I will admit that I squealed an awful lot during this talk... on the inside (By the way, I'm still waiting on that photo, Ms Beth~). Chris Sasaki is a character designer from Oakland, California. He has done work for Monsters University and more recently, Inside Out and The Dam Keeper (That was nominated for an Oscar not too long ago). His primary mediums when working on concepts are digital, ink and pencil, though it really depends on how much time he is given to work on them.
Coincidentally, Monsters Inc. was the very film that inspired him onto the road of becoming an artist, while he had attempted to enrol in CalArts at least three times, Chris instead ended up attended Woodbury University, since then he believed that he was glad that things went the way they did, that the pedigree of a school did not matter as much as the quality of the teachers and one's own effort.
During his senior year, Chris was given the opportunity to work as a production intern for DreamWorks Art Department, where he met with many other inspirational artists that worked there, particularly the character designers. As he did his work, Chris also brought in his work in hopes of getting some form of aid, and it was from there he met his mentor, Tony Siruno, and it was from there that he knew what he wanted to do in life...
Finding a job after that however proved difficult seeing that people never ever thought that he had enough experience, but the thing was, how could you gain the experience needed if you weren't given a shot at any job? Still however, the smaller jobs that Chris managed to get soon became bigger jobs...
Character design is very research driven, in fact it possibly takes up 80% if not more of the time given to them when working on concepts, humorously and somehow unsurprisingly, even those working in the industry tend to rush out physical works during the last few days before the deadline. Research however is required in figuring out the worlds of these characters (Something that would be believable to the audience), that 'something' that is needed to make these characters unique and overall what simply drives their designs. Research is needed to make these designs appropriate and not generic, hence why good designs are always built around them.
Chris meets with his production designer for critique sessions almost every week and frankly prefers his directors to be straight forward about what it is they want so that he could actually get their vision right. It is logically better than wasting time beating around the bush and trying to be nice, especially when both parties desire to get it right.
When presenting a pitch, walk them through your thought process. You obviously have to discuss the story, characters, and of course the selling points. It would make sense to include the personal influences that have been gathered from your research. To show your findings and what you believe that others can possibly relate to.
While Chris does enjoy using traditional mediums for his work, it really does depend on the timeline he is given to work on these designs, and clearly digital tends to be the way to go during those tight deadlines. Once these designs get approved, this is where you have to follow through and work closely with the technical team, to draft out proper blue prints that they could use when building the models.
There is something that especially stuck with me during Chris' talk, and that was his advice on making sure that you have passion projects that you can work on during your free time. As he was so focused on following orders throughout most of his school years, he was not able to take the opportunity to find what he himself liked. Every person should find a true idea and story that they can really attach themselves to, instead of simply creating something merely because it looks cool...
As for whatever art college you attend, it is honestly up to you and what you get out from it, it only makes sense to learn everything before figuring out what your focus is. Get your foundation down for everything before you start focusing on something. And when you finally start working for others, do remember to always have that one thing for yourself that will push you as an artist.
