Between ALVIN and ALVIN 2, Chris directed the PEPFAR shorts for Warner Bros. and the Kenyan government. Chris made his directing debut with Disney’s RUNAWAY BRAIN, a short film featuring Mickey Mouse. Prior to that, Chris animated on several Disney classics such as THE LITTLE MERMAID and THE LION KING. Chris then directed IT’S TOUGH TO BE A BUG, a 3D film for Walt Disney Attractions. From there, Hollywood Pictures hired him to be the Creature Animation Consultant on their thriller DEEP RISING, and then the animation director for MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. His dedication to innovative, cutting edge animation shines in many other films including Disney’s INSPECTOR GADGET.

Chris broke as a director on the first season of Disney’s highly successful series, KIM POSSIBLE, which he also executive produced. Previously, Miramax Television and Walt Disney Television Animation brought Chris in to be the Supervising Director of Kevin Smith’s animated series, CLERKS. Years later, The Weinsteins brought Chris onto the feature OPUS.

Following OPUS, Disney hired Chris to travel to China to interface with the executives and artists in the Chinese animation studio Disney was partnered with. This wasn’t the only time Disney asked Chris to bridge the gap between animation studios of different nations. While working as the director on KIM POSSIBLE, Chris traveled to Korea to teach the artistic style to the artists and directors working at the studio producing the show.

Chris was one of the first 2D character animators to embrace computer animation. The CG work on his personal projects, commercials and rock videos has led to speaking engagements at Imagina in Monte Carlo and Siggraph.

With his love of teaching, Chris shares his knowledge to numerous colleges and high schools in Southern California. He regularly appears as a guest lecturer at California Lutheran University. As a frequent guest to his alma mater Cal Arts, Chris lends his knowledge and experience to their Character Animation Program.

Chris continues to develop his own projects. He is the creator of MAJOR DAMAGE, a comic book and short film about a little boy who is transformed into MAJOR DAMAGE, a superhero with extraordinary power who battles “mutants, monsters and alien scum.” Since its creation, the property has spawned a 3D short written & directed by Chris, merchandise and has been published by Image and Sky Dog comics.

Here are just two of the many books he has illustrated.

“Zorro and Mister Bud in, Say Hello to Zorro” published by Simon and Schuster is the first in a coming series due out next summer.

Mister Bud is a dog of routine. He has wake up time, nap time, rest time, dinner time, etc. And everyone knows to follow his schedule.

Then disaster strikes. A stranger comes home at “make a fuss time” and throws everything off! Zorro is little bit bossy and Mister Bud wants nothing to do with him. But when the dogs discover they like the same things (like chasing the cat and napping), everything becomes more fun. As long as everyone follows the schedule.

The Hermit Crab
Hermit Crab is no hero. He would rather just keep to himself. He’s content to spend the day looking for food and staying comfy in his shell. And when he finds a new shell, he is excited to have something so beautiful for himself. But when a mysterious contraption lands in the center of town, no one knows what to make of it. The lobster thinks it’s a restaurant. The bluefish thinks it’s a trap. No one is brave enough to go near it until they realize that flounder is trapped underneath! When Hermit Crab comes upon the contraption looking for the source of the delicious smell, he inadvertantly rescues the flounder and everyone in town cheers his triumph, but is he the hero or is his shell?

A Creature Was Stirring
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and in this great house the creature who stirred was a boy, not a mouse. And while upstairs his parents were dreaming and snoring, with Santa so close, sleep seemed pretty boring.

Esteemed New Yorker cover artist Carter Goodrich retells the story of ‘Twas the night before Christmas from the child’s point of view. With Clement Clarke Moore’s classic poem one one side of every page, and a child’s comedic rhyming on the other,  this magical book about seeing and dreaming of Santa Claus will inspire readers of all ages to believe. Against a luminous backdrop of midnight and silver, memories of Christmases past and present converge in a modern classic born in the tradition of The Polar Express.

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (born May 8, 1938) (alias Moebius or Gir) is a legendary author and comic strip artist. In 1963, under the name Gir he and Jean-Michel Charlier, then director of Pilote, created the series Blueberry. Following the death of Charlier, Jean Giraud continued this series, which currently counts about thirty albums. As co-creator in 1975 of the magazine MŽtal Hurlant and the publishing house Les Humano•des AssociŽs, Jean Giraud developed the unique style which he signed Moebius, publishing such groundbreaking works as Arzach (1976) and Le Garage hermŽtique (1979) that revolutionized the art of comics. In 1980, he collaborated with Alexandro Jodorowsky on a new series L’Incal and later worked on numerous films.

