Lindsey Olivares
Production Designer/Lead Character Designer, Connected, Sony Pictures Animation
When Lindsey Olivares was a young girl growing up in San Diego, California, she used to love to draw the cover images from her favorite Disney VHS movies from the 1990s. “I loved The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, and really loved to draw those characters. My parents encouraged me to draw, and soon I realized that it was possible to have a career in animation.”
Olivares attended a CalArts animation program one summer and got accepted to Ringling College’s computer animation program. Then she landed an internship at Disney Animation during her sophomore year. “I learned so much about visual development during that internship,” recalls the talented 32-year old.“It was all about taking things beyond just the craft and learning how to use real storytelling to bring your character to animated life.”
After landing a position in the art department of PDI in the Bay Area,
Olivares worked on DreamWorks’
Madagascar 3 and learned a lot about production design, color keys and art direction from industry veteran Kendal Cronkhite. She then did some early development work on movies such as Penguins of Madagascar, Trolls and The Emoji Movie. Her career took a huge leap forward a few years ago when she was recommended to director Mike Rianda, who was just beginning to work on his new feature Connected at Sony.“We started to work together and I just loved his sense of humor,” says Olivares “His pitch for the movie (which follows a typical family who have to save the world from a global robocalypse) was incredible. I did some character design work for the pitch, and they kept bringing me back. After the movie was greenlit, I was hired as production designer!”
She says she loves the movie’s quirky sense of humor and authenticity. “It tells a very honest story, and its observational sense of humor really aligns with a lot of the things I love about art and storytelling,” she admits. “The job is very satisfying creatively, and you get to work with this amazing team, so it blends the personal and the creative in a nice way. I also loved working with the 3D team so that the illustration work really comes through in the final render.”
Pointing out animation veteran Glen Keane, his daughter Claire Keane and production designer/art director Kendal Cronkhite as three of her idols, Olivares recommends doing the kind of work that you are passionate about. “I was creating animated gifs of day-to-day life and putting them online on my own, and that’s what resonated with the movie’s director,” she points out. “It helps you land the kind of work that you would like to do eventually!”