Update from Emily Neilson 15 FAV

My first assignment was to take a stylized drawing of a tree and interpret it in 3-d. It was like I stepped right back into my freshman foundation class at RISD. After a flurry of bristol board mockups, the production designer walked by, shrugged and said, "Not a bad first thing to make."

I guess whatever I was doing was working, because they kept giving me drawings, and I kept making more things. I was in heaven. After the trees came shrubs, rocks, puddles, clouds, fire, buildings, wood, bigger trees, and on and on. One day I'd make a tiny plant, the next build a cardboard mockup of a tavern. And every now and then there'd be some lovely little statue or taxidermy creature that needed sculpting. The years flew by and the film got finished and last summer "Missing Link" came out to a sea of empty seats. But it didn't seem to matter.

It's funny working on a movie. You have so much time to pick it apart, criticize it, talk through its flaws with your coworker friends. The whole time working on it, you keep thinking about how good it might be or how much it could improve. Then it finally comes out and you can't even see it like a movie anymore. Instead all you can see are the weeks Kristen spent on those cushions, or the time Caitlin came up with an idea while coloring with her kids. There were so many incredible people working on that movie and I'm just so pleased that I got the chance to work alongside them. There were quite a few RISD Alumni too! Among them Katy Strutz, Brian Ormiston, Ann and Evan Larson, and Brittany Bennett.

"Missing Link" recently won the Golden Globe award for Best Animated Feature, which was such a pleasant surprise for all of us. There was so much beautiful work done on that film, and it's so nice that it has been recognized. I just wanted to write in to say thank you RISD! I couldn't have been better prepared for my first film and it's all thanks to you.