I visited Pixar Animation Studios as part of a press trip for the INCREDIBLES 2 Event.

During the past few years, I have had ups and downs personally. When I lost my parents and younger sister, I was not sure how I would move forward. I learned to survive by remembering the wonderful trips that we took together as a family. I worked hard to go be able to make them proud of me and being part of the Disney family was one of my main goals.

Being able to visit Pixar Animation Studios has been on my bucket list since I envisioned myself being part of the Disney family . Who would have guessed that it would have been my first trip was going to be to the Pixar Animation Studios. It was a dream come true.

I’d see bloggers with their pictures with the Luxo ball and hope that someday I’d make the Pixar blog trip list. Magic Pixie Dust landed in my email, and this wish became a reality. I walked onto the Pixar campus and there were the Luxo ball and lamp.

Many Pixar fans don’t realize that the from story ideas to final animation everything is done in one place – the Pixar Animation Studio. Now, getting to Pixar isn’t as easy as just driving up to the property and walking in the front door. You have to be invited inside to see the campus. And earlier this month, I was invited with a great group of bloggers to check out the first part of the Incredibles 2, learn more about the company, the process of how the movie was made and explore a bit.

We learned so much about how characters were made, and while on campus we were given the chance to make our own super hero in a similar fashion to the character design artists. Now, Pixar Animation Studios is an amazing place  for any artist and animator, and their work atmosphere is exactly that too. The Studio is referred to as a campus and if you saw it you would understand why. They have a pool, tennis court, gym, soccer field, volley ball court and guess what a Viking grill for outdoor activities. There is also a room dedicated to just milk and cereal.

Pixar Animation Studio isn’t open to everyone, I thought I’d share some of the great things you can see within the property with you. If you ever find your way onto the Pixar campus, be sure to stop in to the gift shop and get some limited edition items.

Visit Luxo and the Luxo Ball

As you walk up to the Steve Jobs building and along the main path you are immediately greeted with one of the most iconic images of Pixar. The Luxo lamp and Luxo Ball. Both larger than life they are a great backdrop for taking pictures with while you’re on campus. Strike a pose with these iconic pieces, but make sure to do it again at night time when Luxo is lit up and the path is glowing behind you.  We were able to take a group photo of all of us thanks to Marshall. I will treasure it always.

When you get inside you will see your favorite-life sized characters.

Incredible 2 Gallery

Walking up these stairs led to magic! They say a picture tells a thousand words, and it is so true. It was fascinating to see the artwork in the Incredibles 2 Gallery. We had no idea that we would even be able to share these photos with you all, so this is a huge privilege.

These two pictures are of the collage they did instead of doing a traditional color script. A year was taken off the production of Incredibles 2, so they didn’t have time to do a full color script. This instead, shows the lighting and story points in the film.

You can also see the character portraits of the Parr family in the photo below. We’ve all seen THE INCREDIBLES, so we know what the family members look like. When THE INCREDIBLES came out in 2004, the technology was so different from what it is today. So while they look the same, they’ve been “upgraded” since the technology has upgraded.

I’m just going to post the rest of the pictures from the INCREDIBLES 2 Gallery just to give you an idea of what you may or may not expect from this movie. Remember, things do get cut!

Creating my own SUPER!

Once all of the creativity was flowing through my veins, I had to get creating! I demanded an office and got to work creating my own super! Okay, so it didn’t happen like that. But  we did get to creative with Costume Designer Alonso Martinez. He showed us how collaging was used by artists to conceptualize characters and their costumes. It was so interesting to see how collaging geometric shapes can lead to such creative characters.

I wish that all you  wish that all of you could have seen this presentation. I was surprised by what goes into conceptualizing and creating a character. Concept artists break characters down into bold shapes and colors. And that is what we got to do in creating our own superhero. It was truly a remarkable activity. As you can see from my picture I am not that creative but I had such a great time trying

Speaking of incredible, have you seen the newest poster and trailer for INCREDIBLES 2

In INCREDIBLES 2, Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is called on to lead a campaign to bring Supers back, while Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) navigates the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell), Dash (voice of Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack—whose super powers are about to be discovered. Their mission is derailed, however, when a new villain emerges with a brilliant and dangerous plot that threatens everything. But the Parrs don’t shy away from a challenge, especially with Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) by their side. That’s what makes this family so Incredible.

Like INCREDIBLES 2 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarTheIncredibles/

Follow INCREDIBLES 2 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheIncredibles

Follow INCREDIBLES 2 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theincredibles/

Visit the official INCREDIBLES 2 website here: http://disney.com/incredibles2

INCREDIBLES 2 opens in theaters everywhere on June 15th!