Creating today’s entertainment may seem like mystical otherworld technology, but this year we look behind the veil to talk with the shamen that create todays top games, movies, and commercials. Industry Giants 2011:Ten in Texas, Visual Effects, Animation and Game Forum features ten industry professionals.
The annual event takes place Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26, 2011 at the historic Kessler Theater. It’s open to the public, students and industry professionals.
INDUSTRY GIANTS 2011 SPEAKERS
John Carmack
Founder, Lead Programmer – i.d. Software
Trends and Prospects for Gaming Media and Presentation Technology
John Carmack is a founder of Id Software, and has been instrumental in the development of 3D and networked gaming, including the Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and Rage series. On the side, he builds rocket ships at Armadillo Aerospace.
Kevin Johnstone
Epic Software
Modular Environment Design: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Grid
Kevin Johnstone started playing games over in Scotland when he was 4. Around 20 years later he realized he wanted to make them and set himself to task with the newly released Qtest1. Through trial and error he learned how to make art for every part of Quake over the next couple of years and landed a job at Reflections Interactive working on Driver. Using each previous game after his first for leverage, he gradually worked his way into Scion games in Cary just in time for them to merge with Epic Games. Since working Unreal2 in 2003 he has worked on pretty much every title that Epic Games has shipped and continues to play a significant role in shaping the Environment process there as they continue to create great game technology and games.
Allan McKay
VFX Supervisor – Catastrophic FX
Getting Yourself Noticed – How to Make Yourself 10x More Employable
Allan McKay is a Visual FX Supervisor in Los Angeles working in the industry for over 16 years on some of the biggest Hollywood blockbuster films including The Last Airbender, Superman Returns, Blade Trinity, DayBreakers, Scooby Doo 2 and upcoming films Priest, and Transformers 3.
Allan is awarded as an Autodesk master, as well working on many projects that have either received or been nominated for either Emmy or Oscar awards amongst various other achievements. Currently he is also a Professor for FXPHD, Instructor for CG Society’s CG workshops, and also has his own training line for Realflow and Fume FX material, Allan annually speaks at SIGGRAPH and most major events around the globe. Previously Allan has worked for many of the world leading studios including Industrial Light & Magic, Blur Studio, Frantic Films, Autodesk, Ubisoft amongst many other high profile vfx companies.
Jason Manley
Founder- Massive Black inc., ConceptArt.org, The Art Department
Surviving the Industry through Community and Education
Jason, an alumni of The Illustration Academy, is the original founder and President of Massive Black Inc, the top Entertainment Art production studio group worldwide, where he led from the idea’s inception until 2010 when he took the reins at TAD full-time. During his eight year tenure as MB’s President, he created and directed all company vision, strategy, marketing, promotion, business development and oversaw all studios as the company’s top executive. Jason secured and oversaw the delivering of more than 280 entertainment industry projects and numerous blockbuster hits from clients in games, film, toys, social media, comics, television, and animation . Jason has spent the past 12 years working in the industry trenches as a Concept Artist, Illustrator, Marketing Artist, Lead Artist, Art Director, Game Developer, Consultant, Entrepreneur and field leading Executive.
Jason is a leading expert in the field of social media and online education. He is the Founding Director of ConceptArt.org which now has over 257,000 registered students and industry professionals sharing, creating and learning entertainment development, art, 3d, animation, design, and illustration. He created, designed and produced all ConceptArt.Org International Art and Design Symposiums as a way to bring professionals and students from around the world together for personal and career betterment.These important industry events have since been attended by more than 8000 students and pros alike, from more than 400 entertainment companies.
Chad Sellers
Animator – Walt Disney Animation Studios
Journey of an Animator: My Path to Disney
Chad Sellers began his animation career in Dallas at Terminal Reality games. Being a self taught animator, he worked his way towards the path of feature films. After working at Blue Sky Studios on Ice Age 2, he eventually found his way back to Dallas to work for DNA productions and then Reel FX. Through his career he has also worked for Industrial Light and Magic as well as Rhythm & Hues and Sony Pictures Animation.
Some of his feature credits include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Pirates of the Caribbean:At Worlds End, Ice Age 2, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Ant Bully, Open Season 2.
