Jeff Mann

Jeff was born in Southern California. As a kid he took apart the family lawn mower to build himself a go-kart. He loved the hotrod culture and grew up in a very “American Graffiti” time. He always liked drawing and started surfing around age fifteen. After high school he worked for about 18 months at Lockheed Aircraft working on C5A Delta planes. In 1968 Jeff packed all his belongings into his VW bus and shipped it all to Hawaii where he spent the next year until he ran out of money. He then sold his VW and flew back home and moved up to the Bay Area to attend art classes at the College of Marin.

From there he went to San Francisco State University and studied with the realists like Robert Bechtle. He also did some design for the theatre program and made some short animated films exploring various modes of expression. After graduation with a degree in painting and drawing he moved up to Sausalito where he started working on boats. He helped restore and old 1910 tug boat and then worked on numerous projects with the crew he met there. He lived on a houseboat for a time and eventually wound up renting a 2000 square foot building on the Napa Street pier. He built it out to have a living quarters, an artist studio, and a boat building shop. 

His friend acquired a 1910 Danish cargo ship. For six years Jeff and a crew worked on getting it fully sea worthy with the goal of circumnavigating the globe. They ran all kinds of shake down cruises with the boat and Jeff eventually had accumulated enough time at sea to qualify for a Coast Guard captain’s license. He had a whole career ready to go at sea, but decided that wasn’t his path. 

In 1981 Lorne Peterson hired Jeff for a three week model building gig. He wound up working at ILM for the next 24 years. Jeff worked in numerous capacities on films like Star Trek 2, Poltergeist, ET, Return of the Jedi, Young Sherlock Holmes, to name just a few. Jeff later became a senior staff member and helped oversee the company’s massive growth and the transition to working digitally. 

Today Jeff lives in Ojai, California where he maintains a studio practice, showing his work in shows and galleries. It was a great time chatting with Jeff and hearing about his amazing life and career. 

Julija McDowell

Julija grew up in Canada. As the oldest sister she often helped take care of her siblings. Her mother, who worked as a travel agent, instilled a deep sense of creativity and “making”. As a family they wouldn’t buy Christmas presents for one another but would make presents. She attended a preforming arts high school where people were literally dancing in the halls. Julija was more interested in the visual arts and after high school followed in her aunt’s footsteps pursuing a degree in graphic design and advertising. 

After graduation she landed an entry level gig at an ad agency she wasn’t crazy about, leaving after a few months. She went back to working as a lifeguard. Around the same time Julija started working as a fashion model. That opportunity allowed her to travel all over Europe, eventually living in London and working at Harrod’s as a perfume girl. One night she was watching a tv program on Channel 4 about animation and she decided to go back to school to study animation. 

Julija returned to Canada to attend Sheridan. Her first contact and mentor was Wayne Gilbert, who also later went on to work at ILM. For her senior project, Julija and lifelong pal Jenn Emberly, teamed up and made a short animated film that got into numerous film festivals and set the stage for a successful career. 

Julija and Jenn were hired as an animation team to come work at ILM. They packed up a car, driving from Toronto to San Francisco, and went straight to work on Jumanji. Julija worked at ILM for ten years on numerous projects including; The Mummy, Mars Attacks!, Men in Black 2, and others. She also did work for The Orphanage and IMD on additional projects.

After starting a family, Julija started her own small business where she developed an app and curriculum for parents to engage in educational projects with their kids 6 and under. Shortly thereafter, Julija and her family decided to move to Australia where she started Tinker Tank, a brick and mortar educational maker space offering experiential, kid driven, project based learning. 

Julija is an inspiration and the work she’s doing with Tinker Tank is so important. It was great fun to catch up with her and hear her story. 

John Stillman

John Stillman is a Bay Area native. As a kid, he played baseball, soccer, and football. He earned a bachelor's degree at UCLA in Design. Shortly after graduation John travelled around Europe landing a job in Prague where he worked as a Production Manager and Associate Art Director for Prognosis, an English language newspaper.

After a year or so abroad John came back to California and applied for a job at Industrial Light & Magic working as a production assistant. He wound up working there for the next seven years eventually working as a lighting technical director. John’s ILM credits include; Speed 2, Twister, Mars Attacks!, Deep Rising, Sleepy Hallow, Mission to Mars, and Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace (to name just a few).

