That created a particular level of complexity for Jackson. That was more collaboration, where Effects handled the 2D patterns, and then we handled building the whole flower wall, so that once we plug in a pattern all these flowers will change and do crazy stuff.'Įncanto is Jackson's first project since Frozen II - no surprise, considering the massive technical and creative demands of creating a modern animated movie, 'and of course COVID hit, and we had a really technical challenge of having everyone work from home.' Initially, they were expecting a two-week hiccup 'and then of course it dragged on, so we're still at home.' That meant finding ways to coordinate the basics of production, and Jackson said there was 'a huge technology team setting us up to do streaming, and solve a lot of challenges, like how do we all review the same stuff at the same time and see it in the same color space.' 'When she sings her songs, all the different patterns and graphics behind her, each flower is like a pixel. 'Nothing happens in isolation,' he explained, such as the massive wall of blooms in Isabella's room, dubbed by the animators the Flower Jumbotron. Who won? 'They did,' laughed Jackson, but there were also plenty of times where the teams worked together.

'At one point it transforms from looking leafy to the big, pink flowers, and we didn't know who was going to handle that transformation, our department or Effects, just to see what might work better for the production.' Take the massive Bougainvillea on top of the enchanted Casa Madrigal. Not that the lines between departments and responsibilities would always be clear cut. “We put grass everywhere, we put flowers everywhere, and in this film there are flowers everywhere.” Jackson explained, 'They did the little particles coming off the doors, and we did everything on the surface, all the fine detail carving.' This often meant working closely with other departments, such as with the effects department on the magical glowing doors of the Casa Madrigal. 'What makes candle wax look like candle wax? It's got a certain amount of subsurface coming through it, so when light hits it, when takes over, it reacts like it's supposed to.' We put grass everywhere, we put flowers everywhere, and in this film there are flowers everywhere.'ĭesigning the surfaces is a complicated process, one that involves studying materials at a deep level - even something at simple as a candle. Then we take that and add all the rest of the color and detail. Before we touch it, everything's grey and plastic-looking, really flat and simple. So basically the sets and the background.' As supervisor for the look development team, 'we get the models from the modeling department.

They all have one - except for Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) who must find her place as the ordinary member of this extraordinary family.Įncanto is Jackson's fourth feature for Disney Animation, and here the former Austinite and UT alum served as environment look supervisor, a job that he described, at its simplest level, as ' the characters and environments that get reused throughout the film.' More specifically, he was one of three supervisors on the environments teams, working on 'everything that's not a character or an effect, like water or sand. In the new Disney film, which opens this week, Isabella is one of the many Madrigals with a special power, like seeing the future, or talking to animals. But who plants the magical and technological seeds from which they spring? That would be Jay Jackson and his team of environmental animators. In Encanto, the latest animated musical from Disney, flowers bloom everywhere Isabela, the oldest and most perfect daughter of the Madrigal, lays her feet. Who makes the flowers bloom at the Casa Madrigal in Encanto? Jay Jackson and his team of animators, that's who.

Pink and purple flowers