Since the middle of the 1950s, Jean Giraud has developed a variety of styles, from the detailed realism of Blueberry, to the dreamlike drawings of Arzach or 40 days dans le DŽsert B. He is particularly well-known for his extraordinarily refined and strangely metaphysical visions of the future with intricately designed spacecraft, crystalline landscapes, and hybrid creatures.

Internationally recognized, his work has profoundly influenced the worlds of science fiction, animation, publicity, 3D imagery and video games for over thirty years. His drawings have also attracted the attention of great filmmakers who have asked him to collaborate on a number of films including Luc Besson’s 5th Element, James Cameron’s Abyss, Steven Lisberger’s Tron, Ridley Scott’s Alien, and RenŽ Laloux’s Les Ma”tres du temps (storyboard) among many others. In 1997, he and his wife Isabelle founded the publishing house Moebius Production / Stardom where together they publish books including, most recently, volume six of the Inside Moebius series, which was released in January 2010. They also make prints and organize exhibitions of his work throughout the world.

Held at the CTN-X Academy Theater space The Creative Talent Network® is proud to present the exclusive US appearance of legendary comic artist and designer Jean Giraud “Moebius” in an “An Evening with Moebius”.

Show guests enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet and see Jean Giraud in this exclusive rare appearance . The evening will be moderated by (TBA) for a 75 min presentation complete with artwork examples, discussion and Q+A. Special event memorabilia brochure included.

Having not been in the United States for over 15 years “An Evening with Moebius” is specifically designed to promote a “special event” atmosphere in an intimate environment for both the artist and the guests. The intention is to focus of the celebration of the genius and talent behind this National Treasure of France, Jean Giraud “Moebius” through a moderated interview / discussion format. After the presentation guests are invited to stay for the after hours networking party.

Saturday Nov 20th 8pm

Reservations available at: http://www.regonline.com/ctnx2010

(All scheduled appearances are subject to the health conditions and production schedules of the talent.)Note: “An Evening with Moebius” is a separate special event and is not included in a 1-day or 3-day pass.

Sale had two years of college at the University of Washington and attended the comics workshop run by John Buscema in NYC in 1976, but is largely self-taught. As his experience with talented writers such as Jeph Loeb and Matt Wagner progressed, his interest in commercial art outside of comics did as well, and Sale believes that it is this exposure and inspiration that is largely responsible for his continued employability and career longevity.

With writer Jeph Loeb, Tim has produced such comics as Batman: The Long Halloween, Spider-Man Blue, and Catwoman: When in Rome. He also created the art on the first two seans of the NBC tav show, HEROES.

He lives in southern California with his two dogs, the mighty and lovable, Jackie and Sammy.

As an independent filmmaker, Sergio has shown his work at the Los Angeles International Film Festival, at the North Hampton Film Festival, and at the Microcinefest in Baltimore.

Sergio’s work was featured in “The Art of Clone Wars” published by Chronicle Books, “The Art of Darkwatch” published by Design Studio Press, and the Totoro Forest Project Art Exhibition. Sergio worked for Lucas Animation on the Clone Wars Animated Series. You can see more of Sergio’s work at www.SergioPaez.com

He has been in the animation industry since the age of 15 when he began working in his native country Taiwan for various productions for US companies. After graduation from CalArts, he joined Warner Brothers Animation, doing Character Design on “Batman, the Animated Series”. Later he joined Disney Feature Animation, working on animated features like The Legend of Mulan, Tarzan, Atlantis, Home on the Range, Bolt and many others as a character designer and story artist. He has been honored with many awards most notably the prestigious Reuben Award presented by The National Cartoonist Society for his design achievements, and an Annie Award nomination for his story work. He is currently working at DreamWorks as a story artist.

His film credits include:
How to Train Your Dragon
Kung Fu Panda II
The Croods
Monster Coin
Bolt
Joe Jump
Fraidy Cat
Atlantis
The Legend of Mulan
Tarzan

His many distinctions include the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators, a Clio Award for a Nike television commercial, a Spectrum Annual of Fantastic Art gold medal and a Soleil d’Or award from the Festival BD Sollies Ville in France.

He lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, Randall (with whom he recently collaborated on his first children’s book, The Duchess of Whimsy) and their two daughters, Paulina and Fia.

Join Peter de Sève at CTN-X where he will premiere his new book “A Sketchy Past, The Art of Peter de Sève“, a hardcover collection of Peter’s work along with Randall and Peter de Sève’s children’s book “The Duchess of Whimsy” and for a rare one on one interview about his career.

