MANILA, Philippines — Ever since Pixar's “Cars” sped onto the silver screen back in 2006, Lightning McQueen has become one of the more recognizable faces among Disney/ Pixar's sizable stable of well-known and beloved characters.

Not only was the animated car the lead in a movie that grossed over US$460 million and plastered in merchandise as diverse as schools bags to T-shirts, he returns with his best friend Mater in “Cars 2”, the latest Disney/ Pixar offering now playing in theaters nationwide.

But what may not be as well known is the fact that Lightning McQueen, along with Mater and new characters Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell, were all brought to life by Filipino- American character animator Gini Santos.

While the 45-year-old spent her childhood in Barrigada, Guam, she was born in Pasay City and educated in St. Scholastica's College and the University of Santo Tomas. After pursuing a number of various designrelated jobs – as a graphic artist in a Japanese publication, an art director in a full sevice advertising agency, and a part-time graphic artist for a designer in New York City — Santos finally joined up with the team at Pixar, and now she's worked her way up to become a character animator in "Cars 2".

In this Students and Campuses Bulletin exclusive, we talk to the former Scholastican about why there are so many Filipinos in Pixar and in the animation industry, and what it takes for a Filipino to succeed in the field of animation.

STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES BULLETIN (SCB): Were you always interested in animation growing up?

GS: My sister, brother and I definitely loved to draw as we were growing up. I don't remember a time when any of us specifically wanted to be an animator. We all enjoyed animation in our childhood. It wasn't something I specifically thought of until I was much older, and when I became aware that there was an animation course. This also happened in my graduate schooling when animation was starting to be made on the computer.

SCB: How was your life as an art student?

GS: It was very challenging. Artists always have to bring not only creativity, but something different to their work You also learn so much from other artists and get inspired and even want to compete. I remember having healthy competitions wuth my school friends. It was also way more interesting to do my drawings and designs.

SCB:What drew you to the field you are involved in now?

GS: Really more about the computer. I wanted to do my master's in Advertising Arts, but then I saw this Master of Fine Aers course in Computer Art in New York City, and that was about the time desktop publishing was becoming popular. The computer as another art tool caught my attention and that led me to doing animation on the computer.

SCB: How did you land that job at Pixar?

GS: Any animator always wants to do a real acting scene – especially in feature films. I started with smaller reaction shots. I also did crowd scenes. Just trying to make any scene “shine” is what eventually led my supervisors to give me more acting scenes. You really have to prove yourself by making small scenes great. When they know they can trust you to animate a character with all its emotions, that’s when the opportunity to do bigger character scenes happen.

SCB: How did your training as a graphic artist and as an art director help you in what you do now?

GS: Design definitely helped me put appeal in my animation. People always think about movement and a lot of motion when it comes to animation, but really the other half of good animation is having the right poses, and the composition of these poses which tell you about the character. The appeal that makes the character interesting and memorable, that all comes with having an eye for design, and design is something I definitely worked on in my advertising and graphic art jobs. There are composition and layout rules but design is something I keep learning about with every shot I get to work on, depending on the different design of the characters.

Making Animation Alive

SCB: What did your involvement in "Cars 2" entail?

GS: Bringing personality to characters. Making them believable in their world. Most importantly making them feel alive. Cars 2 is one of those films where you really are challenged in your creativity as an animator because you have to make a car feel alive to the audience. You also have to be able to make any emotion they feel recognizable to the audience, and yet it still has to feel car- like.

SCB: What was the best thing about working on this movie?

GS: Being able to see great animation come from my peers and be inspired to hopefully do my own. But the best is the opportunity to work with John Lasseter. His vision as a creative person teaches me so much as an animator. It was fun having him direct me in my shots. His insight on character is so inspiring when you're trying to bring personality to the cars in the film.

SCB: Aside from you, we also have Ronnie del Carmen working with Pixar. Filipino illustrators also used to work for the Hanna-Barbera studios back in the day. What do you think is it about Filipino animators that make them attractive to these studios?

GS: There's a lot of talented Filipinos at Pixar. Ronnie's talent has contributed to what is the most important part of what we do and that is our stories. It’s the talent that we're blessed with that gives us the opportunities to do fun and creative things with other talented people here at Pixar.

SCB: What advice would you give to young Filipinos looking to pursue a similar career as your own? What does it take to be good at what you do?

GS: Talent is a blessing, but being able to harness the best of that talent comes with hard work. Hard work is always fueled by dreams and if one really wants to work in the animated film industry, they should find the schools that teach about the industry and just work at it. Do your best and keep working hard at making yourself better by seeing what others have done. Collaborating with them to learn. Learning is an unending process. It keeps you growing in your creativity.

(“Cars 2” is now showing in IMAX 3D, Digital 3D and regular format. “Cars 2” is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International through Columbia Pictures.)