Illumination is key. For filmmakers, photographers and painters, light has the power to transform a scene and tell a story. For animators, it’s also one of the most important aspects of creating believable animated worlds. And for Full Sail grad and Pixar animator Jeremy Vickery, it’s all about light too. “We put in all of the tone, the color, the ambiance of the whole scene. Our whole goal is to work to aid the story,” Jeremy says.

Jeremy has turned his love for animated lighting into a successful career as a lighting designer for mega animation studio Pixar. There, he creates the mood and atmosphere of blockbuster films like The Incredibles and Cars.

A film like The Incredibles, however, involves more than just basic sun and shade development. “We also think about colors,” Jeremy explains. “The beginning of [The Incredibles] is very vibrant. All the colors are very saturated when Bob was in his glory days, and when it cuts to the present, he’s working at an insurance company, and all of a sudden the colors wash out and fade into the background. It makes you feel [what] he’s feeling… we spend a lot of time thinking through that and working every shot to be perfect.”

After graduating from Full Sail, Jeremy discovered his love for lighting while working as a modeling and texture artist at an Atlanta animation studio. “I found myself doing lighting on these sets that I built, to just make sure that all of the textures and the shaders and all of the technical things looked correct. I really enjoyed lighting and all of the guys [at the studio] really noticed, and were like, ‘man you’re good at lighting. Could you maybe be the lighting supervisor?’ and I’m like, ‘uh sure.’” Landing the promotion to lighting supervisor gave Jeremy the confidence to go after the big league studio of his dreams, Pixar.

In the summer of 2003, Jeremy got the break he had been looking for. Pixar was looking for lighting technical directors to work on their new feature film, The Incredibles; Jeremy applied, got a call back and was quickly offered the job. He has been at Pixar for over three years now, and is currently working on their next feature, Ratatouille. According to Jeremy, working at the animation powerhouse is an unparalleled experience. “One of the things that l love about working for a large studio like Pixar is [that] I can take my craft and refine it to the ultimate level… I’m always on the cutting edge of trying to be the best of the best.”

Although he’s reached his ultimate goal, Jeremy admits it didn’t come easy. “Working for the top company in the industry is stressful. It takes a lot of work to get these films done. If we rendered the movie on one computer, we would have had to have started during the golden age of Greece in order to get it all done.”

With so much work, its no surprise stress levels get high, but Jeremy says even the hardest days of production aren’t so bad. “You can kind of sit back and go ‘I can’t get frustrated, I can’t throw my computer out the window.’ I’ve got to remember that this is such a cool job. I’m making cool kids’ movies, I can’t get stressed over this.”

Jeremy says it also helps that he’s constantly reminded of how much his work is appreciated by even the youngest critics, especially his four-year-old son. “I think I get the most joy out of him waking up early in the morning and being excited about what I’m doing. It helps me remember how cool my job is.”