New Inside Out Concept Art and Stills (UPDATED: 1-19-15)

Every holiday season, Pixar sends out an annual holiday card with featured artwork from their upcoming features. This year, the lucky folks over at Pixar Post shared with us the gorgeous concept art for Inside Out, coming June 19th, 2015. Along with the card, Pixar unveiled a new high-resolution still from the film, which I have embedded below. Check out the new piece of concept art and high-res still for Pixar's Inside Out after the break!

Official Synopsis:

From the tepuis of South America to a monster-filled metropolis, Academy Award®-winning director Pete Docter has taken audiences to unique and imaginative places. In 2015, he will take us to the most extraordinary location of all - inside the mind of an 11-year-old named Riley. 

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

First of all, the piece of concept art above is interesting in that Joy, the main character voiced by Amy Poehler, seems to be in an unfamiliar setting from what we have previously seen. It seems to me, at least, that she may be in some type of dream phase of Riley's conscience, which would be very interesting and exciting to see Pixar tackle. Additionally, both the piece of concept art and the still focus on Joy, who is obviously the main character. However, Pixar's last (and first) female lead was Merida from Brave. I distinctly remember Merida being the first female lead for a Pixar film to be a very big deal, whereas Joy being the second is not. I take this as a positive step in the right direction, where it doesn't matter what gender the character of a film is to be the center of attention surrounding a film. It also seems that the gender ratio in Inside Out weighs heavily on the female side, which is a very nice change, however shuttle it may be. Especially since it seems that The Good Dinosaur (coming November 25th, 2015) will be more male-centric, it is refreshing to have a balance of genders coming from Pixar. The thing to keep in mind is that this is precisely what we shouldn't be focussing on because the whole idea is that gender shouldn't even be an issue, so enough with that. I hope to see you in theaters when Inside Out comes out on June 19th, 2015!

UPDATE: 12-29-14
A new still has been reveled by Empire Magazine, which seems to showcase the five emotions experiencing one of Riley's older memories of herself as a young child ice skating with her parents by her side, back when she lived in the snow-covered Midwest:

UPDATE: 1-19-15
Another new still has rolled out online, featuring Joy and Sadness gazing over a memory. Some fans, including myself, have guessed that the still features the two of them on the Train of Thought, one of the several features inside of Riley's mind. Regardless of the Train of Thought idea, the landscape that is featured in the background looks very reminiscent of The Grand Canyon, which is uniquely quirky and gorgeous at the same time. The centered illuminated string and light look like they could be some type of optic nerve, but that is just pure speculation. With all of that set aside, I have to recognize the gorgeous lighting in this shot. From the light energy illuminating off of Joy to the iridescent wood panels inside of the cabin, I'm sure Inside Out will feature the very best lighting and texture design we have ever seen in any Pixar film: