Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Sullivan.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Paul. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
My childhood passion for art and design has led me to work in the animation industry. Working through pain has been a theme in my career path. In many ways has given me focus to put back into my work and has become a useful tool to learn from.
Born in Montana and moved 18 times before I was eight years of age. My family finally settled in Denver, Colorado where I mostly grew up. I attended RMCAD art school after being awarded a scholarship, there I studied Illustration and animation. While in school I worked on my first documentary film with Director Alexandre Phillippe who is now renowned in the doc film world, this experience made me fall in love with process and the dissection of a look or a style which eventually led me into beginning a career in concept art for games. I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and for ten years, worked at many of the studios up there such as Activision, Namco Bandai, Crystal Dynamics, Doublefine, on games like Tomb Raider, Afro Samurai, Sly cooper, Iron man to name a few. I later changed industries to work in film again by taking a role as a visual development artist on Megamind at Dreamworks PDI.
Over time, I began to notice a change in my interests, I wasn’t completely fulfilled in the role I was in and started to care more about the overall process and approach on a larger scope. Efficiencies, both in planning out a show and the artistic process became very interesting to me. This may have been catalyzed by many work experiences over the years that led to constant overtime and eventual burnout of the employees. In games it is well known that overtime is part of the “culture” and it is understood by all that to be a part of the team, we all must work overtime to show solidarity. This all led me to think differently about the overall planning of a project and approach to my own work. At that point, I found myself taking on leadership roles and eventually Art Directing the animated film The Book of Life. Since then, I have worked as a Production Designer on several films in early development and am now in Production on the Netflix limited series Maya and the Three set to be released sometime in 2021.
Before I got to where I am in my career, I had experienced many impactful life-changing losses just two days before starting college with the loss of my sister and later, several of my close friends. It turned my life upside down and inside out in every way imaginable. It completely altered my perspective on how I would see the world and how I viewed my priorities. Needing a distraction, I trained in a traditional family style of Chinese martial arts called Pai Lum Kung fu. I trained six days a week for the next ten years. I quickly learned that it was more philosophical than I initially realized and I found connections through the training that I felt could help me with my work. I found that my interest in continuing to practice martial arts became stronger as I found connections I could make from Kung fu to other things in my life, I brought a lot of that philosophy into my work which became my approach. Like the sharpening of a dull blade, constantly honing and perfecting each movement, every time it is practiced.
Navigating through the losses, I buried myself in martial arts and my art process. My work became my refuge. And my training in martial arts influenced the way I approach my work, constant training and working on ways to improve my process on a small and larger production based scale. In some ways, the losses focused me in on something that would later become productive. But at the time, my art mostly served as a useful therapy to allow my mind to process and escape. I find a strong duality in these things that I hope to someday express on a personal level with my art.
Has it been a smooth road?
It has not been a smooth road in many ways. I sometimes see other artists whose work seems to flow so flawlessly and with such ease. They seem to me to have some type of natural ability and finesse. My work on the other hand has only ever advanced with sweat and training. These days things go a bit smoother in some ways, but along the way, I would often have to do the same thing repeatedly and to exhaustion just to understand the things I was doing wrong. At one point in my career, I developed a wrist injury that needed two operations, from repetitive stress. Fearing being let go from the job, I hid it from my employer and instead trained myself in my free time to draw with my opposite hand. I continued to work for two months while my hand was in a cast even before getting the surgeries.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business Pencil Primate Inc., provides visual development artwork for films and entertainment media. I usually work in a variation of 3 capacities. 1. Developing the initial look in a role called “Visual Development”, often used for green light pitch artwork. 2. Generating a style and leading a team of artists into production of the film. Or 3. Following the lead of someone else and supporting their vision as an artist or director.
A lot of my work depends on the stage of a film. In the beginning stages, I will often work with Directors and Producers to create a general tone or visual plan for the story they are trying to tell. This can include everything from the environment style and color palettes, to the character design and development. In early stages of the films, before the crew is hired, I am often hired to do look of picture artwork to help sell the visual plan to the company that is funding the development. After that is signed off on and agreed to the company can “green light” to the next stage and move into full production of the film. If I am continuing on the project at that stage, I usually lead a team of artists to create all of the visual “assets” in the film. In animation, we need to create these worlds from scratch, so literally everything needs to be designed and painted as a guide for the CG digital version with a series of very specific drawings and paintings. Even the light, materials and textures, etc. are a part of the design. I have heard people say, to work in this industry you have to fall in love with minutia.
Really, it’s just a series of decisions that gradually get more and more specific until you see the film on screen. Later in the process we use all of that artwork as a visual guide for the CG translation. The more consistent and clear the art is, the more consistent and clear, the translation and visual storytelling is in the final film. What sets me apart is… planning, artwork, structure and the ability to “wear many hats” In the past, I have worked on a lot of projects with smaller teams and this has helped me adapt by having to take on multiple roles. I have taken pride in going into a low budget production and finding new strategies that help keep the quality bar high and consistent, without having to work overtime due to improper planning and staying on or under budget. Which is becoming more and more prevalent in our industry with smaller budgets and shorter deadlines. But really, we’re just drawing and painting things as fast as humanly possible.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Los Angeles is the hub and heart of the film industry. It is where a lot of these projects originate from. In terms of starting here, I can only go from my personal experiences. I obviously didn’t start here. But speaking to people that did, they have said that it is good for the connections that you can make at an early stage in a career. While in school and beyond, there are many resources to connect with people in the animation industry. With technology advancing as it has, a lot of workplaces have adapted to allow for many “remote” employees on projects. This is a good way to get the specific talent that is right for the show while the talent can live where they prefer. On my current project “Maya and the Three” for Netflix, 13 of 17 artists we worked with were remote employees.
In terms of improvement as a city. It’s a great place already in so many ways, but the cost of living seems to be continually going up. This can make things difficult for someone just starting out and gives one a shorter deadline to find work.
Contact Info:
- Website: pencilprimate.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pencilprimate
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulsconcepts
- Twitter: @pencilprimate
Image Credit:
Paul Sullivan
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