The art evolved as part of the process
Pixar production designer Don Shank discussed how Elemental became an instance where the artists had to work a bit more unconventionally. “Elemental was entirely unique, and it required us to work backwards, if you will. Because we knew our characters are made out of elemental effects like fire and water, we needed to first figure out our characters’ look and design. And then we can create a world and a visual language that would fit these characters in a natural way,” Shank explained, detailing the visual process of creating the unique looks of characters like leads Wade and Ember. “The visual themes and goals would evolve from this point organically. So there was a lot of back and forth between our art and our technical teams, as we discovered together how to make appealing elemental characters that still felt like they had the visceral impact of real fire, water, air, and earth. After months of collaboration and exploration, we landed on our final look—a delicate balance between physics, logic, and cartoony appeal.”
