If you've seen Disney animated films such as 鈥淭angled,鈥� based loosely on the German fairy tale 鈥淩apunzel,鈥� or 鈥淲reck-it Ralph,鈥� about an arcade-game villain turned hero鈥攁nd can picture in your mind the endlessly long hair of the beautiful princess trapped in her tower or the villain鈥檚 squared-off shoulders, you have some idea of what John Huikku 鈥�90 does for a living.
His previous job was at Walt Disney Animation Studios as a look development artist鈥攚hich involved, he explains, 鈥渄eveloping the look鈥� of whatever is called for. Working digitally from a 3D model, he says, 鈥淲e make metal look like metal, put freckles on a character鈥檚 cheeks, hair on its head, fur on an animal, whatever the subject is that day. It鈥檚 pretty incredible stuff.鈥�
Huikku worked at Disney for nearly a decade鈥攆irst as a lighting artist and then in look development鈥攁nd has had his hand in roughly a dozen films, including those mentioned above, as well as the 3D conversions of 鈥淟ion King鈥� and 鈥淏eauty and the Beast,鈥� and mega-hits 鈥淏olt鈥� and 鈥淔rozen.鈥� Before that he spent nine months in New Zealand as a texture artist and matte painter for Weta Digital鈥檚 鈥淟ord of the Rings.鈥�
In 2014, he left Disney for Brown Bag Studios, a computer animation company in Dublin where he serves as technical supervisor on a number of projects. One, Peter Rabbit, recently won three daytime Emmys.
It seems to have all begun, though, at the University of Lowell in the late 1980s, around the time he switched his major to from electronic engineering and began spending time in the Art Department鈥檚 computer lab, often with Jim Veatch, Associate Professor.
鈥淭hat was back in the pre-World Wide Web days,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t was all new, all self-led exploration, a different world from today ... Jim and I, we did some pretty cool stuff.鈥�
Huikku graduated in 1990, and for the next two years continued to work at the University鈥檚 Interactive Media Group, a job he鈥檇 held during his undergraduate days. In 1995, following short stints as a test engineer and video editor at projects in Massachusetts and New York, he got a call from a former ULowell classmate Terrence Masson, 鈥�89, who offered him a job as visual effects artist with a start up in California, SimEx Digital Studios. From there, it was a half-hour's drive north to Dream Quest Images in Simi Valley where he would find himself 18 months later, in the fall of 1996.
The next few years were a creative time for Dream Quest and its visual effects artist鈥攕pawning 鈥淢ission to Mars,鈥� 鈥淚nspector Gadget,鈥� 鈥淔lubber,鈥� 鈥淏icentennial Man,鈥� 鈥淎rmageddon,鈥� 鈥淕eorge of the Jungle鈥濃�攂ut nothing close to the period that would follow.
During his time at Disney, at least seven of the films Huikku worked on have been among the 100 top-grossing animated films in history. 鈥淔rozen鈥� is the highest grossing animated film ever and won two Oscars, including one for best animated feature film at the 2014 Academy Awards.