All you have to do to succeed is give yourself permission.
TyRuben Ellingson, a 1977 Tech High School graduate, has always had an interest in movies. He had a strong passion for visual mediums of art, so he picked up a camera as a teen to create short videos. While in high school, Ellingson also had the opportunity to attend classes at St. Cloud State University (SCSU), so it felt natural for him to attend college there after high school.
[Attending college and high school at the same time] “was one big learning experience,” says Ellingson. “To my surprise, it really did give me the confidence to move away from Minnesota which I never thought I would do.”
Ellingson attributes many of his skills and ideologies from his high school years at Tech. His choir and band directors taught him that each person belongs to a collective, and together, a group is stronger than an individual. Despite Ellingson’s struggles with dyslexia, his creative writing teacher encouraged him to write down his big ideas and stories which brought out his creativity. His time at Tech also taught him to set his goals high and to reach for them.
After graduating from St. Cloud State University, Ellingson moved to Dallas, Texas. The 1980s was a boom era for the city, including music and clubs, which Ellingson felt was a great introduction to big city living and a way to bring out his creativity. It’s where he went on to obtain his master’s in fine arts at Southern Methodist University.
“It occurred to me that the way my father (a professor at SCSU) practiced art … proved to be true,” shares Ellingson. “He always told me that if you got a degree in art, learn to draw from observation and understand the principles of art design and study its history. That will get you to wherever you need to go.”
Ellingson decided to follow a career that he was passionate about — the movies.
“If St. Cloud State had had a movie program, I would have been a filmmaking major,” reflects Ellingson.
By his mid-twenties, he still hadn’t studied film. So, he took all of his art experience and found a “doorway” into the movies through visual effects at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), George Lucas’ company. As an art director, Ellingson worked on special effects for blockbusters such as “Star Wars” and “Jurassic Park” as well as “The Flintstones,” “Casper” and “Disclosure.”
Ellingson learned as many aspects as possible of the artistic side of moviemaking while at ILM.
“When you have a positive educational experience like I did at Tech and State [SCSU], and when it feels relative,” explains Ellingson, “it creates a positive relationship with learning. And that positive relationship creates so much possibility and potential.”
After learning so much at ILM, he left in 1995 to become a freelance concept designer. He’d developed several relationships with big names in Hollywood, and one of those was Guillermo del Toro.
“He [del Toro] brought a whole new level of professionalism,” says Ellingson. “I was able to carve out my career as an independent designer. I had ambition … passion and intentionality.”
While working with del Toro, Ellingson worked on big name films such as “Blade 2,” “Hellboy” and “Pacific Rim.” He also worked with James Cameron on “Avatar” as the lead vehicle designer. In 2009, Ellingson received the Art Director’s Guild Certificate of Appreciation for “Avatar.” He was recognized for contributing to excellence in production design for a fantasy film. “Avatar” won the Oscar for Best Art Direction the following year.
Ellingson is still a freelance concept designer but also an educator. He is the senior director of narrative media group and director of cinema in the School of Arts, an associate professor in the department of communication arts and program director of the Cinema at Virginia Commonwealth University. Ellingson wants to help students develop the skills he learned at Tech. He knows there are so many doorways and opportunities for today’s students in the art field as well as in cinema. He says, “All you have to do to succeed is to give yourself permission.”
Fun Facts:
- Ellingson lives in Virginia with his wife.
- In his spare time, he is an avid video gamer. He loves to observe and immerse himself in creativity.
- Ellingson enjoys writing movie scripts himself and would love to do an Indie film.
- He loves to draw and paint as much as he can. He feels his work is just an extension of his own passion.
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