Mission: To design the mood, atmosphere, and lighting effects for key scenes in the movie.

Seeing Guillermo Del Toro’s 'Pinocchio' come to life on Netflix and win the 2023 Academy Award for Best Animation was absolutely surreal. It was during the summer of 2010 at Jim Henson Studios that I, alongside a small team of artists, was tasked with helping to establish the mood and atmosphere for key scenes of the movie. As a 3rd term student at the Art Center College of Design, I could have never imagined contributing to such a moment in history 13 years later.

After the gig, I returned to school that fall and I never heard about it again. I assumed the movie got shelved, perhaps from failing to get the green light. For 12 years, it laid dormant in my mind. That was until one day around Christmas of 2023, when I saw the trailer on Netflix. I froze and thought, “…could this be?” Indeed, it was.

Film

Illustrations | Me
Director | Guillermo Del Toro
Art Director | Gris Grimly