Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1109293
H O W T O T R A I N Y O U R D R A G O N | P E R S P E C T I V E 5 9 F E A T U R E T I T L E G O E S H E R E | P E R S P E C T I V E 1 9 Pierre- Olivier Vincent, Production Designer Philippe Brochu, Woonyoung Jung, Kirsten Henshen-Kawamura Iuri Lioi, Simon Rodgers, Nicolas Weis, Visual Development Artists Ruben Perez, Additional Visual Development Artist Leo Sanchez Barbosa, Carter Goodrich, Nico Marlet, Joe Moshier, Jean Francois Rey, Character Designers C at what we accomplished, "vertigo" is the word that comes to my mind. A lot of what I explored visually in the three movies is based on memories of how I felt as a kid. The world surrounding me was bigger. The people, trees, cars, chairs, even a fork...nothing was adapted to my size. Hiccup felt he didn't belong in a world that he was desperate to be part of. Making everything surrounding him bigger was a simple, yet effective, way to illustrate his struggle through the crossroads of adolescence. While these movies are ultimately made for entertainment, I do hope they helped a few fans to find courage within— and inspiration and hope for their future through imagination! When I was asked to write this article, I considered making a piece just on The Hidden World and quickly realized it was impossible. Almost all artistic decisions made during the third film were based on concepts that date back to the first movie. As I close this chapter today, I find it difficult to be fully objective on a project that spanned more than fourteen years of my life. The work is the work, and I am very proud of what was created. What matters the most to me is my community of artists. Some of my friends and colleagues have worked with me on all three movies. I can see details here and there that could have done better or differently, but we gave it our very best, so there are no regrets. We tried, we succeeded and we learned so much. Most importantly, we did it together. This is the collaborative beauty of animation: teamwork. Knowing I will continue to work with many of those artists and friends in the future, I can now confidently ask that elusive question as I fall into my next chapter at DreamWorks Animation..."What's next?" ADG