Art Director . Layout/BG Artist . Supervisor
At a glance,
Over thirty years experience in Feature & Television Animation
Creative / Art Director
Vis Dev/Layout/BG
Supervisor - Character Animation Cleanup
Instructor - Figure Drawing & Anatomy
Feature Assistant Animator
Studios of note: Dreamworks, Disney, Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures
Software: Photoshop, Toonboom, TV Paint, Painter, Maya (Basic)
Tonic DNA, Sept 2020 - Aug 2022
Character Cleanup Supervisor on ‘Space Jam 2 & Disenchanted’ for Warner Bros and Disney respectively. Responsible for the overall quality and day to day challenges of overseeing a large department of artists. This included training artists in the style of the productions and then giving notes and draw overs where needed on a shot by shot basis to ensure the required quality and needs of the films, including delivery to very tight schedules.
Character Designer on ‘Disenchanted’. Part of the design and development team responsible for the design and refinement of the main characters of the film.
Juggernaut Animation Studios, Oct - Dec 2019
Visual Development & Layout for upcoming feature project. Helping to refine the overall style and design language for the film. Creating environment paintings from script for specific main locations.
The SPA Studios (Sergio Pablos Animation) Jan - Sept 2019
Character Cleanup Supervisor on ‘KLAUS’ - Responsible for the artistic vision of both the internal and outsource studios. Created the structure of the department to maintain the highest artistic standard and process throughout the film while meeting the high footage requirements. This included giving creative notes, assigning retakes and helping problem solve as creative and technical issues arose.
Blue Zoo Animation Studios 2018 - Visual Development Artist on ‘Paddington’. Designed several key locations.
Norlum Animation 2018 - Art Direction & Visual Development for pre-production on Feature project.
Koltai & Co / IDB 2016-’17
Art Director / Animation Consultant - Worked with three startup Animation Studios in the Caribbean to help develop world class creative practices and processes to bring them to the global market. This included training artists and helping to create creative and technical pipelines to deliver to a global market.
RGH Entertainment 2011 - ’15
Art Director – Art Directed the studio’s first theatrical feature ‘Postman Pat, The Movie.’ Managed the entire production pipeline working with a team of artists both in Los Angeles and Amman, from visual development thru modelling, texturing and final lighting. Worked alongside the Visual Development team to help create the initial look for “High in the Clouds” and was responsible for pitching the vision of the film to Sir Paul McCartney, the writer of the original story. Directed several short teasers for an IP in development.
Layout / Background Painter – Layout / Background Painter on the studio’s other feature productions.
The Jim Henson Company 2011
Visual Development - Artist in feature production. Created environments, colour scripts, character and prop designs for ‘Rock Dog’.
Mila ‘short’ 2011
Art Director Responsible for the overall design and palette of the short. Duties include guiding the modellers with regards to design of the environments and assets required. Providing visual development paintings (primarily environments) for use through the production, and helping the other artists refine their ideas.
Foundation 9 Entertainment 2010 - Visual Development Artist of Environments and Characters for IP’s in development.
Duncan Studio 2010-’12 Assistant Animator to Ken Duncan on Dreamworks “Secrets of the Furious Five” as well as other projects for clients including Disney and Dreamworks.
Mike Young Productions 2009 - Visual Development Artist for feature animation projects.
Warner Bros On-line 2007 to May 2008 - Character animation, Character layout, and Visual Development for Warner Bros On-line projects.
Film Roman 2007 - Character Cleanup Lead on ‘The Simpsons Movie’
James Baxter Animation 2006 - Character Cleanup Lead on Disney’s ‘Enchanted’
Mike Young Productions 2004 - Character designer on ‘Choose your own adventure’, ‘Bratz’ and ‘Max and the Mechanicals’
Dreamworks Feature Animation 1997-2002 - Character key-cleanup on all of the studio’s 2d features, The Prince of Egypt, El Dorado, Spirit and Sinbad.
Lightspan Entertainment 1994 - Head of the Animation Clean-up department. Duties included going to China to supervise and teach at the outsource studio.
Palomar Pictures 1992-93 - Head of the Animation Clean-up department on “Virtual Guitar”, a 2D virtual reality game.
Sullivan Bluth Animation 1991- 92 - Character Cleanup on ‘A Troll in Central Park’ & ‘Thumbelina’
Universal Pictures 1990 - Assistant Animator and cleanup, ’An American Tail 2: Fivel goes West’
Additional Contributions as a character clean-up key on the following projects,
Rich Animation ‘Swan Princess’ Dagda Animation ‘Felidae’ Coolworld ‘Coolworld’ Hyperion ‘Rover Dangerfield’ Universal Pictures ‘An American Tail 2: Fivel goes West’ Cartoons in the basement 'A Monkeys Tale’ Murikami Wolf ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Acme Filmworks Inc. ‘Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show’ Creative Capers Ent Multiple titles for Disney Interactive Warner Bros. Various projects.
Art Education
Concept Design Academy - Environment Design - James Paick, Entertainment Design - Carlo Arelano/James Paick
LAAFA (Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art) - Sketching from Life - Nathan Fowkes, Animal Drawing - Joe Weatherly
American Animation Institute - Figure Drawing - Advanced Figure Drawing - Head Hands and Feet - Costume and Drapery - Storyboarding - Karl Gnass - Composition for Film - Perspective for Film - Will Weston
Schoolism - Color and Light for Feature Animation - Nathan Fowkes
In 2007 Richard studied Animation with Disney’s Eric Goldberg.