{"id":6619,"date":"2021-01-25T17:40:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T23:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arch.tamu.edu.staging2.juiceboxint.com\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T12:02:07","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T17:02:07","slug":"soul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas A&M Vizzer helps bring Pixar\u2019s \u201cSoul\u201d to life"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Texas A&M University visualization<\/a> student, Cheyenne Chapel \u201919, was one of Pixar Animation Studios\u2019 artists who helped bring its most recent 3-D animated feature, \u201cSoul<\/a>,\u201d to life.<\/p>\n

Chapel, who is from Chappell Hill, Texas, helped design and create trees, buildings and terrain and other \u201cdigital assets\u201d in the world where the movie\u2019s characters live.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoul\u201d is a landmark film for the animation behemoth as its first film to feature a Black lead character. It\u2019s the first film released as part of the animation studio\u2019s mission<\/a> to represent diversity in film.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing on Soul and being a black, country girl from Texas, I think brings a unique perspective that many people may not have in this industry,\u201d said Chapel in a Pixar Twitter post.<\/a> \u201cEspecially working on Soul, I had more opportunities to bring part of my culture that I am so thankful for. My team valued my opinion in the film and I think it\u2019s made my time working on Soul so fun to feel like my voice mattered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Premiering on Christmas Day 2020, \u201cSoul\u201d is Pixar\u2019s 23rd<\/sup> feature film, which follows the story of Joe Gardner, a jazz musician and teacher, voiced by Jamie Foxx. Gardner has a close call with death the day he gets his \u201cbig break\u201d and spends the movie trying to stay in the land of the living to play his gig.<\/p>\n

The movie is Chapel\u2019s first film credit, but she first began working with Pixar in a 2018 internship during her junior year at Texas A&M. After completing her internship and senior year, she was offered a position in set modeling and dressing for \u201cSoul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two of the scenes Cheyenne Chapel contributed design to in “Soul.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pride of the department<\/h3>\n

\u201cCheyenne is a great example of how personal talent and initiative can combine with the opportunities provided by the Viz Lab<\/a>,\u201d said Tim McLaughlin, associate professor of visualization and one of Chapel\u2019s former professors. \u201cShe is an incredibly talented artist and worked hard both outside of class and in her coursework to demonstrate her talents, and more importantly, to illustrate how she thinks about design problems from a 3D computer graphics perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaughlin saw her work tirelessly toward her goal of helping shape the stories beloved by children and adults all over the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a student she stayed engaged in Viz extracurricular activities. In particular, she attended every industry event and visit she could. Through those, she learned how studios think about their work, their language, their processes, and their values. She also introduced herself to people \u2013 faculty, fellow students, and industry visitors \u2013 and struck up conversations for guidance to get where she wanted to be. We\u2019re very proud of her and happy to have provided a learning environment that helped her achieve her goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas A&M\u2019s visualization department is often a funnel for students hoping to work with top animation studios. The department works regularly with these studios in its annual Summer Animation Workshop<\/a>, which challenges Vizzers to create animated short films in just 10 weeks, preparing them for the competitive, fast-paced industry environment.<\/p>\n

“I wouldn’t trade my education at A&M for anything, it gave me the platform to find what I wanted to do in life,” Chapel said in an interview with KXXV-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She was a standout student for many of her professors, including Barbara Klein, instructional assistant professor of visualization.<\/p>\n

\u201cCheyenne is an exceptional person; smart, ambitious, passionate, and driven. Her success is no surprise to anyone who has had the opportunity to know and work with her. Her exuberant, charismatic personality brings life and energy to those around her,\u201d said Klein.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring her time here, her passion for the visual arts and her perseverance was always evident,\u201d said Klein. \u201cShe is a continuous source of pride for the Department of Visualization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next Projects<\/h3>\n

Since working on \u201cSoul,\u201d Chapel has used her talents on the upcoming Pixar film \u201cLuca,\u201d which explores the journey of a young Italian boy who befriends a sea monster.  \u201cLuca\u201d is set to be released this June.<\/p>\n

Chapel\u2019s next project, according to her Instagram<\/a> account, is Pixar\u2019s \u201cLightyear,\u201d a June 2022-scheduled spinoff of the \u201cToy Story\u201d franchise based on the human inspiration for Buzz Lightyear.<\/p>\n

*Main post image credit: Cheyenne Chapel is photographed on January 21, 2020 at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, Calif. (Photo by Deborah Coleman \/ Pixar)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Texas A&M University visualization student, Cheyenne Chapel \u201919, was one of Pixar Animation Studios\u2019 artists who helped bring its most recent 3-D animated feature, \u201cSoul,\u201d to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":6620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[62,64,90],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTexas A&M Vizzer helps bring Pixar\u2019s \u201cSoul\u201d to life - Texas A&M University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas A&M Vizzer helps bring Pixar\u2019s \u201cSoul\u201d to life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A former Texas A&M University visualization student, Cheyenne Chapel \u201919, was one of Pixar Animation Studios\u2019 artists who helped bring its most recent 3-D animated feature, \u201cSoul,\u201d to life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Texas A&M University College of Performance, Visualization & Fine Arts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-25T23:40:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-15T17:02:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/tamupvfa.juiceboxint.com\/app\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Untitled-design-30-copy.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Wilson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@tamupvfa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Wilson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sarah Wilson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/848394f25f58457d6f86438180dbc88a\"},\"headline\":\"Texas A&M Vizzer helps bring Pixar\u2019s \u201cSoul\u201d to life\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-25T23:40:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-15T17:02:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/\"},\"wordCount\":751,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Creative Works\",\"Former Students & Friends\",\"Visualization\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pvfa.tamu.edu\/news\/2021\/01\/25\/soul\/\",\"name\":\"Texas A&M Vizzer helps bring Pixar\u2019s \u201cSoul\u201d to life - 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