A Spotlight Career Interview with Peter de Sève
Length 20 min
Join CTN-X in welcoming Peter de Sève to the round table for a one on one interview about his remarkable career.  After the interview Peter and his audience will retreat to the “Shop Talk” lounge to carry on the conversation and Q+A.

Live Demonstration
Peter de Sève will be demonstrating live at CTN-X. Watch how he works and see the decisions he makes while creating his characters and art.

http://peterdeseve.blogspot.com/

www.peterdeseve.com

For time and date please refer to CTN-X Schedule Overview….click here. (Schedule subject to change.)

Carol began work on the Ralph Bakshi Animated Feature Lord of the Rings. She was solely responsible for the styling, layout, and background painting of five specialty sequences of the movie. She was also invited to be on the faculty of Art Center, where she taught Figure Drawing and Fashion Illustration for the next four years. After the completion of Lord of the Rings, she began work with Richard Williams helping build his then, new Hollywood studio. For the next three years she worked between Art Babbit and Richard on many animated television commercials as Designer, Stylist, Animator, Effects Artist, Director, Art Director, and Background Painter: receiving an American Broadcasters Assn. Award and inclusion in FILMEX. She also worked with Glen Fleck, Inc. as a color consultant on projects for IBM, and continued actively in her freelance advertising and fashion illustration business.

Carol supervised the background department for the 3-D animated feature Starchaser. She trained artists for production, in addition to keying sequences and spending time in Korea training a large crew to paint. She then joined Marvel productions after the birth of her second daughter as a Key Layout and Development artist for a variety of TV and feature projects. She left Marvel to work with TMS productions as a Development Artist on the feature Little Nemo with Brian Froud and Corney Cole. Shortly after Nemo, Carol began work with Disney Television Animation. She used her skills as a Stylist, Painter and Color Key, Art Director, Development and Photoshop Artist on Television, Direct to Video, and Theatrical Releases. Carol also freelanced on theme park designs for Universal and Landmark Productions.

Warner Bros. then recruited Carol to help them start their new feature animation division, where she recruited artists stateside and in England and she helped develop training programs for incoming artists. She acted as Key Art Director for Development and Presentation and Art Director for their first feature Quest for Camelot (overseeing all production and character design, merchandising, maquette building,). Carol was a Location Development artist on the Dreamworks CGI feature, Shrek. , and taught at California Institute of the Arts. She joined Disney Feature Animation where she developed the movie Sweating Bullets with directors Mike Gabriel and Michael Giamo, and finished the production design and layout styling for Home on the Range. She developed character and costume design, as well as location and color styling on The Snow Queen for Disney Feature Animation. Recently she finished Art Directing Disney’s Bambi II, which greatly exceeded studio expectations on every level.

Currently Carol is consulting and overseeing art direction on the new Disney franchise DVD Tinkerbell and the upcoming Fairies Trilogy through Made in Paradise Productions as well as a sequel of Babe for Universal Studios.

Website: http://www.madeinparadiseprod.com

Besides the development of personal projects they regularly collaborate on the advertising area or creating title credits for feature film (as the French blockbuster “Gainsbourg: une vie heroique”) and develop scripts for other companies such as “Feathers united” for the Spanish company Sixbirds.

Headless Productions is three characters, a single mind… no head at all. They have been working together on animated features for quite a while; they even convinced someone to let them spend a few years directing their own feature film. But even after that, they are still itching to make new stuff. Quality animation, fresh design, no holds barred creativity. The Headless team is just looking forward to blowing some minds…and heads! CTN is proud to present the team from Headless Productions at CTNX 2010.

ADRIAN GARCIA & VICTOR MALDONADO
Started their carrier in Barcelona in 1998 as character designers for at D´Ocon Films productions where for a couple of years they developed different TV shows. Right after opened their own services studio “Mad Hatter Studios” where they worked for companies as B.R.B or Cromosoma doing storyboards and design. After that moved to Filmax Productions where they stayed for a long period moving into the art direction for several feature film projects such as “EL CID: the legend” (winner of several prizes in 2004 and, at the moment, the highest animation box office for an Spanish production). After that they made their directorial debut with the feature film “Nocturna” that they also wrote and design. The movie won the Goya to best animation movie in 2007 and was selected at festivals such as Venice and Toronto. In 2008 along with Alfredo Torres they created Headless Studio.

ALFREDO TORRES
In 2000 started his professional trajectory specialized on the Layout and Background field. Work in several productions for Toon Factory till he became in 2001 one of the lead background artists for the feature film “EL CID: the legend”, alternating that with some work as an animator. In 2005 he moved to Barcelona and started working for Filmax Animation for the production “Nocturna” first as a creative background designer to move into storyboard and finally becoming one of the art designers and first assistant director. In 2008 became main partner on Headless Production.

