Dylan
Sisson

Before I had any sensible plan for a career, I was making comics and animation.

I wrote and illustrated a comic book and directed my own short indie films. To my surprise, one of those films received the Best Computer Animated Short award at the Animar Festival in Mallorca, Spain. It opened a few doors, including one at Pixar.

I joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1999 and have worked with the RenderMan group ever since. Today, as Head of RenderMan Creative Engagement, I work with artists, engineers, and studios to make advanced rendering technology more understandable and useful.

My work is rooted in a simple observation: tools shape creative decisions. They affect what artists try, what they can see while working, and ultimately the kinds of images and stories that become possible.

Outside Pixar, I keep making things across drawing, painting, sculpture, digital experimentation, and emerging media. A sketch can become a VR sculpture, a render, a manufactured object, or a talk. The route is rarely direct, which is usually where the interesting part starts.

I live in San Francisco, still draw monsters whenever I can, and remain interested in the same question that has followed me through all of it:

How do the tools we build shape the art we create?