Whodunit – Minions

With all the huss and fuss of the new and dedicated to them movie – The Minions – I was wondering “whodunit”? Who was the man behind the little small yellow creatures and how did it all started. Both Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin, the creators, producers and directors of the franchise, had something to do with it in the beginning, giving them a mission and a purpose in life and determined their silly animation and speech, but the man responsible for the final concept art was Eric Guillon.

Even though there were many others that have been designing, animating and creating concepts in the minions universe, he is being credited as “the creator and designer of Minions.” (DespicableMe wiki) The French Art Director has been working with Illumination Entertainment since 2010 when he first did concept art for Despicable Me and then Lorax, Despicable Me2 and other projects to come… I’ll be watching! 🙂

The first idea of Gru’s helping hands was not very close to what we see and love now. They were muscular, ugly and big and according to the “makers” they needed someone to make Gru more likeable. And so they started to adjust and change elements on them, adding goggles and making them yellow and little by little they got to be the lovely little banana eaters we adore today.

“When drawing, all sorts of imagery flies through your mind, carrying the idea of this character, helping you carve him/her out.” – Eric Guillon
 
If you want to keep track of Eric’s work you will find his blog very entertaining and fun. Enjoy.

And one more thing, the giant tints and colours creator and producer, Pantone, dedicated a colour especially for the minions – The Minion Yellow. More details here.

All images and Despicable Me logos and marks are property of Universal Studio

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