Parachment: Michiganian makes career giving characters life

By Dave Person Kalamazoo Gazette PARACHMENT, Mich. (AP) -- Not only did he win a prestigious award in February 2010 for his work with Pixar Animation Studios, but Parchment High School grad Brian Tindall also observed 10 years with Pixar in 2010, something that doesn't go unnoticed at the company that has turned out popular animated movies such as "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo" and "Cars." Tindall was part of a team that won a Visual Effects Studio Award earlier this year for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture for the character of Carl in the "No Dad Scene" of the movie, "Up." Tindall, the modeler and articulator for Carl, the main character in that movie, and others said the award is like an Academy Award for people in his business, but it still didn't allow him time to rest on his laurels. He worked his magic this year on the star character of the Pixar movie, "Brave," due in theaters in the summer of 2012, and is now working on some of the lead characters in "Monsters, Inc. 2," which is expected to follow "Brave" into theaters in the fall of 2012. "I'm the hit-and-run (guy), first one in, first one out of a film, just because we create the characters so early," Tindall said. "I work a year-and-a-half (to) two years on a film." "I got a little recognition from friends around the industry," Tindall, 43, said of the VES Award. "But as far as anyone (else) out there in the world thinks, I'm just an animator." Tindall is responsible for modeling, or putting thousands of controls in a character, and then articulating the controls, which is "moving points in space" to create the character's expressions and actions. "What I do is more for the technical side -- technical director they call it -- and obviously animation is part of that," he said. "You try to explain it to . (people) and at the end of the conversation you (give up and) say, 'Oh, I'm just an animator." "You lose them right away because there's no way they can picture in their mind what you're doing," said Tindall, who graduated from Parchment in 1985 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in industrial design from Western Michigan University. Even when he tells them that it's similar to putting strings on a puppet and using them to move the puppet it's difficult for them to comprehend, he said. So, Tindall goes about his business as an animator -- as people outside the profession think of him -- and is having the time of his life. "You actually work hands-on with the top people (at Pixar)," Tindall said of the tight-knit office. "It's not you doing the work and a supervisor handing it off (to an executive) in another room. "People are like, 'Wow, (Pixar Chief Creative Officer) John Lasseter sits next to you and you run a whole review right beside him?'" Tindall, whose parents, Dan and Judy, live in Richland, also is excited about accepting his 10-year award from the company at a recognition ceremony in April. He began work at the studio in September 2000. "They recognize your hard work for being here 10 years," Tindall said in a telephone conversation. "They give you a 14-inch bronze statue of Buzz Lightyear." And that, he said, is better, in his opinion, than the hardware from the VES Awards that he had to share with others. "This one tops it; it's the coolest," he said of the statue of Buzz Lightyear, one of the heroes of the "Toy Story" movies created at Pixar. "It's a bronze Buzz. It's so neat looking." It has special significance because about four years ago, Tindall said, he did some of the technical work on Buzz and other stars of "Toy Story 3," which came out this past June. "I got to remodel Buzz's face and Woody's face and Jessie's face, actually their hands too, for 'Toy Story 3,'" he said. What's in Tindall's future? He's planning to slip a little further behind the scenes of the next few movies, he said. "I'm taking a back seat and helping some of the new interns and employees (learn) some of the methods to our madness," he said. Published: Tue, May 3, 2011