Chad Currently works for Walt Disney Animation Studios where he just finished working on the studios latest hit film “Tangled”. In 2011 he was nominated for a VES Award for his work on “Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa.”
INDUSTRY GIANTS 2011 MASTER CLASSES
Ronnie Wiliford
Lead Animator – Powerhouse Animation
Life Drawing
Ronnie Wiliford’s career started at the young age of age 2. Having a come from an artist famility, ronnie studied with brother Hollis, Ned Jacob, Len Chmiel, Jon Zahourek, Bob Kuhn, Kang Cho, Richard Schmid, and Skip Whitcomb. He first exhibited work in shows in 1982 and in galleries in 1983. And he became a member of the Society of Animal Artists in 1993.
Ronnie worked at Walt Disney Feature Animation,on such classics as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear. He also worked on CMT music video for the band “Lone Star”, “The Lost Scene” for Kevin Smith’s 10 year anniversary release of the film “Clerks”. Ronnies credits include Walt Disney Feature animation, Cecropia Video Games, Universal Studios, Project Firefly, and Junction Point, and currently works as lead animator for Powerhouse Animation in Austin Texas.
Ronnie is currently showing at The Corpus Christi Art Connection 3850 South Alameda Suite 23 Corpus Christi Texas.
Johan Klingler
Instructor- Art Institute of Dallas
CG Workbooking as Compositional Layout
Johan Klingler has degrees/certificates from CALARTs, The Joe Kubert School of Cartooning and Graphic Design, Michigan State University and The University of Southern California and has attended 7 additional schools during his career and is always building his knowledge. He is earning a masters at Florida Atlantic University. He began his career as an illustrator progressing to work at DC and Marvel comics as a ghost inker. He became an artist for feature animated films doing character clean-up, animation, layout, storyboarding, concept art and development. He then developed a career as an Art Director and Director over 21 productions. Soon after becoming a live action Film Director. He then worked on video games for Xbox, PS2 and Xbox 360 as an Art Director. Johan has worked for companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal, and Kroyer films to name a few on 54 Feature Productions, 269 Commercials and 7 Video Games. Johan has awards in sequential story and storyboarding by Comico, The Disney Higher Education Scholarship, A Creative Excellence award, an Outstanding Concept/Development award, An outstanding CG Cinematography award and the Illustrator’s award of Roxbury. Johan and his wife Norma founded and directed the School of Media Arts, a magnet program, for a decade in Burbank, California to pull gang kids off the street and train them to be artists for film. A student of such mentors as Chuck Jones, Greg Hildebrandt, Joel Zwick and others, Johan Klingler never forgets where he’s gained his experience, having taught for 14 years, he is currently passing his knowledge onto students at The Art Institute of Dallas.
Norma Klingler
Instructor, Art Institute of Dallas
CG Workbooking as Compositional Layout
Norma Klingler is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and began her career in the commercial industry of New York. She became an artist for feature animated films doing character clean-up, animation, storyboarding, concept art and Character Design. She started as a children’s book illustrator and has become a prominent Character Designer and Storyboard Artist. She is earning a masters at Florida Atlantic University. Chuck Jones stated she was his protégé in style of drawing when he gave his talk at The Art Institute of Southern California. She earned an Emmy in most outstanding Storyboarding in the Industry after studying storyboarding from Johan Klingler, her husband. She and her husband founded and Directed the School of Media Arts, a magnet program, for a decade in Burbank, California to pull gang kids off the street and train them to be artists for film. Norma has worked for companies like Disney, Warner Brothers, Universal, Nickleodeon, Omation, and Kroyer films to name a few. She is currently passing her knowledge onto students at The Art Institute of Dallas.
Paul Gaboury
3D Application Engineer – Pixologic
ZBrush across Multiple Industries
Paul Gaboury is Pixologic’s 3D Application Engineer who works with several studios such as Legacy Effects, Disney Animation, Bad Robot, etc on enhancing their digital sculpting pipeline using the leading industry application ZBrush. He is also involved with the development of ZBrush and working with artists around the world offering support. As part of the Pixologic team Paul will travel to various studios and schools giving demos on ZBrush to highlight the various new tools in ZBrush. Paul graduated with a BFA from the University of Bowling Green and was an extension student at Gnomon School of Visual Effects.
