Meet the Artist: Victor Navone

#21

hi victor

my questions would probably have been asked or will be asked so i won’t ask any. i just want to say that i’ve been admiring your work and my aim is to do something close to those.

when are you coming to singapore? :smiley:

#22

I want to say THANK YOU for The Journeyman Project 2 and 3. these games were soo important to me in grade school. i loved the concept, the design, the execution, and gameplay. its bringing back memories :slight_smile: other than that good luck at Pixar, i have nothing more to say…

#23

Hi Victore,

just one Q:

  • Normaly, How many seconds of quality character animation (1 char) - in pixar style - do you animate per day (an 8 hours workingday)?
    If you cant estimate the avarage you can name a sample shot of - for instance - ‘The Incredibles’ which you worked on and the time you spent on it.

Thank you very much.

And a mini-question here: Do you have time to watch & crit a tiny ‘short animation in progress’?

#24

this company with wich softwares using?

Maya just?

#25

Hi Victor, great to see you here ! :thumbsup:

My questions:

  1. What is the general working method for animators at Pixar ? I watched the ‘The Incredibles’ DVD and in the commentaires Brad Bird mentioned ‘this scene was done by that guy’ and so on, so I conclude that each animator gets assigned a few scnes that he should work on. If so, how long do you work at a certain scene? Are you in full control of that scene then, i.e. do you animate all characters of the scene, or are there multple animators working on one scene ?

  2. Recently, on a German music channel I accidentaly saw a (I’m sorry to say that) pretty crappy teen band, performing a pretty crappy song. Suddenly, in the video, the Blit Wizbok character appeared. I understood that you sold your rights on Blit Wizbok a few years ago, but what do you think when seeing a video like that: ‘Dang, I sold my soul, I shouldn’t have done that’ or do you rather think ‘Well, I was young and needed the money …’ !?

  3. When you are animating and have reached the creative flow, what is your reaction when out of a sudden the program crashes and hours of work go out of the window ? No app bashing intended, but since you are doing your private work in Animation:Master you might have encountered a crash or two …

Looking forward to your future work !

#26

Hey Victor thanks a ton for doing this!

As any animator knows planning a shot is essential before actually animating…and at the same time every animator approaches planning a different way.

-How do you like to approach planning out your assigned shots and how much time do you typically spend planning vs. animating?

-Also at what stage when working on a shot will you start showing your ideas or the work you have done to your director?

Thanks a ton Victor keep on rockin! I also want to say I just loved the guard fall variations you did in “The Incredibles”. It must have been fun animating those!

-Rob

#27

Hi Victor big fan of your work! My questions for you are:

  1. What was your favorite feature you have worked on thus far, and why?

  2. What has been the most challenging aspect of your career until now, and how do you stay focused under extreme presures when the going gets tough and deadlines are on the horizon?

  3. Who are some of your favorite artist?

  4. Advice you would give junior artists that wanna get into feature film?

Thanks a lot for your time Victor, keep up the great work!

#28

Hey Victor,
First of all great stuff. You are really an inspiration. I like to think that I could accomplish what you have. I just graduate from a 4 year program with a B.A. in Psychology (I’m 21 now) and I want to be a character animator. Obviously what you have shown us is that you don’t need to go to school to learn it but I just had a few questions. I am currently interning at Curious Pictures in NYC where we are working on a 3D animated Barbie movie. I haven’t been able to do animation at all on the project yet but I am teaching myself Maya and I am taking a traditional animation class and basic drawing for animation class at Pratt, and I also draw daily. So my concern is what step I should take next. I have looked heavily into Animation Mentor (which I think is awesome) I just then worry about is it the best choice for ME. Thing is my parents are willing to support my education, so basically if I could get into CalArts, or any school like that or any grad school in Cali, or Canada, etc they would pay for it. So do you think that coming from a 4 year undergrad program I should do that if I have the money? I know how involved the mentors are with the students but my parents question whether or not it would be better to be in a ‘physical’ school with ‘physical’ contact with students. Bottom line I want to receive the best education possible, and money doesn’t seem to be an issue. I also have heard that studios dont really look as to whether or not one received a degree or not but rather more importantly a demo reel. But bring that I don’t have too much experience from taking classes in design, composition color theory, would it be a mistake to take animation mentor? I want to be a character animator and I will do whatever it takes to achieve that. All I want to do is just have the right resources and education. If my internship allows me to continue in the fall, then it would probably be a great idea to do Animation Mentor, but if it doesn’t continue my parents feel that maybe I’d be better at a full time school, so I’m not online all the time sitting at my computer, which comes to the next point, isn’t it a disadvantage that it is an online school and you don’t have too much contact with your mentor? Anyways sorry that this is long, and if you want to foward this to any of the founders, or any other mentors to get their feedback I’d appreciate it too. My e-mail is JSW32@aol.com Thanks so much Victor and keep up the amazing work.
-Justin

#29

Wow. Never thought I’d see someone like Victor in this Q&A forum! Great job on snagging him Leigh :wink:

Anyways…huge fan of your stuff (like pretty much everyone else)…Alien Song was one of the very first 3d animations I EVER saw…and it was definitely a huge inspiration that got me kick-started into the animation field.

