Commercials and Movies!
The previous story has been updated It shows nine paintings.
The very last painting that’s called “A Union Break” had not been completed.
Richard started to paint some of his co-workers. It was an unusual subject: his friends/co-workers at Colossal Pictures [AKA: (Colossal) Pictures or ©P] which had four locations in the “Dogpatch” area of San Francisco (from 3 – 6‑1976 — to — 8 – 31-1999, 23 years!). When these artists wanted to take a break from their work stations, they’d say: “Hey, John, we’re taking a “Union Break”, and they’d walk to a bench one-half block away to “take a few tokes on creative smokes”.
John Benson was the manager there at Colossal Pictures (which was non-union). John was not a part of the group.
This is that unfinished painting. Richard’s reference was from a photo from 1995.
The Colossal promo, way back in 1996 : https://vimeo.com/29749380
Note: Colossal Pictures was a San Francisco-based production company known for animation, visual effects, and commercials. It was a major force in the late 20th century, winning Clio, Emmy, and Grammy awards, and was known for producing Liquid Television for MTV.
Colossal Pictures worked on various high-profile projects, and their [BIG Pictures] division was involved in projects alongside companies like Amblin in the early ‘90s.
Universal Cartoon Studios ran (two seasons, 25 episodes on CBS) the Emmy-Award-winning animated series Back to the Future.
The Credits:
There is a lot of the animated series to see and read on-line — -
Wikipedia describes all 26 chapters: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future_(TV_series)
Richard took these shots of the “Back to the Future” crew.
(Richard’s business card, was illustrated by John Stevenson.)
Richard would describe his work at Colossal: “From 1990 to 1996, great fun! Awesome parties!
Later, I was at their 3rd Street location.” There was a trip to Universal Studios for the BTTF crew (I show six) to celebrate the completed series of 26 episodes that played on Saturday morning television.
Later, July 18, 2015, there was a video made, telling of the series and the crew. it was a “tribute to Phil Robinson and his role in bringing one of the best crews together which was pivotal to the careers of many.”
When Colossal Pictures closed, (1999) many of the crew found their next employment at ILM, Industrial Light and Magic, the “commercial wing” of George Lucas’s film empire located in San Rafael.
(Especially convenient for Richard, as it was just minutes from our home.)
From Richard’s interview:
“After CP closed, Dani Dubay was at ILM in San Rafael with John Benson as manager of commercials at ILM. We were twenty, together.
One day, I said to John — -“I’m going to take a union break.”
(John Benson froze! )
”No really, ILM has a union! I‘m to attend. Really!”
The union is the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).
The IATSE magnet is on our refrigerator. I show Richard’s ILM card.
In the photos, you can see that the ILM group could be serious, and then not!
The crew from Colossal also worked on the George Lucas movies, enjoyed picnics at Skywalker Ranch and dressed-up for the yearly Halloween parties!
Our computer is still full of the research photos that Richard referred to, as a “View Painter”.
Besides the ILM movies (“Star Wars”. for example) ILM produced major global advertising campaigns, Super Bowl spots, and immersive promotional content. ILM regularly partnered with top ad agencies to integrate its proprietary rendering tools and virtual production techniques.
In 2005, when the largest part of ILM moved from San Rafael to the 23 acre campus of Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco’s Presidio — -Richard Moore, retired at age 73.
A Little Moore!
This year (April, 2026) NASA launched its “Mission to the Moon”.
It inspired me to find these photos from 2019, when the Marin County Fair celebrated the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with a space-age focus, featuring NASA artifacts, moon-themed art, and educational activities. Highlights included moonscape photography and a replica Mercury capsule. I thought, at the time, that this exhibit was created by ILM. But it was a partnership with Novato’s, “The Space Station Museum”. http://spacestationca.org/
In the main exhibit hall, these photos were taken of us.You can see how we were posed behind the space suits, but how did they get Richard to float in space?
A beaautifuuull afternoon at the fair! We were high — — — up on the Ferris Wheel.
How did I move to sit with Richard?
And who took the last photo?
Ann Thompson