Ralph Eggleston, Pixar animator and author of the short film ‘Pajaritos’, has died at the age of 56

The animation film industry is mourning an irreparable loss today. Ralph Eggleston, veteran animator, director and designer for Disney and Pixar, has died at the age of 56 of pancreatic cancer.. The American artist died on August 28, as confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Louisiana in 1965, Eggleston had a long career within the House of Ideas before moving to Pixar and working on their films. His best known work is “Pajaritos”, an animated short film that accompanied “Monstruos, SA” to its premiere in 2001 and which earned him the Oscar for best animated short film. Next year. However, his career began much earlier. More precisely in the 80s with the ‘Amazing Tales’ series, produced by Steven Spielberg. In the 1990s, he made the leap to Disney to contribute his grain of sand in major films for the company such as “Aladdin”, “The Lion King” or “Pocahontas”.

Prior to joining Pixar, the animator worked for production companies such as Warner Bros., Universal, Amblin and Dreamworks, with whom he worked on “The Road to El Dorado”. It was in the company founded by John Lasseter that Eggleston became famous. He has helped create the designs for almost every Pixar film, some as fundamental as “Toy Story” or “Up”, and has also worked on “Soul” since 2020. In addition to the Oscar, the designer won three Annie Awards for Best Art Design for “Toy Story (Toys)”, “Finding Nemo” and “WALL-E: Cleaning Squad” and received three nominations from the Art Directos Guild for his work on “The Incredibles”, “WALL-E” and “The Incredibles 2.” In 2019 she received the Winsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award.

His home

As we said, the animation world has said goodbye to Eggleston. In addition to personalities and directors such as Angus MacLane (director of ‘Lightyear’), the official Twitter account of Pixar honored the animator by thanking him for all his work.

In memory of Ralph Eggleston? animator, director, art director, storyboard artist, writer, set designer and our dear friend. Pixar and the world will forever be grateful to you. ? pic.twitter.com/YzZACENcZw

? Pixar (@Pixar) August 29, 2022

“In memory of Ralph Eggleston: animator, director, art director, storyboard artist, writer, set designer and our dear friend. Pixar and the world will be eternally grateful to him “we read in the tweet.