.

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He's got square ears,

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and this is basically Carl Fredricksen

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see, hold your applause, I'm not done yet.

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(Laughter)

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He's got a square body.

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Uncharted waters, I don't normally 
draw in front of people like this.

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So, you're getting first time stuff 
going on here.

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He's got square hands,

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a lot of squares to support that simple,

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simple idea.

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Carl Fredrickson.

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(Applause)

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So, another character that takes Carl 
through his journey

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and actually tries to change him

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and make him a more 
well-rounded character,

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is a character named Russel.

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And what's simpler shape 
that contrasts that square

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but a circle?

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So, I'll get here

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So, the circle symbolizes positivity 
and moving forward.

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It's a very dynamic thing,

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It's all of these things that

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need to help Carl get more well-rounded.

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So Russel was based upon this idea.

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It's kind of like a balloon shape.

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And Russel, is this wilderness explorer.

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A very positive kid.

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And he's got all these circular motifs 
all around his body.

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Like that.

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And he has, well, I'm not done yet.

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(Laughter)

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I wanted to show you all the details 
around his body,

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which are very circular.

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And we think about all theses things,

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you know, he's got this sash,

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and part of the story

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is that he's collecting all of these badges

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as a wilderness explorer

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and it's all these circular things

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and each badge has a story,

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but right here is this empty one.

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He's trying to get the 
"Assisting the elderly" badge,

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and by design it's over his heart.

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And one of these things is that 
they would work with each other.

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You have the square and the circle.

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But for Carl there's also a story point

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of this circular symbol right over his heart,

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and that's the Ellie badge.

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So you need to watch the movie in order to

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understand what's going on there.

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But, you know, we think about all of these things

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as we design and it's a very long process.

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You know, it takes an average of four years

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to make an animated film at Pixar.

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And we also, while we are thinking 
of making the movie,

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we have fun putting these simple shapes

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all over the movie.

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So you can see here, where Carl wakes up,

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on his side of the bed 
are the square symbology,

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and on her side is this circle symbology.

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And so, you know, it's fun to do this

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and we have kind of these ideas,

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but the main point is to not see it

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while you are watching the movie,

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but you should feel it.

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If we do our job right, 
you don't notice this stuff,

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but you feel it.

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It's also here,

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in picture frames around the house.

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If Carl is by himself, he's in 
a square picture frame.

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If Ellie is in the picture frame by herself, 
she's in an oval picture frame.

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Someone asked: "What if they're 
in the picture together?"

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Well, it's a square frame with an oval mat.

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(Laughter)

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You can see in this image, 
Russel is literally

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separated from from Carl with lighting.

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It's just cut right through the shot.

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And all of these things 
support that simple idea,

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basing upon that simple idea 
of circle and squares.

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You can see the circular motif 
all around his design

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and his very colorful, 
very saturated color.

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And Carl's desaturated.

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So he's trying to get 
color back into Carl,

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he's trying to get him more well rounded.

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Very clearly it's in the prop design.

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Carl and Ellie's chair,

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you can see the circle and square

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shape vocabulary there, shape language.

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And at the end of the film, after Carl 
has gone through his adventure,

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you can see that he's 
a more softened character.

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He's more well rounded.

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You know, he's tanned,

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he has more life in him.

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And the idea of this, is that

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it's a process of making things simple.

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But we all know that simple is

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not necessarily simpler.

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Pablo Picasso, the famous artist has said:

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"It has taken me four years 
to paint like Rafael,

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but a lifetime to paint like a child."

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You know, kids have an amazing

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directness to the way they draw 
and express themselves.

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This is a beautiful drawing 
by my daughter Olivia,

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who's actually in the audience right now.

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(Applause)

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Sleeping, bored.

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(Laughter)

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Uncharted waters, 
this is what it's all about.

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(Laughter)

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She's never gonna forget that.

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I'm never gonna forget it.

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Oh my gosh, this is amazing.

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Let me tell you about how amazingly 
full of life she is.

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(Laughter)

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No, she drew this drawing and, you know,

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young kids, they just jump in.

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They're joyful when they create.

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You know, Eugene was talking about that,

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about the kids,

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very young kids will just dive in.

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You know, they're not afraid 
of that blank piece of paper.

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They can't wait to fill 
that blank piece of paper.

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They simplify down to it's purest essence.

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You know, pure drawing 
comes from the soul.

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It comes from deep inside of you,

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and that's how you can communicate.

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You know, I've been drawing,

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my first drawings are when

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I think I was three years old.

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I asked my mom: 
"Who did these drawings on my bed?"

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and she said: "You did".

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"You found a permanent marker,

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you destroyed your bed,

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and then you went to the walls.

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You kept going around the house".

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And my mom, instead of getting angry,

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she brought home paper for me to draw

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on the paper instead of her walls.

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So I'm very very thankful and appreciate

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that she's an enabler and 
she supports my addiction,

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and, OK that was a joke.

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I love my mom for doing that, really.

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I would get completely lost 
when I was a child,

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and it's called "Getting in the zone"

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where the world would just disappear,

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and I would make sound effects 
and I would just

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completely lose myself and, you know,

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as an artist, that's the thing 
you try to strive for.

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You know, getting in that zone.

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Kids also, in terms of drawing, 
they get to the heart of it.

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My youngest daughter 
who's also in the audience,

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Lilly. She's not sleeping. Is she?

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(Laughter) (Applause)

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She's gonna kill me.

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Oh my gosh, my kids are gonna kill me.

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(Laughter)

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Lilly, when she was around four years old,

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she's about five,

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maybe actually when she was 
about three or four,

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she drew this amazing drawing 
of our pet dog right here.

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Our dog, Kika.

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Kika is a little Doxin, 
a little wiener dog.

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And I looked at the drawing,

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I loved it, but I said

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"Hey, Lilly, dogs only have four legs".

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And she said "She's running, papa".

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(Laughter)

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Isn't that amazing? 
That is so amazing to me.

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And there's cave drawings, you know,

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where there's animals running, 
and there're multiple legs.

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It's like the first animation, in a cave.

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So, you know, it's just so inspirational.

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I look at kids' drawings and that pure,

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that purity in this things 
that Ι just feed from.

00:15:06.551 --> 00:15:09.862
And the last thing is,

00:15:09.862 --> 00:15:12.596
ultimately kids are not afraid 
of making mistakes.

00:15:12.596 --> 00:15:16.830
My goal is to continue to draw

00:15:16.830 --> 00:15:20.143
so some day I will be able 
to draw like a child.

00:15:22.773 --> 00:15:29.446
So, my last point is, 
let's come back to this.

00:15:34.506 --> 00:15:38.252
I would say if anything 
you get out of this talk

00:15:38.542 --> 00:15:42.112
is- don't be intimidated 
by the blank sheet.

00:15:41.760 --> 00:15:45.760
You know, start with something.

00:15:45.760 --> 00:15:48.365
Start with a scribble, 
start with something.

00:15:48.365 --> 00:15:50.268
"Fail early, fail often"

00:15:50.268 --> 00:15:52.733
That's a saying that we have 
at the studio.

00:15:52.733 --> 00:15:59.003
But you need to be brave 
and take risks.

00:16:02.741 --> 00:16:04.531
I'm gonna create something 
out of this here.

00:16:06.481 --> 00:16:07.708
Lets see--

00:16:23.828 --> 00:16:28.003
It's a duck holding its egg 
close to its body.

00:16:28.003 --> 00:16:31.596
(Laughter)

00:16:31.596 --> 00:16:51.179
(Applause)

00:16:51.179 --> 00:16:52.154
Thank you.