Behind the Scenic Painting of Pinocchio's Animation Oscar

At last month's Oscar's, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio scooped Best Animation against a quality field of nominations. Ahead of the results announcement, I caught up with a very excited Polly Robbins, one of the scenic artists on the film, to learn more about her work, and this production in particular.

The Path to Portland

Polly Robbins originally hails from the suburbs of Chicago, and earned her Masters in set design at the University of Texas. However, that wasn't to become home, and in 1991 she set off for the west coast in search of somewhere fun—it was in Portland, Oregon, where she found it.

Polly spent the early part of her career working on theatre sets. Her first job in the animation industry was at Will Vinton Studios. This would later become Laika and the story of the firm, and this transition, is told in the feature-length documentary Claydream.

These were some of the early animation studios that set up shop in Portland. Over time, it has become the beating heart of this industry in the USA, attracting other studios and top talent in the process.

Although her formal training is in set design for theatre and film, Polly has actively sought out instruction in sign painting, attending classes with Alex Kurakake of Smart Alex Signs (@smart_alex_signs) in Los Angeles and Bryan Yonki at Well Done Signs (@welldonesigns) in Portland. And she draws parallels between the trades:

“As a scenic artist, many of the same tools and tricks of the sign painting trade are used. I’ve painted many backdrops, some measuring 30 x 60 ft (9 x 18 m), which require skills in scaling up the layout from a printed image. I’ve also scaled down to the tiny signs shown here for Pinocchio—the smallest are about 1.5 x 2.5 in (4 x 6 cm).

"Tools like pounce wheels, electro-pounce machines, transfer paper, and vinyl masks are as commonplace for scenic artists as for sign painters. The same goes for knowing how to properly prep a surface, scale a drawing, and execute the painted image.”

Polly Robbins on the set of Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

The Pinocchio Process

Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was an international collaboration between three studios: ShadowMachine in Portland, where most of the film was produced; Mackinnon & Saunders in Altrincham, UK, where most of the primary puppets were created; and the International Animation Center in Guadalajara, Mexico, where all of the 'Underworld' scenes were shot. (Guillermo del Toro is passionate about growing the animation industry in Mexico, and has been integrally involved in the centre in Guadalajara.)

Shooting stop animation is fundamentally different to filming live action—there are 24 frames (photographs) per second, which means almost five million had to be shot when making Pinocchio. The production process is therefore meticulously planned, to minimise the need for reshooting which adds significant time and expense to a project.

Briefing materials supplied to Polly Robbins during the props production process for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

The art department on Pinocchio numbered about 60 people, with specialists in many fields, including Polly on scenic and prop painting. Artwork for each individual element of her output was created by graphic designers, in collaboration with producers and the director. Once passed to her, the designs are relatively set in stone, although Polly makes suggestions for improvements where she sees these opportunities.

Team Pinocchio's scenic artists, from left to right: Laurie Olson; Brian Capati; Polly Robbins; Matvey Rezanov; Davis Pritchard; Gillian Hunt; Aaron Jarrett; and Susanna Jerger. Not pictured is Sarah Eaton.

The scale of the finished sets was approximately 1:5, and most of the painting was done with acrylic paints on appropriately textured MDF (medium density fibreboard). These textures, which were created by the landscape artists, could conjure up anything from the old plaster village walls to the bile and pock-covered insides of the Dogfish sea monster.

Work in progress, and the finished prop, for this fortune-teller stand. The sign in the pot reads 'No Refunds'.

Much of the paintwork involves achieving the patina and other aging effects on walls and props. And, in some cases, Polly would add little finishing touches with personal connections—the fishing floats for example feature numbers of her past addresses, although these are barely legible in the final film.

Fishing floats with number of significant addresses from Polly's past, and a life ring next to a nickel to show the scale of the prop and its lettering. (A nickel has a diameter of 21 mm, which is 0.84 in).

Shades of Fascism

A couple of weeks before speaking with Polly, I had coincidentally watched the film with my daughters. One of the things that struck me was seeing it set during the rise of fascism in Italy. (The original story was first published well before this in 1883, the year of Benito Mussolini's birth.) This Los Angeles Times article gives some insight into Guillermo del Toro’s decision to place the film in this specific historical context.

'Believe. Obey. Fight.' — one of the walls which took on a red hue to represent the rise of fascism within Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio.

This new setting for the classic tale was subtly supported through the palette used in the set design, as Polly explains:

"As the story in the film moved more towards the fascist influences, there were touches of colour here and there that supported this shift. On the whole, the colour palette moved towards steely greys and heavy reds. Entire walls in the village would no longer be limestone hues, but rather red-washed, like one that I lettered with a fascist slogan [Pictured Above]."

Palettes used to describe the shifts in colour throughout the film and used by Polly and others in the art department for their scenic work.

"Softer touches, like the inclusion of green foliage, were also removed. On the village building with the fresco of the cheery woman on it, even the door, which was originally blue, was repainted in red tones to accompany the stern soldier that was painted over it."

The evolution of one of the film's key sets as fascism takes hold in Italy. Traces of the original festive fresco are visible in palimpsest with the military bust and fascist slogan.

Celebrating Success

The production of the film was disrupted significantly by the Pandemic. Those that could work from home did so, but the filming ultimately had to wait for restrictions to ease. It was a testing time for all, but the film finally made it onto the big screen in December 2022.

This was swiftly followed in March 2023 by its success at the 95th Academy Awards. Although Polly didn't attend the official Oscars ceremony, she did spend the evening with many of her collaborators on the film, ultimately accompanied by Champagne (Prosecco, surely?) corks popping.

Polly Robbins / @robbins.designworks

More of Polly Robbins' prop work for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, including work-in-progress on different elements of the dumbbells.

More Projects

Sign Painting and Lettering Projects

Sign painting and lettering projects from around the world.

BLAG (Better Letters Magazine)•Better Letters