Course Description
Robby Lamb
Senior Environment Artist – Bioware
World Development and Environmental Art for Games
Robby is a Senior Environment Artist currently working on Star Wars: The Old Republic MMO at BioWare Austin. He received a Bachelors of Fine Art: Specializing in Painting and Drawing from The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas in 1999. After graduating, he worked for a locally owned frame shop in Dallas while painting and getting work into shows around the metroplex. After a few years of this Robby decided to go back to school, at CCCC, to get back into the world of computers. After a brief stint at CCCC he began working with a few freinds from A Bunch of Short Guys, at a start up called A3D Technologies as a high-poly modeler. From there he moved into gaming starting with Terminal Reality. While at Terminal, Robby worked on Demonik,( the movie from Grandma’s Boy), Jeep Mountain Madness, Spy Hunter, and the beginning stages of Ghostbusters: The Video Game. Later moving to North Carolina to work at Red Storm Entertainment, GR:AW 2 and some of its DLC. Robby currently is back in Texas working for BioWare Austin as a Sr. Env. Artist and planet lead.
Robbylamb.com
Mike Mattesi
Force: Drawing for Animation
Michael Mattesi has been contributing his skills as a professional production artist on many award-winning projects and has simultaneously been instructing FORCE drawing for the last twenty years. A brief client list includes Pixar, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Consumer Products, Marvel Comics, Hasbro Toys, ABC, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, DreamWorks/PDI, The School of Visual Arts, Peking University, Art Center, Nickelodeon and LeapFrog. Michael’s students work in all fields of the industry and have themselves gained prestige for their abilities.
Michael’s FORCE book series, now published in three languages, have sold thousands of copies and growing. In May, the third FORCE book, FORCE Animal Drawing was released.
Michael lives in northern California with his wife and two daughters. Visit him at Drawingforce.com and connect with Michael on Facebook.
Bettye Zoller
Voice Actress
Finding Your Cartoon Voice
Professional voice actor/ teacher Bettye Zoller will get you started in developing your cartoon voices. Award-winning animator/ producer J. Schuh will go over some of the fundamentals of animation and how the voice performance and character design is used in the development of an animated character.
Bettye has won CLIOS, ADDYS, GOLDEN RADIOS, AUDIES for her voice over work in national commercials, cartoons, documentaries, films. She is also a Simon and Schuster author, narrator.
J. Schuh
President – Toons N Design
A Bunch of Short Guys/Industry Giants
Finding Your Cartoon Voice
J. Schuh is an award-winning animator, cartoonist, designer, illustrator, director and producer. He is the owner of Toons-N-Design an animation, video game, and visual effects studio based in Dallas, Texas. J. serves the community as the Animation/ Gaming/ Visual FX industry rep on the board of the Texas Motion Picture Alliance (TXMPA) and as an Adobe Community Professional for After Effects.
F
rancis Vallejo
Illustrator, Studio Lead for The Art Department
Finding Your Voice: Demystifying the Journey Towards Individual Style
Francis was raised in Detroit, Michigan by his parents, comics, and hip hop. He attended Ringling College of Art + Design in Sarasota, FL and supplemented his education at the intensive Illustration Academy. He now makes his studio in Austin, Texas where he splits his time leading The Art Department’s studio, and working on personal and commercial projects for clients such as Soleil, Vibe, Push, ImagineFX and numerous galleries. He has been awarded by the Society of Illustrators, 3×3, Spectrum, and others.
Still early in his career, Francis looks forward to exploring art’s exciting role in this new world. You can find his his work at www.francisvallejo.com
Rita Street
President, Radar Cartoons
Developing Intelectual Properties
Rita Street is the president of Radar Cartoons, a producer’s representation firm specializing in the development and sales of original animation content. Radar has placed numerous shows into development including Ruby Gloom for YTV and Nelvana, Frankenstein’s Cat for the BBC, France 3 and McKinnon & Saunders, and Hero: 108 for Gamania Digital Entertainment, Mike Young Productions and Cartoon Network Europe. Rita is working on her first animated short, Mock ‘n Boyd with Dainty Productions. Additional credits include work as publisher of Animation Magazine, editor of Film & Video Magazine and author of the Rockport Publisher hardback, Computer Animation: A Whole New World. Rita is the founder of the international non-profit organization, Women in Animation.
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