![]() The Bots, as the studio’s young, energetic, and talented employees are called, work in a space that combines innovative technology with the best of artistic imagination.Īt the heart of all this enterprise is William Joyce, a bespectacled artist of 55 years whose seriousness about visual storytelling is betrayed on occasion by a sense of mischief. Oversized red beanbags that spill across the floor seem to be the seats of choice. The main corridor ends at a screening room where staff can examine the craft of moviemaking (the film library includes Buster Keaton titles and Singin’ in the Rain, among others) or review their own projects. Storyboards charting Moonbot’s projects in progress cover the walls of two large rooms. Office whiteboards are crowded with lists of projects, deadlines, and assignments. Books are stacked high on desks and tables, while framed illustrations from The Leaf Men, Dinosaur Bob, and other books and films by Joyce hang on the walls or lie propped against them on the floor. On either side of the hall leading from the foyer are rooms housing work pods specially designed to give employees space and privacy without putting coworkers beyond reach of one another. Santa Calls, a children’s book released in 2001, originally published in 1990 but expanded in 2006, William Joyce’s popular children’s book, many of which have been adapted to film. Every surface sports bold primary colors. The lobby features deep, multihued chairs, some of them mounted like lazy susans that revolve, and above, exposed pipes gleam in foil wrapping. The Oscar he and his partner Brandon Oldenburg won at the 2012 Academy Awards for The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. (Actually, it turns on by the flick of a switch on the wall.) A lighted case exhibits three Emmys, a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators, and other awards Joyce has earned. A receptionist sits behind a curved desk under a suspended oversized lamp, perhaps ten feet in diameter, apparently activated by a pull chain of wooden balls. After threading one’s way through enough security to conjure up thoughts of CIA headquarters, the visitor opens heavy glass doors to enter a slightly futuristic environment gleaming with glass and chrome. Located in what was planned to be a biotech research park in Shreveport, Moonbot’s interior was redesigned to reflect the studio’s personality. The space is entirely inviting and comfortable, but the office environment nevertheless produces a sense of having stumbled across life in another dimension, one that is whimsical but serious, collegial but private, one that crackles with energy and ideas, though hushed with concentration. ![]() North by William Joyce Walking into William Joyce’s Moonbot Studios is like walking into one of his books. “To understand pretending is to conquer all barriers of time and space.” Winter 2012 William Joyce: Guardian of Childhood One of America's best illustrators delights children across the world from his studio in Shreveport
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