2016 Industry Giants Speakers
Tony Bonilla
Animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tony is an animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He’s been animating professionally for over ten years, and has been teaching animation courses for over four years. Some of his credits include: Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Rio 2, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the Jimmy Neutron television series, and multiple game titles. He is currently working on Disney’s next animated feature film, ‘Moana’.
Artist Links:
www.tonymation.net
Nate Stephens
Principal Artist “God of War” Sony Santa Monica Studio
Nate has been in the games industry for 15 years. Currently he is working at Santa Monica Studios as the Principal Artist on the new God of War. Nate has also worked for Respawn Entertainment, Blizzard Entertainment, Cryptic Studios, and Swingin Ape. Nate is an instructor at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, where he teaches the Environment for Games class. Mr. Stephens has 2 instruction DVD’s through the Gnomon Workshop that cover Zbrush and Maya workflows. Previous projects include Titanfall, God of War 3, God of War: Ascension, God of War 2, Starcraft Ghost, and City of Heroes.
Artist Links:
https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials/environment-modeling-and-sculpting-for-game-production
https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials/environment-modeling-for-games
Silvia Pompie
Animator/Character Layout Artist on The Simpsons
Pencils to Pixels: Animated Trip from Bologna to Burbank
Silvia followed her passion for animation around the world, from Italy to England, to Germany, to the USA. She became part of such great projects as Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Simpsons Movie.
She began her career in animation working with John Halas on his Masters of Animation series.
Pencil in hand, she moved up the “traditional animation ladder”; from inbetweener to assistant animator, to clean-up supervisor, to character animator, she worked on theatrical features including: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, An American Tail II – Fievel Goes West, We’re Back, Cool World, Mrs. Doubtfire, and more. She also embraced 2D digital techniques such as Flash and Toon Boom, working on CD-ROMs and web-based projects. She explored the transition from “traditional” animation to digital technologies with a couple of documentaries: Pencils to Pixels and Flash Goes to Hollywood.
She has been animating on The Simpsons TV show for the past 10 years, ever since coming on board The Simpsons Movie.
Joan Panis
Head of FX at MPC Montreal
Challenge Accepted !!!
Joan Panis has been working at MPC for over 6 years. His speciality is in creating physics simulations such as destruction effects, water and volumetric simulations.
Joan was part of the team behind some of MPC’s best FX work including the Magento Yacht destruction sequence in X-Men: First Class, the alien epic dust storms and ship crash in Prometheus, the sky battle explosions and destruction in the end sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy as well as the storm effects of The Finest Hours.
Th MPC Film Reel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq4mRPlggt0
The MPC Film FX Reel :
http://www.moving-picture.com/reels/our-reels/film-fx-reel
And
http://www.3dartistonline.com/news/2012/08/prometheus-vfx-joan-panis-interview/
https://www.fxguide.com/featured/dmm-fea-for-vfx/
http://cinefex.com/blog/art-science/
The Shiflett Brothers
Brandon and Jarrod Shiflett
The sculptural work of the Shiflett Brothers has been featured in seven separate volumes of the annual book Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. The brothers were honored beyond belief when they won the Gold Award for Dimensional Work for Spectrum 21. Their work sits in galleries, video game design firms, special effects houses, and art departments across several industries, as well as the personal collections of film directors Peter Jackson and Robert Rodriguez, and Weta Workshop founder Sir Richard Taylor. After sculpting for companies such as Bowen Designs, ToyBiz, Dynamic Forces, and Sideshow Collectibles, the brothers began creating, designing, and sculpting their own characters, which are released as statues, bronzes, and resin kits under the banner Shiflett Brothers’ Originals. Brandon and Jarrod taught a Master Class on Traditional Sculpting for the Comic Book Industry at The Gnomon Workshop in Hollywood, California and then created an Instructional Sculpting DVD, produced and released by Gnomon. They were honored to sit on the jury for Spectrum 18: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art. They live in Texas, comic book nerds with herds of pirate dogs.
http://www.tested.com/art/578031-fantasy-sculptures-shiflett-brothers/
Michael Mentler
Founder and Director of The Society of Figurative Arts
Michael studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Layton School of Art in Milwaukee and Washington University in Saint Louis, where he taught figure drawing and design.
Michael’s work is in many public and private collections including:
The Pulitzer Collection
The Pearson Foundation
The Steinberg
The Mead Library
Lionel Cornelius Jr
Robot Entertainment
Figure Drawing – Anatomy, forms & shapes
Lionel Cornelius Jr is a graduate of Florida State University where he studied Studio Art. After a year in advertising, he was eager to learn more about 3D modeling and attended Academy of Art University for Animation & Visual Fx. He has a broad background in digital art and specializes in 3D illustration and design for entertainment and interactive media. He is currently working in the videogames industry as a marketing artist at Robot Entertainment and as an adjunct instructor at Dallas Art Institute
Jose Ramirez
3D modeler/Freelance Illustration and Design
Born and raised in west Texas. A lover of graphic novels, motion pictures, and muzacks. Drawing since he could remember, Jose has always aspired to be in the creative arts field. He attended the Art Institue of Dallas.
