Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/747534
72 P E R S P E C T I V E | N OV E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 6 felted world had to feel authentic, not simply gray CGI models covered in fabric, but rather models built with fiber-art techniques in mind. I needed to know what those choices would be if a fiber artist had to build a mushroom out of wool. Sayuri Sasaki Hemann was that artist. She had created a permanent exhibit in the Portland airport of a large jellyfish tank made entirely from fiber. Her design and color styling were so beautiful, we asked her to join us. Using a variety of fiber techniques from water and needle felting, to macramé and knitting, and hand dying all the wool herself, Sayuri created a six-foot by four-foot forest model based on our visual development art. This model has been a guiding element for the look of our movie ever since. As the script was being locked down, there was a lot of cross-pollination between script, storyboarding and art, one idea often influencing another. The big influence the script had for us early on was the tone. This was a funny, irreverent, edgy, quirky and heartwarming movie all rolled into one. This tone gave us freedom to be somewhat ridiculous in our design. An example is, in Troll Village, the Troll-made elements are constructed from Troll hair. Even their houses are created using their hair, much like weaver bird nests. The Trolls get around their village on zip lines, suspension bridges and woven trampolines made completely from Troll hair. These are the most colorful elements in an otherwise monochromatic environment. This is intentional. Hair is a source of magic for the Trolls. They use it to camouflage themselves, climb up into trees, as lassos and whips, as staircases and all sorts of things. We wanted the colorful Trolls to pop out of their environment like wild flowers in a field of green. The ridiculousness of the tone also led to the character designs for Guy Diamond, a naked glitter Troll who farts glitter, Mr. Dinkles, a meowing grub that Biggie cares for, and Cooper, a lama-like giraffe Troll who doesn't look anything like the others. Inventions like the caterpillar buses, singing mushrooms, DJ's bug that explodes into butterflies, Rainbow Troll hair pyramids, exploding eyeball balloons, macramé snake jungles, flesh-eating piranha birds, grassy hill creatures, Poppy swollen with an allergy, all were inspired by the crazy tone of the story.