Going behind the scenes of Pixar's 'The Good Dinosaur'

In preparation for the release of Pixar’s newest animated film, "The Good Dinosaur," on Nov. 25, Pixar’s character art director Matt Nolte visited University City on Thursday night. Nolte talked to students about the animation process and gave a sneak peak of the movie itself. 

Nolte has been involved with Pixar for the past 11 years, joining the company after studying at the California Institute of the Arts. He has worked on character art for movies such as "Cars," "Ratatouille," "Brave" and most recently, "The Good Dinosaur."

The movie revolves around a young dinosaur, Arlo, who gets lost in nature and meets a young boy named Spot. The pair wander the terrain, haphazardly trying to find their way while simultaneously appreciating the beauty of nature. Nolte said that properly portraying nature’s stunning landscapes was of the utmost priority for the artistic team.

In order to properly capture the magic of the landscape, director Peter Sohn along with producer Denise Ream and a host of Pixar artists traveled to a number of places in the American Northwest. "That way, when they see it firsthand, they don't have a problem with cliches or anything like that," Nolte said.

"We went into it hoping to get lost — to have that feeling that anything can happen without warning," Ream added. 

Preview clips of "The Good Dinosaur" captured this sense of adventure. The videos showed Arlo falling down a waterfall, climbing a cliff with the Teton mountains towering in the distance and running through a field of predators.

Nolte’s talk also gave audiences a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes work of an animated film, providing more details on what it's like to be a character art director.  

“I take direction from the director and see what he wants, then I go think of fun ideas that match his vision and draw them out," he said. "Those sketches go through art reviews where we get notes and feelings about them, and then we make another draft. After a drawing is approved … we have to turn it from 2-D into 3-D.” With some characters taking multiple drafts and others only a few, Nolte added that animating an animated film can take anywhere from three to four, even five years.

Nolte advised all aspiring animators to “draw a lot." 

"Draw what you like, rather than what you think the industry wants to see. Find the people you dream to be, contact them, ask them to look at your work," he said. "I’d say people looking at my work is the only reason I’m here right now.”

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