Here are some questions that I would be forever grateful if you answered :slight_smile:

  1. Are you happy at Pixar? It’s pretty much the Holy Grail of animation studios to work at…so are you content with it?

  2. With the enormous number of reels that get sent into Pixar, what are the chances of ACUTALLY getting your reel seen and considered?

  3. Who is YOUR favourite animator, and why?

-Tyson Ibele

#30

Congratulations on your success!

Is there anything you would like to change about the world of CG animation?

#31

Hi…

What more is there to say, sorry…slightly star struck…

Being pretty new to the world of 3D, I am really keen to follow the path of animation for personal and, if it comes to it hopefully professional means. I love modelling and it’s a path I will always pursue to better myself…but my really love is animation in all forms.

My question is, what advice you could give to someone in my position who is taking his first footsteps on the road of animation…areas to concentrate on and possible software to use???

At present I use Zbrush for modelling and have dabbled with Maya 6, but haven’t got into any animation yet. I have been reading up on Cinema 4D and a couple of other packages. Any advice for learning and possible software use would be most appreciated…

Keep up the jaw dropping work…

:S

#32

Hi Victor!

1.What made you to do ALIEN SONG??

2.How was your experience doing ALIEN SONG that time?

3.Have you reached what you expected to be??

#33

Hi Victor. Thanks a lot for the Q. and A. I am sure we will all get a lot from it. I have really enjoyed your work over the years.
Can you please give me a critique of the linked movie.
It is my June entry for the 10 second club and any advise or critique would be really appreciated.
Thank you
Chris Myers

Chris Myers animation Quicktime 2.2 megs

#34

I’ve got one question for ya:

It seems like you had a hand in some of the complex action scenes. I was watching the big fight scene in spiderman 2 (the one just after the bank robbery) and thought to myself: geez, animation is hard enough, but coreographing a huge complex fight like that would just be crazy! This feeling was reflected when I saw your Incredibles showreel. How do you animate a crazy scene like the one you did with Mr. Incredible holding on to buddy? Do you just do it strait ahead? I’m curious how you would undertake such a complex scene with so much motion going on.

Greetings from CalArts!

#35

hey~!

first of all i really envy your work as a animation student.
the question i would like to ask is, how much thought do u think i should put on classical 2d animation? do u think it would be the best to master 2d animation then go on to 3d ?
thanks a lot!

#36

Bad question. Just delete this post moderators.

#37

Hi Victor!!

I remember when you first posted “Alien song” on the A:M mailing list I was just a wee-lad back then and if definitely made an impression on me!

Just wanted to say I love your stuff! Looking forward to the end of Big Bang, as well.

Now my question: What was the wierdest experience you’ve ever had at Pixar?

#38

Thanks for doing this.

Obviously you would not want to diss another studio, but…Having just had JS do a Q&A I was wondering…
[ul]
[li]What was your take on Madagascar if you saw it?[/li][li]I personally enjoyed it much more than say Shrek or Sharktale because of its wackiness and style. And those penguins rocked - However sometimes I thought it was pushed too far. Would you have liked to have worked on something so crazy?[/li][li]Finally - do you prefer the slight “Realism” of Incredibles animation or the crazy over the top stuff?[/li][li]Then on another note, what is your take on Fan Art? I remember a poor guy getting flamed for copying Blit and another for parodying “For the Birds” with some toilet humour in a little animation short over at CGChar, but what do you think of somebody “idolising” something enough to put his/her own spin on it or represent it in their work? We ( the viewers) all know the origin but realise the Fanboy/girl is just having fun…[/li][/ul]Thanks
D

#39

Hey Victor. Thanks for taking the time to do the Q&A. This new thing is a great addition to CGTalk, and it’s only with artist cooperation that it happens at all.

Anyway, here are a few questions, in no particular order:

[ul]
[li]What’s the worst thing about working at Pixar? Often people focus so much on positives, it’s as if there are no negatives. Maybe because of the size of the studio, face to face time with the director is at a premium? Things like that. [/li][li]Can you talk a bit about the process of taking a shot from the initial sequence kickoff meeting (or whatever they’re call at Pixar) to the final stage where the director says “approved”? [/li][li]What’s up with that (not so greatly animated) music video that featured the Alien Song character? [/li][li]When can we expect to see more of your personal short with the little yellow guy? [/li][/ul] That’s it for now. Keep kicking out those great scenes!

#40

PIXAR…WOE

:applause:

VICTOR

Just like alot of CGtalkers here I only dream to have a rep and resume like you have.
This may have been asked and said already dude…but you give us struggling digital artist somthing to beleive in. I know how you got in to the strongest animation firm in the world. What I want to know is did you ever lose your head when you where looking for work starting out in the begining?..and I love drawing and colouring comics. The big problem is reloction…is that a good idea. I’ve been contimplating it as far as my career in the industry…(which is non exsistint rite now) and being a the poor guy (:shrug:lol) I can barley get food let alone a job in the industry…if you can respond.

P.S. MY FAMILY AND I THINK ALOT OF NORTH AMERICAN FAMILIES LOVE YOUR WORK BUT ME AND MY YOUNGER SIBLINGS ADORE IT…CHEERS TO YOU AND THE REST OF THE PIXAR TEAM

:thumbsup: