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Usually when I'm just drawing,

2
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it really comes from a feeling inside.

3
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It kinda just flows out of my hand,

4
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and it's an emotion
that I'm trying to put down on paper.

5
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Some of the favorite things
that I like to draw is my nephews.

6
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I have all these great memories with them
and experiences with them.

7
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I hear them laugh,
and I hear how they play with each other.

8
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And that's kind of where my hand goes.

9
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My parents came from Taiwan.

10
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My dad came here first in his early 20s,

11
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on a business trip,
and he fell in love with the country.

12
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And so, he went back to Taiwan,
and then brought me and my mom.

13
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I definitely grew up as a Disney child.

14
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I remember having one Disney book,
and it was in Chinese,

15
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but it was all Disney characters,
and my mom would read that to me.

16
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And so even though
we didn't really recognize the reading,

17
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like the pictures told the story.

18
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And so we always had
a fondness for images.

19
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I started working in animation,
and I was actually at a fork in the road

20
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because I was thinking maybe
I would go into teaching

21
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because I love working with kids,

22
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and I thought it would be great
to bring art into education.

23
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But as I was preparing for school,

24
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I also just applied all over,
Disney included.

25
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And I remember I got accepted
to all the schools that I applied for,

26
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but then I got a call from Disney,
and it was just no question.

27
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Like, I was-- I wanted to work at Disney.

28
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As a senior illustration manager here,

29
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I work with a team of artists
and provide them art direction,

30
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make sure everything's in line.

31
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We take the art direction of the film,

32
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and we create a style of our own
for the books.

33
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The first picture book
that I worked on here was Sofia the First.

34
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I really like this book
because I got to add,

35
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like, little flourish designs throughout
the book to wrap around the text.

36
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And it was really fun to be able
to add the little hearts on the I's.

37
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And it felt more personal.

38
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It's something that I think,
as a child, I would have done too.

39
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I work with the most creative people
that I know.

40
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So, we have the Frozen middle-grade cover.

41
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And then, Winnie and I have been talking
about, um, special effects.

42
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When a film is in production,

43
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we start illustrating the books
that go along with the films.

44
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We're thinking, like, a burgundy color
that will match, um, Anna's lining.

45
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-Okay.
-So, it's got a very Frozen 2 color,

46
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so all the palettes are cohesive.

47
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There's books that retell the film,

48
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and then there's also books
that are extension stories.

49
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And as a manager,
I guide the team of artists

50
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so that they can illustrate a book
that looks cohesive,

51
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even though
there are multiple hands on it.

52
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So, this is for the Toy Story 4
extension book. And...

53
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One of the things that I really like
working on is extension stories

54
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because you get to extend
the life of these characters

55
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that you fall in love with
when you watch the movie.

56
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Especially, like, when I was younger,
and I would watch this film,

57
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and I would always wonder,
"Oh, what happens after they get married?"

58
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Or "What happens
after this adventure is over?"

59
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We get this foundation to work with

60
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that we get to take
in so many different directions.

61
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Yeah, the book is really fun.

62
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And it takes place in a carnival setting,
so it's actually really appropriate.

63
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I think these extension stories

64
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develop this new type of relationship
I have with the characters.

65
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You experience them even in a closer way

66
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because we get to tell,
like, what happens next.

67
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I'm helping Jeff
with the Frozen 2, uh, covers.

68
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One of my favorite parts of the job is
we get to collaborate with the filmmakers.

69
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They're the ones that create
this world and these people.

70
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And to have this firsthand explanation
of all this knowledge

71
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is what helps us
make our books so wonderful.

72
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And we had decided on a cool silver ink,
so it'll be shimmery.

73
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And so it will stand out from the page.

74
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You have everything working
in a more analogous color scheme,

75
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which is a more limited scheme,

76
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but it's much more harmonious
to the environment.

77
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You immediately recognize them
as Anna and Elsa.

78
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I think it channels the Frozen aesthetic
quite a bit.

79
00:04:33,502 --> 00:04:37,715
So another one of my favorite books
was Three Little Words.

80
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I really love the message of this book,
and it's to "just keep swimming."

81
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I think it's a great, positive message
for little kids,

82
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and it's also something
that I tell myself every day.

83
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What I love about art is
it forces me to find my voice.

84
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It allows me a way to express myself.

85
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And I've learned to love myself

86
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because I learned that everyone
expresses themselves differently.