After his first stint at ILM John went to work for a startup called I-Beam with some pals from ILM. They commuted each day from Marin to Palo Alto in a stretch limousine they bought as a group. When the start up went bust, John moved back into visual effects working at Giant Killer Robots, Weta Digital in New Zealand (on Return of the King), at Image Movers Digital, Atomic Fiction, and eventually back for a second stint at ILM for four more years (The Avengers, Star Trek: Into Darkness, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles).

Shifting gears John decided to go back to school, moving across the country and enrolling at MIT earning a master’s degree in Integrated Design. Today John lives in Boston working full time as the Principal Tech Artist and Developer at PTC. When he’s not at work he’s an awesome dad to his two kids, coaching little league, soccer, and even hockey. John is an amazing artist and technician. He’s been a great friend for over 25 years and it was a blast catching up with him.

Kim Smith

Kim Smith is an artist in the truest sense of the word. She was born in NYC and grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Her father was a very successful illustrator. At an early age, Kim was very interested in archeology. She combined her interest in science with a natural affinity for art and creativity. She attended Syracuse University and studied art. Her initial interest was working as a studio artist. Kim was also interested in cartography and the way in which maps developed so differently across different cultures and periods of history. After school she travelled to France and lived with relatives speaking French daily and continuing to explore her creative impulses.

Kim later moved to California where she worked at Sotherby’s as an assistant in the print department. Her French language skills and her artist’s background proved highly useful during her time with the auction house. From there Kim went to work building models for theme park rides. It landed her “in the studio” full time getting paid to do work for commercial projects.

After honing her skills Kim landed at ILM where she worked for decades doing both traditional and digital work. Her film credits include; Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, The Hunt For Red October, Back to the Future 3, Dreams, Rocketeer, Star Trek 6, Hook, Death Becomes Her, Alive, Forrest Gump, Jumanji, Star Treks: Generations and First Contact, Mars Attacks!, The Mummy, Star Wars Episode 1 and Episode 3, Pirates of the Caribbean, Pacific Rim, Ender’s Game, to name just a few.

Our wide ranging conversation explores Kim’s background, the life of an artist, the pros and cons of analog vs digital, and the creative problem solving required for working in visual effects. Kim is an amazingly talented, thoughtful, gifted artist, and all around super cool human. It was great fun to chat with her and hear her story. I think we definitely broke some new ground for the show in our chat.

Trish Krause

Trish grew up in Montreal, Quebec. Many ILMrs may remember her as Trish Schutz. She grew up the youngest in her family with two older sisters. Her mother was a creative influence with painting, drawing, and sewing throughout Trish’s childhood. Her dad was a dentist. Trish attended Catholic school and after high school she took her first animation and art classes. She later graduated from Sheridan College in Ontario for computer animation. 

In 1986 Trish went to SIGGRAPH in Boston at the recommendation of a teacher and discovered a realm of possibilities of ways to put her degree to work. Her first job out of school was working independently for about 8 months doing animation for education videos teaching math (also a favorite subject in school). A former animation teacher from Sheridan came knocking on her door encouraging her to apply for an internship at PDI. In 1993 she left Canada to work at PDI/Dreamworks in Santa Clara, California. 

In 1994, after her internship Trish applied for jobs at Pixar, Rhythm & Hues, and ILM. She got a job offer from ILM to come work on Casper. Trish’s ILM credits include; Casper, Mars Attacks!, Spawn, The Phantom Menace, ET: The Special Edition, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Jurassic Park III, Pirates of the Caribbean, to name just a few. After about 9 years ILM, Trish returned to work at Dreamworks in Redwood City where she worked on Shrek 2 and Madagascar fulfilling an interest in working on fully animated features. 

After the birth of her first daughter she decided to work freelance and worked for ILM and The Orphanage on different projects in a 911 capacity without the need for a full-time commitment. With the arrival of her second daughter she worked for a time at Tippett Studios. In 2009 her vision started to falter slightly and a following cataract surgery she left the business. 

With her mother’s passing Trish decided to answer a calling to completely change careers and become a nurse. After going back to school, Trish is now an RN working full-time helping people in (from my POV) one of the most noble and selfless pursuits. Today she lives with her family in the Bay Area and brings her infectious positivity, kindness, and her keen animator’s observation skills, to her work as a nurse. 

On a personal note, when I started this podcast I was so excited to eventually talk with Trish as I find her mid-career shift to be absolutely inspiring. Her story is a great life lesson for anyone who wants to shift gears. 

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