I recently went to see a panel discussion at the Portland Art Museum with some of the team from Shadowmachine. Shadowmachine is the animation studio responsible for Robot Chicken, BoJack Horseman, and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (currently on Netflix). Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Didn’t Laika do that Pinocchio thing? Don’t they do all stop-motion animation films these days?” Nope. It was Shadowmachine, and they’ve really stepped up their game with this one.
From June 10 – Sept. 17 the Portland Art Museum will be hosting the Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio exhibit, and on select dates, there will be Pinocchio: Animation Art Days—a series of live discussions with some of the departments involved in the movie. On the day I attended, there were a few members from the art department, including Caitlin Pashalek, a textural and concept designer; Jesse Gregg, a set designer and concept artist; and art director Robert DeSue. DeSue is a veteran animator with credits dating back to The PJs, Coraline, and more recently, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link.
I was interested to hear about the process and the 10-year-long production that spanned pre and post-Covid. They mentioned having to work from home during the pandemic. Apparently, that wasn’t as big of an issue as you might think. They checked in with each other through texts and production management software. Also, most of the people involved have at-home workshops. The real issue was moving sets around—they are surprisingly large—but you can see for yourself at the exhibit. The church one is my favorite and by far the most impressive.
They also went over some of the artistic choices they made. DeSue mentioned watching other Del Toro films for “inspiration,” which brought a lot of the style and themes of a Del Toro film to this project. He also mentioned one of his favorite pieces from the exhibit—a piece of paper with a note from one of the animators explaining, “I took this and took that, but ultimately just made it up.” According to DeSue, this describes the process perfectly. You try everything until something works, a constant learning experience.
