Hey everyone,
I have already for a few years a dream to work at Pixar, not as a animator but as character desinger or anything in that direction. Do you think it is possible for someone from the Netherlands to work there? Also I was wondering if anyone of you have this dream or know someone who works there.
greetings maxxie03 
Work at Pixar? Sure, I’d love to! But I just dont have the money for the schooling and I probably dont have the skills they would require. But it sure is fun to think about.
Nothing is impossible! But I’d imagine that Pixar would need you to have some extra requirements, like work visas and that sort of thing. So definitely start looking into that.
To hire a non-US resident, a US company has to show that this applicant posses some skill that they can’t find in any of the U.S. applicants. That’s a tough standard to aspire to, especially given the number of would-be character designers out there, but it’s not impossible.
Or you could find an American to marry. 
I’m young i have to study so i hope my dream will come true once, and i emailed with a Dutch guy that works at Pixar he really gave me good advice 
I know people that work at Pixar in San Francisco and Vancouver 
2 of them come from different countries and they are both very talented.
If you come from a different country, Pixar Canada is easier to get in if we’re talking about getting working visas (because of course you still need a strong portfolio to get there as well). Getting a working visa in US is a little bit trickier, but not impossible.US only issues 65,000 H1-B visas every year, and they go really fast, but this is the most common working visa here I believe. But I’ve heard that the L-1 visa allows you to to move from Pixar Canada to Pixar in SF if you have been working at Pixar Canada for a while, and the same happens with every other companies that have branches in US and abroad.
But yeah hehe there is nothing wrong with dreaming to work at Pixar, it is actually less impossible than most people think it is in my opinion. It all comes down to who you are and how much do you actually put your own effort into it. You will be competing with people that do art everyday, at least once a day, and many of them doing this since they were kids. Every time you do something new you get a little bit better than you were before, so of course, being dedicated just like they are is a must. At least I don’t believe in talent, but in dedication. Good luck ! <3
Thank you for all that fantastic information!
Oh, I’m from the Netherlands as well and I do dream to work at a big animation studio some day as an animator or character designer too - after I feel that I have perfected my art style enough. Good to know all these things mentioned in this topic, it helps me out as well!
The only thing I’m a bit hesitant about is moving out of the Netherlands eventually… but then, I don’t even know if we have animation studios over here!
(That reminds me, there was a Dutch lady who worked at Pixar at the Dutch program De Wereld Draait Door a while ago and she mentioned a lot of cool things. You can probably find that segment by doing a bit of Google search work! …Not sure if there’s any captioning for non-Dutch people though, sorry. D: )
Thanks for the information. There are a few animation studio’s in The Netherlands but those studio’s focus more on commercials etc. There are more animation studio’s in Belgium who focus on Shorts. It’s always good to get some experience starting there and never stop dreaming
Do any of you know what Belgium’s role in the Secret of Kells was? I know it was a joint venture between France/Belgium/Ireland. Was any animation done in Belgium?