Jeremy Vickery has had the opportunity to work on some major Pixar films such as: The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and now, he's currently working on Wall-E as a Senior Lighting Artist. In collaboration with Gnomon, Jeremy demonstrates some skills and techniques on a DVD available on the Gnomon website. Stephan Dube had the chance to ask him a few challenging questions, we hope you enjoy the interview.

Please tell us about yourself and your role at Pixar?
My first memory of wanting to be a professional artist was in elementary school. My great grandfather was an Inventor for GE (he actually has his name on the patent for the electric traffic light) and he was my hero too.  I was always torn between being a scientist or an artist. I suppose I've found the perfect mix of both working in computer animation.  I've been a Lighting Artist (T.D.) here at Pixar for 4 years. Before coming to Pixar Animation Studios, I worked at a couple smaller companies - Big Idea Productions in Chicago as a Modeling/Texture Artist and concept designer, and at Fathom Studios in Atlanta, at first as a generalist and later as the Lighting Supervisor. Over the years, I've also done quite a few freelance projects that included concept design, animation, motion graphics, etc.

When you started 3D, did you know that you wanted to be a lighter?
No actually. The first 5 years of my career I did not light at all and was quite satisfied with modeling, texturing and rigging. I only delved into Lighting accidentally while at Fathom Studios. I was building and shading sets for the still unreleased film "Delgo" and had to block in lighting to make sure the shading was working. Only then did I discover how much lighting is like painting and I fell in love. It sort of came natural to me. I love so many aspects of the arts that I see it not as I'm a "Lighter" for life, but rather just an artist.

What are common challenges for a lighter to overcome?
There's a reason we're called "Technical Directors." Many people see my business card and think I'm the Head of Lighting because it says Director, but I have to clarify and tell people it actually means I just kick computers around all day. The constant daily routine of technical problems on a wide scale keeps me plenty challenged. One day it's figuring out how to keep a shot from running out of memory, the next it's broken shadows or fog or occlusion or.... my brain. I wish I could just plug my head into the machine and get the  computer to comply with my artistic goals. Some days I think I'll go be a painter on a beach somewhere and only have to deal with cleaning brushes.

Can you tell us which movies you have worked on and what was your role?
I started my career working on the animated kids series "Veggie Tales", and my first feature film experience was with Big Idea ("The Jonah Movie"). Then worked for a few years on the film "Delgo" which at this point is still unreleased. At Pixar I've worked on "The Incredibles", "Cars", "Ratatouille", and now "Wall-E", all as a Lighting Artist. I've done both Shot Lighting and Master Lighting. I'd have to say my work on Ratatouille was the most rewarding. I do not know all of the reasons why, but it was such a rich film and our technology was stable enough to allow me to feel more like an artist and less of a technician.

What shots are you the most proud of?
On The Incredibles, I enjoyed working on the shots of the rocket launch, where Dash and Violet run out of the cave, and the waterfall shots. On Cars I'm most proud of the "drive with Sally" shots when McQueen and Sally are driving through the forest.
On Ratatouille I had the honor of lighting the shots where Remy is on the rooftop overlooking Paris, many of the nighttime exteriors of Paris, many of the sewer tunnel shots, and of coarse a plethora of shots in the kitchen and dining room.

Is there anything you can tell us about Wall-E?
Uh.... it's pretty cool! You're going to love it..... How can you go wrong with robots?

Must be nice to be working at one of the best animation studios in the world - do you sometimes feel the pressure?
Yes, as with any job. Even though Pixar is the best company in the world, the work is still very challenging. It seems to me that we hire on a pendulum with more artistic people on one side and more techie people on the other. The ideal is a perfectly balanced middle with someone who can write their own tools as well as have an artist's eye for their shots. I tend to be more on the artist side of things and that has proven challenging on certain days.