Joe Ranft, a world-class story artist, writer and voice actor for companies such as Disney and Pixar, died Tuesday the 16th in an automobile accident.

I mention Mr. Ranft here for the simple reason that I would not be here, doing what I'm doing, if it weren't for him.

As most of you know, I have been working in different corporate jobs for the past decade (and then some). I have always loved Pixar's work and animation in general, but never gave serious thought to getting back into the industry. It just seems to unobtainable ... so far above my abilities.

But one day I went to Pixar's site for some reason (to refer to some HTML code they were using so I could do something similar for a job I was working on). While I was there I saw a section on featured artists. There was a caricature of some bearded fellow who "morphed" into Heimlich. I was an article on Joe and the work he did.

I looked at his artwork and read what his job entailed. I was absolutely enthralled! Here was my dream job. To draw everyday ... a LOT! To collaborate with creative people. To stand up in front of your peers and pitch scenes by acting them out. All this AND he got to do voice work.

I wanted to BE Joe Ranft ... envying a man's life who I never met. Plus, I could tell in his writings that he was a warm man, full of good humor. A man I would hope to someday shake hands with and ... dare I dream ... get to work with.

I threw myself into the idea of living the life I wanted to live, changing my life and sending me on the path I am now. Animating was fresh and new to me again and I set my path with nary a thought of looking back.

It saddens me greatly that I will never have the opportunity to thank the man who has meant so much to me in terms of inspiration and direction.

The article that changed my life can be found here on the Pixar site.