Jose is currently creating content for military flight simulators at L-3 Communications. Modeling and texturing vehicles, buildings, and other assets. Also taking on various illustration and concepting tasks through freelance. He is also active in the local chapter of Drink and Draw DFW, a concept drawing club that meets once a week.
ARTIST ALLEY FOR INDUSTRY GIANTS 2016
Artist Alley is a collection of local concept designers, illustrators and artists. This will be a showcase of inspirational work from around Texas. Artist alley showcase is open to all attendees and included with your ticket.
Brett Briley
Brett Briley began his career in CG as an artist at Disney but has worked in the videogame industry since 1999 for studios including Red Storm Ent, Irock Interactive, Sony Online Ent, Nerve Software, Ensemble Studios, id Software, and Project TriForce. He has also spent years as a successful independent, freelance artist. Brett has worked on a long list of titles including Paragon, Total War: Warhammer, Doom, Doom 3: Ressurection of Evil, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Rage, Halo Wars, Age of Empires 3, Age of Empires 3: Warchiefs, Oblivion, D&D Online, Neverwinter Nights 2, Planetside, Planetside: Core Combat, Planetside: Aftershock, Lucky’s Tale, Savage Skies, and Freedom of those he can name. In addition to working in the gaming sector, he has taught at the Art Institute of Dallas, TAD (The Art Department), SMU, and is currently teaching with UArtsy.com.
Artist Links:
Website: www.bbriley.com
David Doub
Dusk Comics
Dusk comics is an independent publisher. The company hails from Dallas, Texas and specializes in producing sophisticated and provocative comic books from various creators. They are a collective of mad comic book geniuses both artists and writers alike; each comic book created finds it’s own niche in the ever-evolving market. The mastermind behind Dusk Comics is David Doub. Self-proclaimed Lord of the Vampires, second only to Lestat. He is the man behind the company’s flagship comic – Dusk. An unabashed story of vampires, hunters, and magick – don’t worry his vampires don’t sparkle. David is the publisher and main writer of the company. The marvelously talented Joamette Gil provides the eye pleasing graphic designs. Joamette is a true artisan and guru.
Artist Links:
Website: www.duskcomics.com
Edwardian Taylor
Edwardian Taylor is a Visual Development Artist and Children’s Illustrator living in Dallas, Texas. Currently, he’s been freelancing for several studios on some really fun and cool projects for: Reelfx, Out of Order Studios, Dreamworks TV, Nickelodeon/ Nick Jr., Spin Master Studios, Universal Studios/NBC, and Sesame Studios. He is also represented by The Bright Group International/ The Bright Group US. His first book, “RACE!” written by Sue Fliess, will premiere Spring of 2017. His second book “Its Not Jack and the Beanstalk” by Josh Funk, will premiere Fall 2017. Edwardian also has illustrated for Highlights Magazine and for the American Museum of Natural History. Edwardian is also one of the creators of the Two Guys and a Girl: Harry Potter Character Design Challenge on Facebook.
Artist Links:
Website: www.edwardiantaylor.com
Tumblr: @edwardiantaylor
Twitter: @edwardiantaylor
Instagram @edwardiantaylor
Kevin T. Chin
Kevin T. Chin is an experienced concept artist and illustrator in the entertainment industry since 2005. He’s worked at game studios like Disney Interactive and Junction Point Studios on the Disney Epic Mickey series as well as freelance clients most notably Blizzard Entertainment, Upper Deck, Games Workshop and Fantasy Flight Games and featured in publications ImagineFX and Ballistic Publishing. Kevin currently resides in Austin, TX working at KingsIsle Entertainment creating mobile and mmo games.
Artist Links:
Website: www.kevinchinart.com
Twitter: @kevinchinart
Instagram: @kevinchinart
Tumblr: @kevinchinart
Halo Sama and Terry Parr
Shonuff! Studio
Shonuff! Studio consists of Partners and “draw-matic duo” Halo Sama and Terry Parr, professional artists! With Halo’s cartoon anime style and Terry’s comic pin-up style, they can handle any art project thrown at them! They are currently working on their own comics; AEROBICIDE, The Extreme Ninja Workout, published by APE Entertainment and The Essential Zombie Kitty Pet Guide, published by Dusk Comics. They illustrated and colored art for the El Peso Hero comic series and even had an award-winning design on TeeFury! Their clients also include the 4th largest anime convention in North America, Project A-Kon and the City of Fort Worth TX Parks Dept. You can also find their recently published art in Shonuff Studio Presents, Moonlight Rrriot1 and 2 (Sailor Moon) fanzine and the Literati Presents book series. They also run the Sketch Dojo program that connects local and indie artists with each other to improve their skills and form a positive art community.
Artist Links:
Website: http://shonuffstudios.tumblr.com/