Murrysville visual effects artist
In hindsight, James Lee Kreitzburg and his partners picked perhaps the worst time to launch Animal Inc., a visual effects and production studio.
“We signed our loan papers about a week and a half before 9/11,” said Michael Killen, one of his business partners and a co-founder of the studio. “And right after 9/11, the advertising industry, as well as many industries, crashed and there were layoffs by the thousands. We began our business in an atmosphere where we had to learn to be lean.”
Nevertheless, the company survived.
Mr. Killen attributes that to Mr. Kreitzburg’s adroit command over the engineering aspect of visual arts and production. He worked on some of the earliest computer design software, and was able to communicate his knowledge of the software to his co-workers.
That he knew how to navigate the technical backdrop of the industry helped his company curb costs, as it didn’t have to hire an additional engineering team to support its artists.
“He ended up being the center-point for a lot of questions. We were up and over 15 employees, and they all came to Jim. He had a real patience,” Mr. Killen said.
Animal Inc., based Downtown, has done well since it launched, boasting a roster of clients that includes household brand names like Reebok, Red Bull and American Eagle Outfitters. It was more than a commercial studio, though. It also has worked on documentaries and television series like ABC’s “Downward Dog” narrated by an uncannily philosophical dog, telling the story of his owner’s day-today life.
Mr. Kreitzburg, of Murrysville died Aug. 8 after battling cancer. He was 55.
Before launching the company, Mr. Kreitzburg worked at North Coast, a commercial roofing systems company with local offices Downtown. It was there that he met his wife, Mary Anne Kreitzburg, though to hear her tell the story, he had to work hard for a first date.
“He parked cars next to my building,” she said. “It took him six months to get my attention, and then finally, one day, I said ‘hi’ back.”
She quickly learned that he was a talented artist who could create anything from pencil sketches of locomotive trains to full-blown portraits of people in his life.
Ms. Kreitzburg said her husband felt stifled at North Coast, so he struck out on his own to “expand his horizons.” His love of the city was obvious in his Animal studio endeavor, which she said “was a way to show the talent of the Pittsburgh area.”
He launched the company at a time when Pittsburgh was not a hub for advertising businesses, and most big-league clients would seek the services of firms in coastal cities like New York or Los Angeles.
Mr. Killen, who grew up in Pittsburgh and briefly lived in L.A., said Mr. Kreitzburg brought a forthright personality to an industry where people constantly “put on airs” to net clients.
“Jim was very bluntly himself, and nobody could change him from being that, especially when we opened up our office in L.A.,” he said. “That version of the industry is hyper-aware of themselves, and Jim was definitely a blunt knife out there — always truthful, always honest, always kind.”
His background as a painter “trained his eye to see certain things” in the visual arts work he did at Animal Inc., Mr. Killen said.
“He created scenes with a level of realism because he had such a painter’s eye,” he said. “He could see through the scenes, to see images that didn’t exist, and that’s really what visual arts is.”
Born Sept. 23, 1961, Mr. Kreitzburg, an Army veteran, attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. He later served on the school’s board, and held a leadership role in local Boy Scout Troop 205, where his sons were members.
Besides his wife, he is survived his mother, Peggy Kreitzburg, and sister Debby Kramer, both of Beaver Falls, and three children, Amber, James, and Danny Kreitzburg of Murrysville.
Funeral services are scheduled for 10 a.m, Saturday at the Rolling Hills Baptist Church in Verona. Arrangements were handled by the William F. Gross Funeral Home.