>> LISTEN HERE

Andy Beall (interviewed April 2008) I thought was just out of high school, when I first met him, but he’s in his 30s, married with two children.  Apparently I’m not alone in my initial reaction.  But, once he starts talking you realize he has a wealth of experience.  I met Beall after a UPA program that I presented at Pixar, arranged by Mark Walsh, who will be put up here in another week or so.  In every interview there always seems to be one item that knocks me off my feet, and with Beall, it’s the fact that he may have set a Guinness World record for beginning animation at the earliest age … 3 years old.  I think you’ll find the story as delightful as I did.

Beall also tells the story of how he began in hand-drawn animation and slowly made the transition to computer animation.   Although many animators have made this transition, few express it as clearly as Beall, as well as pointing out what he likes best in each medium.  This was another interview that went long, so I’m thinking that some day we should put up the full interviews.  But, for now, until our UPA documentary is finished, it gives us a chance to remove the UPA references.

Beall was Fix Animation Lead on Ratatouille and Wall*E, and has worked at Pixar since The Incredibles.  He worked on a number of hand-drawn features, such as Space Jam, but the turning point while he was working on The Iron Giant with Brad Bird.  Not only did he get a chance to work on a film that utilized some computer animation, and become quite intrigued with it, but also he thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with Bird.  So, even though he had no experience in 3D animation, when the call came to come up to Pixar for the Incredibles, he jumped at the chance.  The third compelling reason is he wanted to bring his family up the bay area.  But, the transition to 3D, as you will hear, was not an easy one at first.

Beall ends our interview with his new venture, writing and illustrating children’s books.  He’s begun his first, and we wanted to put one of his book illustrations up here, but he feels they aren’t quite ready, but hopefully, by the time we get the Gallery up and running, and the Flip Board updated, Beall will have a couple of illustrations to add to it.  But, for now he’s very happy with his work on Wall*E, so that’s what you see on the right.

>> MORE INFO

This episode is sponsored by The UPA Legacy Project

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 9:55 am and is filed under Episodes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.