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Talented Artist Vows To Keep Drawing On Sidewalk Outside Pixar's Gates Until They Give Her A Chance
As children, and even as adults, we all have dreams and aspirations we hope to see come to fruition someday. It's just a matter of how deeply we dream, and how hard we work to see them happen.
22-year-old Jessie Plascencia—@cowboyjess on TikTok—was adamant about her dreams to work as an illustrator and artist for Pixar's animation company.
She gained more than 7 million followers when she announced:
"My dream is to someday work at Pixar."
But the supporters and comments kept pouring in as Jessie began to share her illustrations, especially after she set a new goal of drawing a new character in sidewalk chalk outside of Pixar's main campus gates every day until she had the chance to speak to someone on the team, and hopefully be hired.
Jessie considered:
"What better way to get their attention than to chalk draw in front of their gates?"
In her first viral video from her series of Pixar gates videos, Jessie showed her obvious love and concern for detail, as she pressed "hard" into the ground to make sure the pigment came through, and as she blended it all out, so it would create a smooth image, to emulate what she saw on screen.
Jessie pointed out she added highlights for the hair, lights to the eyes and "five different colors to create the skin tone" before finally revealing her Guilia from Pixar's Luca.
@cowboyjess I went to Pixar to draw Guilia from Pixar’s ‘Luca’ ! What character should I draw next? Follow 4 more 😊 #pixar #pixaranimationstudios #chalkdrawing
Since then, the artist has shared her sidewalk chalk renditions of Mike from Monster's Inc...
@cowboyjess TikTok · cowboyjess
We can't "forget" her portrait of Dory from Finding Nemo.
And Finding Dory.
@cowboyjess Chalk Drawing Dory from @pixar ‘s “Finding Nemo” at my school 🐟! Let me know which character I should draw next 😊♥️#pixar #dory #animation
And one of Pixar's latest films, Turning Red.
Which she discovered had been shared by a Pixar employee on Instagram.
@cowboyjess I drew Mei, Priya, Abby, and Miriam from Pixar’s #turningred @pixar (: hope you enjoy!#chalkdrawing #pixar
In addition to drawing on the sidewalk outside the campus gates to gain the attention of the Pixar team, Jessie also applied for a summer internship program with them.
As her videos gained attention, she had the opportunity to speak to a team member, who talked with her about the realities of being a professional artist and illustrator.
One key piece of advice Jessie received along the way was to "perfect" the skill she felt she was best at.
Jessie explained:
"I asked them (the Pixar employee) so many questions."
"The biggest advice they gave me was to focus on something you're really good at, whether it's character design or color scripting."
"Basically, perfect what you're really good at."
"It was really helpful, and if anything, it made the dream more tangible for me."
Unfortunately, Jessie discovered she was not awarded a spot in the Pixar summer internship.
But after that decision was made, she discovered that members of the Pixar team had been actively sharing her TikTok videos with other team members.
She also got the chance to draw on the sidewalk inside the gates at Pixar to celebrate the release of Lightyear.
@cowboyjess I put my heart and SOUL in this drawing (PUN INTENDED) But really, I am so grateful for this journey 🥹 Thank you @pixar @Disney+ & @TikTok for the invitation (: Make sure to stream Lightyear on Disney+ if you havent already! To Infinity and Beyond 💫✨
Jessie reminisced:
"I was shocked at how many people were rooting for me."
In addition to that internal support, Jessie was also offered a job as an illustrator at a children's book company.
Though she may have not (yet) gotten the job she was dreaming of, Jessie appears to be the epitome of the lesson "When one door closes, another door opens."
@cowboyjess Drawing Mater And Lightning from Pixar’s ‘Cars’ (: hope you enjoy! This chalk drawing is from a few months ago but I just really wanted to use this sound. #chalkdrawing #pixarchalkdrawing #pixar #chalktok
Just keep going!