Visiting Guest Chris Sasaki

Today we had a visiting guest Chris Sasaki, character designer from Pixar.
It was really interesting to hear the thought and work process of a character designer in professional practice. He talked us through his practice, how the studio works and what to bear in mind while we are still in college.
First of all, what l took from it is- research is very important!!!
Before you can actually start drawing a character, there is so much consideration to be taken place. When you thoroughly research the world you character will be taken place in, when you consider all the key characteristics of the character then you can start drawing. So in the design process research is vital. If we had three weeks to design the character, the whole time we should be researching, and leave drawing only for the last two or so days.
Another thing I took from it was- it is important to discover yourself. Chris said that this is the perfect time for us to take as much as we can aboard, learn to be flexible with our work but at the same time establishing our strengths and build our practice on that. For instance if I focus on character design I still need to work with other departments as well, so as too maintain consistency throughout the project. In order to establish an agreed understanding with others requires you to be flexible and being able to adapt as well as trying to communicate your ideas to others.
The other thing I learned was- crits are very important.
Basically the crit sessions we have in college will continue on in our working practice. It is important to learn how to give and receive critique. There always has to be an indication as to why the character, background or such is not working.
In general, this chat was really beneficial, because we got a glimpse into the animation industry, which personally gave me an understanding of what will be expected of me if I try and make it in the animation world.