Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Exclusive Jessica Rabbit Artist Interview - Rachael Sur



It was a great privilege to get in touch with artist Rachael Sur for the next ImNotBad.com Exclusive Interview. Rachael is the designer of the Jessica Rabbit's Room Jumbo Pin.

In 2009, she started her own company, Hot Gravy LLC, consisting of a group of designers and illustrators working on themed and licensed product design for several companies, including Disney. Why did Disney start using Jessica Rabbit for pins? What was the story behind the Jessica Rabbit's Room pin? Find out in this interview!




ImNotBad:
What was your reaction the first time you saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Rachael Sur:
I remember seeing the film when I was really young, and I thought that it was so different than anything I had ever seen before. I think it's the first movie that I ever remember seeing that mixed live actors and animation.



INB:
When did you start working for Disney?

Rachael:
I started working at Disney Design Group as an intern in 2004 after getting my degree in Graphic Design at Illinois State University. I was fortunate enough to get hired in after my internship.






INB:
What was your role working for the company?

Rachael:
Throughout my time at Disney, I worked on various products for the theme parks including pins, packaging, apparel, drink ware, collectibles, vinyls, etc.



INB:
What was one of your first created works for Disney?

Rachael:
I think the first project that they gave me to design was a pin for Christmas. It was the corporate Mickey head as a Christmas ornament with red glitter. I remember being excited when it came out and I could buy it. I got one for all of my friends and family for Christmas that year. I still hang it on my Christmas tree!



INB:
What are some of your favorite pins?

Rachael:
I always enjoyed doing the featured artist jumbos the best, (like the Jessica Rabbit one) because we got to do whatever we wanted, and the jumbos gave us room to get more creative and add more features than a normal sized pin.



INB:
What inspired you to create the Jessica Rabbit's Room pin?

Rachael:
At Disneyland when I was in line for Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin I noticed that there was a dressing room door with Jessica's name on the outside. From there I thought it would be a cool idea to create a hinged pin out of it where Jessica is inside the dressing room.





INB:
For your original design of the pin, there was to be a photo of Roger Rabbit on the inside of Jessica's door, however on the final product it is not there. Why did that happen?

Rachael:
There was a signing event at Disneyland where I was to sign that pin, as well as some others that I had designed. The factory had made the mistake of leaving the poster out of the pin. The day of the signing event was the day that the pins got delivered to Disneyland, so unfortunately there wasn't time to fix the mistake.





INB:
Did you create or have ideas for Jessica pins (or other characters that were never made?

Rachael:
Sometimes you will give two or three options for art to choose from and only one will get picked up, or sometimes you will create art with one character and it will end up getting changed to another character.



INB:
Jessica was pretty absent from Disney for a long time. Do you know whose idea it was to start using her for pins - and why?

Rachael:
I'm not sure who decided to start using her more for pins, but I'm assuming that it was a test with just one or two items at first, and since it was successful more were created.





INB:
Why do you think Jessica Rabbit pins gained so much popularity with customers?

Rachael:
Maybe because there wasn't a presence at Disney with her for a while, so when there became the opportunity to buy items with her on it, people gravitated to her.



INB:
Does Disney have a real opinion on the Jessica Rabbit character?

Rachael:
Everyone is different and has different opinions about not only Jessica, but almost all characters. I think she's a really cool and fun character to work with.



INB:
What do you see in the future for pin collecting and for Jessica Rabbit?

Rachael:
I think she has quite a fan following now and as long as fans continue to buy merchandise with her on it, artists will continue to think up new and fun ideas.




Please check out Rachael's website, Hot Gravy LLC.



Jessica Rabbit Artist Interviews