Production Experience

How To Train Your Dragon 2

PDI/Dreamworks, Nov.2011 - Feb.2014
As the Toothless Character Lead, I animated many of his key moments, built his pose libraries, and worked with the rigging department to develop his new rig. Dragon 2 was the first production developed in DW's new proprietary animation software Premo. As the first animator on the show, I enjoyed helping to conceptualize, design and test the new software from a pre-Alpha state to the final product. My shots of Toothless in the clouds were the first ever production shots to be completed using Premo.

Madagascar 3

PDI/Dreamworks, July.2011 - Oct.2011
Briefly worked as a character animator on Mad 3 between Dragon productions. In this short time I had the pleasure of choreographing and animating the iconic Afro-Circus dance. Additionally, I enjoyed animating King Julien (one of my all-time favorites) breaking up with his bear girlfriend and an animal control officer behaving like a bloodhound.

Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury

PDI/Dreamworks, Aug.2010 - June.2011
Worked as a character animator, developed the new baby dragon characters, and acted as the point-person for dragons on this Dragons holiday special. I was responsible for many key Toothless and Baby Gronckle moments. I also had the honor of appearing in an interview on the blu-ray.

Megamind

PDI/Dreamworks, Feb.2010 - Aug.2010
Worked as a character animator. Primarily, I animated Megamind being quite dramatic. Additionally, I helped to develop the brain bot characters in an earlier version of the film (Nov.08 - Jan.09). This task involved rigging the character in Maya and creating character test animations for them. Ultimately, a new director took the helm and revamped the desings for the whole film, leaving those tests archived at DW for eternity.

How To Train Your Dragon

PDI/Dreamworks, Feb.2009 - Jan.2010
Worked as a character animator on the critically acclaimed instant classic. I touched a bit of everything, but specialized in Toothless flight and the Gronckle. Being my first full production at Dreamworks, I was able to build a relationship of trust with the directors and the head of animation. This would lead to my growing responsibilities in the future Dragons productions.

Madagascar 2

PDI/Dreamworks, Apr.2008 - Sept.2008
Began working at Dreamworks by training in their proprietary animation software “Emo”. I then helped finish up the sequel to one of my favorite animated movies of all time.

Battle For Terra

Snoot Entertainment, Mar.2006 - Apr.2008
Worked as a Maya Character Animator on this independent feature film based on the award winning short film “Terra”. There I was challenged to create high quality, realistically styled animation at an unusually fast pace. The extremely small size of the crew allowed for ownership over large portions of the film.

Barnyard

Omation / Paramount, Sept.2005 - Feb.2006
Worked as an XSI character animator on this August 2006 theatrical release. I enjoyed the opportunity to complete a variety of challenging shots in an unfamiliar software. This was an especially exciting opportunity for me, as my first feature film.

Furby Island

Hasbro / Buzzie Productions, Mar.2005 - Aug.2005
Worked as a Maya character animator and Shake compositor on this Hasbro production. The 45 minute film featuring the enormously popular line of toys aired on Nickelodeon, and was sold on DVD in Germany.

Storyteller Cafe

Tri-Dimensional Studios, Jan.2005 - Mar.2005
Worked as a Maya character animator, modeller, and lighter on this obscure television production. I think it only aired in Singapore. I worked the night shift, and escaped as soon as possible.

Roach Approach: Don't Miss the Boat

Wacky World Studios, Jan.2004 - Dec.2004
Worked on this 20th Century Fox Home Video and two commercials. Primarily a Maya Character Animator, I also modeled dozens of characters, environments, and props. I completed twenty facial rigs, created the flocking bird/bat effects, and lit three sequences.

Educator Experience

Mentor of Animation

Dreamworks/Ringling mentorship collaboration, 2012
Ringling College of Art and Design and Dreamworks Animation worked together to pair Seniors with Alumni for mentoring on their thesis projects. I had the honor of mentoring 4 films for about 8 weeks during the animation process.

Campus Mentor, Animals & Creatures Master Class

Animation Mentor, 2011
For two semesters, I worked as a Campus Mentor for the Animals & Creatures Master Class. I would give weekly feedback to the students on their animations of Bobcats, Ogres, and Dragons. It was a joy watching the students address the notes and really improve their work.

Education

Animation Mentor

Certificate of Advanced Character Animation (incomplete), Jan.2007 - Mar.2008
I completed 15 out of 18 months of the program, but discontinued to focus on my new job at Dreamworks Animation.

Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL

Bachelor of Fine Arts: Computer Animation, Aug.1999 - May.2003
Ringling provided a high quality, well-rounded art education. The computer animation program trains students in all aspects of the animation production, from storyboarding, through the whole pipeline, to festival submission. Elective emphasis on film and theater.

Software Proficiency

Proficient in Premo, Emo, Maya, Softimage XSI, Apple's Shake, Photoshop, Gimp, Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro, Microscribe 3d scanning tool. As a competent, fast learner I should be able to pick up anything else thrown at me.

Acting Experience

Voice Acting for tertiary characters in the feature film "Battle for Terra" 2007
Voice Acting for tertiary characters in "Roach Approach: Don't Miss the Boat" 2004
Acting for Animators Improv Classes at the Florida Studio Theater 2001 & 2002
Improvisational Theater Group with emphasis on Character, 1999-2003
Acting Troupe, student run theater organization, 1997-1999

Honors and Awards

Presented an award and gave a speech at the 2012 Animation Mentor Graduation
Interviewed for a behind-the-scenes blu-ray feature for "Dragons: Gift of the Night Fury" 2011
Interviewed for an Animation Mentor video about the production of "How to Train Your Dragon" 2010
Political Video featured at Burns Court Cinema, Sarasota, FL. and albinoblacksheep.com, 2003
Best of Ringling Foundation Award, juried student show, 2000
Placement in numerous competitions in Art, Science, Invention, Story and Poetry 1986-1999
Black Belt in Karate