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Disney Dreams Started Early for Designer Steve Thompson

past MARLENE SRDIC

September 24, 2018

Chatting drawings, doodles and the art of trapeze with principal designer at The Walt Disney Company, Steve Thompson.

At just 19 years quondam, Steve Thompson began his lifelong career at The Walt Disney Company when, upon submitting his portfolio to Disney at a year-end review at his school, he was offered a position with the company as a Senior Character Artist. "I was hoping for some positive feedback or maybe even a summer internship!" he says.

It fulfilled a dream he had had since childhood. Inspired by the Greats like Michelangelo, Van Gogh and Picasso, likewise as Disney artists, Thompson always dreamt nearly working in blitheness design. His career in arts began by studying at the California Found of the Arts. "Even from a young age I was drawing, and I had a really specific desire nearly wanting to work for Disney," he says.

Thompson started working in blitheness blueprint just as filmmaking changed, and then did his career path. Now, Thompson is the principal blitheness designer at The Walt Disney Company and works on character products from Mickey Mouse to Star Wars, and creates collectibles similar snow globes,figurines and holiday ornaments.

Here, the artist shares with us a preview of his keynote speech at Phoenix Pattern Week this October and life as a Disney artist.

WHAT'S A TYPICAL Day Like FOR You?
At that place's no real typical twenty-four hours, but more often than not in that location's meetings and a lot of drawing. I might become over to the studio and see with filmmakers if there's a new film coming out, or we might get a story pitch or a small screening to assist get u.s.a. excited about the types of products that we might desire to assist create.

I work with sculptors directly. Nosotros have digital sculptors in-house, so it might be working directly with them by doing overlays on their work or, honestly, just sitting in their office and saying motility this and modify this. In betwixt all of that, I might be working on blessing something or starting a concept. So it'southward a decorated schedule with a lot to juggle, but it'south really rewarding.

HOW Practice YOU LIKE Production Blueprint V. ANIMATION?
It took me a minute to figure it out. Animation design dorsum in the early on 2000s was still all paw-fatigued, which is what I love doing. I love drawing, and they started to stage out the animation department moving to computer animation, which I wasn't actually interested in, so I establish $.25 and pieces of work around the visitor and so this task came up. I figured I really didn't have anything to lose and I loved buying products and I love drawing and and so I idea, you know, let's be completely open to this opportunity—I ended up loving what I practice. And and so my whole life I thought, 'I want to animate, I need to animate.' And so when it came downwardly to finding this chore, I realized that information technology'due south just that I love drawing. I'k drawing every single day; it was this odd, seamless transition, but information technology'southward somewhere I never thought I would end upward.

WHAT'Southward THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT YOUR JOB?
At the end of the mean solar day, information technology'southward a job (blitheness designer) with deadlines and a lot of business concern backside it. It can exist high pressure. I retrieve sometimes a perception people accept is that we're just sitting around drawing cartoons all day, like it's all fun all the fourth dimension and it is, it is a lot of fun, merely information technology is a serious career.

WHAT Practice You Beloved MOST ABOUT YOUR CAREER?
I like it when something nosotros've been working on for so long finally ends upward in stores or online and you come across how people are reacting. Nosotros work sometimes 12 to 16 months out, so if there's a large project nosotros're working on we've all seen it, and internally we're really excited about it, but you withal never know how the public is going to respond to information technology, so I think that, ultimately, is really rewarding.

If it's a positive response, that's the best you tin hope for, and if at that place'due south some not so positive responses, it can be a learning opportunity to make something better in the futurity. That audition feedback and response is always really exciting, and I want people to encounter what I'thou working on now—but it's all summit secret!

Tin can Y'all SHARE SOME OF WHAT You'LL Exist TALKING ABOUT AT PHOENIX DESIGN Calendar week?
I'one thousand definitely going to commencement off with how I got into the industry and getting started, but really the tone of my talk is based on something my loftier school fine art teacher told me when I was a sophomore in loftier school. She said if you desire to become better with drawing, you need to starting time cartoon from life. And and so the topic of my talk is the literal sense of life drawing and how that can improve you as an artist.

I'll also cover how my career's gone and how I'm figuratively drawing from life experience, things I've learned, mistakes that I've made and how I've overcome them.

I'll cover artists who inspire me and how that has led to how people can observe their own unique artistic vocalization or mode also as how to stay inspired.

WHO ARE SOME ARTISTS THAT Have INSPIRED YOU?
A few artists that really inspire me are Disney Artists Mary Blair and Glen Keane. Mary Blair was an creative person at the Disney visitor at a time when at that place were not also many women working in animation design. Walt loved her work and she went on to be the art manager on such films as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Her work is colorful, almost childlike. Simply her use of colour and blueprint is legendary.

Glen Keane was the pb animator on characters Like Ariel, Creature, Pocahontas and Aladdin, to proper noun a few. His cartoon power is monumental. you lot actually believe that the character he draws are living, breathing creations. Fifty-fifty if it'south just ane drawing or frame at a time.

WHAT ARE Another Means You lot STAY INSPIRED?
I found a hobby exterior of art, which is doing trapeze. So I've been doing information technology at dark, away from piece of work. I go to a circus school and take an opportunity on occasion to perform and information technology's then outside of what I normally practise and it keeps me and then creatively inspired that I can't help but take that inspiration back to my daily job as an animation designer. I think information technology'south important to observe a creative outlet to continue you lot from getting artist's block.

[With trapeze] I found I was facing fears in a way that I never did earlier… it changed me, like, yet much every bit coming to Phoenix and giving this really long talk. Public speaking is something that, in the past, I never would have said yes to—it can be terrifying.

In my career I learned that I don't want to say no to an opportunity just considering I'm afraid of it. And that, ultimately, going through that fear makes yous a stronger person and makes saying aye sometimes that much more than rewarding.

WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS Similar?
I always start with the source fabric. I become right back to the film and to the characters because, at the stop of the 24-hour interval, when somebody looks at something I've designed, I'm hoping they have an emotional connection to it. And so it'southward finding moments in the film or the style a grapheme'southward expressing themself and putting it into the product. And and then I might review the film a piffling fleck so I but showtime drawing… at that place'southward these trivial teeny doodles that may wait like scribbles to other people, simply to me information technology's similar, information technology'south just like the first outburst of free energy. I'grand just throwing ideas down on paper or coming upwardly with unlike compositions, system, some characters.

If I find a good idea I'll clean it up and make it presentable… and then it goes into sculpting and I work direct with the sculptures to make sure that the piece turns out exactly how I imagined it in my animation designs. And then they piece of work with painters to make sure the colors are all right. So from the very initial idea of information technology beingness a product to the very, very final production, I'm super hands-on simply to make sure that that vision stays clear all the manner through.

PHOENIX Pattern Week

Phoenix Pattern Calendar week kicks off Oct 5-12th and offers a weekend conference, events, and workshops for local creatives. Early bird tickets, which are limited to 100, for the Beyond Pattern Conference are currently available at phxdw.com.

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Source: https://iconiclife.com/disney-dreams-for-steve-thompson/

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