Headless Studio Reel

Headless studio reel 2010 from Headless Productions on Vimeo.

This gave Pablo a complete understanding of the whole animation process, a powerful tool that you can see in his work.

Pablo’s approaches animation from two different sides, one very technical, where all the principles come together to help in the creation of movement, and another that involves acting and psychology. Like Pablo says “we have to manipulate the minds of the viewer to make them feel what we want them to feel”.

He has worked in a great number of feature films, mostly within Europe, as a Senior character Animator, and Animation Director. The most relevant are El Cid the Legend, Nocturna, Asterix and the Vikings, Planet 51, Donkey-xote between many others.

He has worked also in countless commercials and short films. Lately he had the pleasure in participate in an Animation book, titled Animation Insiders, he was invited to share his knowledge about animation processes and workflow, along with 12 of the most talented animators in nowadays.

Besides all this, Pablo is developing an animation feature film project of his own, from an original idea created by him. His current position is Animation Director for Filmax Animation upcoming project “Copito de Nieve” Snowflake the white gorilla.

http://pablonavarro.wordpress.com/

Soon after, Mark started his career in earnest at the Wyatt Cattaneo Animation Studio in London overseeing the commercial campaigns of the company’s largest European brand names, including Tetley Tea Bags, Ribena and the Swiss Bank Corporation.

In 1993 Mark moved to LucasFilm’s Industrial Light and Magic to work on Steven
Spielberg’s “Casper” and then given charge of the creature animation for the first “Star Wars” Special Edition. Mark soon moved on to Walt Disney Feature Animation as a supervising animator on such projects as “Dinosaur,” “Treasure Planet,” Disney World’s 3D attraction: “Mickey’s Philharmagic,” followed by “Chicken Little” and then “Bolt.”

Mark is currently working at The 3rd Floor Studios as a pre-visualization artist working closely with such directors as Peter Berg (“Battleship”), Rob Cohen (“Medieval”), Guy Ritchie (“Lobo”) and Marcus Nispel (“Conan”). He is also currently in development at Renaissance Millennium Pictures on the upcoming animated television series “Polar Paradise” which he is directing and co-producing.

Armand graduated with a Civil Engineering degree at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. Upon learning that Hanna-Barbera started a studio in town, he left his barely started practice and joined the studio to begin a new career in animation. He got involved in the production of such TV shows like The Addams Family, Fender Benders, Yogi Bear, Pirates of Dark Water, The New Adventures of Johnny Quest and Captain Planet and the Planeteers to name a few. He then moved to Philippine Animation Studio to supervise layout on Marvel TV shows X-Men, Fantastic Four and Biker Mice From Mars.

In 1996, Armand relocated to Burbank, California but soon got hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios to work on Mulan and join their Orlando, Florida studio. His film credits for Disney include Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear. Then in 2004, Armand moved back to Los Angeles to do visual development and principal locations design for the newly formed Sony Pictures Animation. His film credits for Sony include Surf’s Up, Open Season 2, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Arthur Christmas and Hotel T.
Website: www.armandserrano.com

Soon after, he began collaborating with Ron Clements, another Disney animator, and the two provided additional story material for The Black Cauldron (1985). In 1986, along with other collaborators, they wrote and directed The Great Mouse Detective (1986), based on a short Clements had made earlier.

Clements and Musker next co-directed The Little Mermaid (1989), based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson. The award-winning movie was a huge hit for Disney, and the team next wrote, directed and produced Aladdin (1992), another enormous success for the studio that went on to become one of the most popular animated films of all time. It was nominated for many awards, including several Oscars® and even won a couple, for Best Music and Best Song.

Their next project was Hercules (1997), which they directed, wrote and produced, and although it wasn’t as big a hit as their previous films, they won an Annie award together for “Best Individual Achievement: Directing in a Feature Production.”

After co-creating the series pilot Creepwood for Warner’s On-line, directing commercials, and developing a feature project for Warner’s Feature, Mike directed and storyboarded the Lilo and Stitch short for Disney called The Origin of Stitch.

The short was well enough received that Mike moved to Disney Toons Studios to develop a series of direct-to-video films based on the classic Snow White film. Mike left the project after a creative disagreement about Dopey speaking and soon after the project was cancelled.

Mike spent a year working on Rob Zombie’s El SuperBeasto before moving on to direct Hoodwinked Too: Hood vs Evil, the CG feature film follow-up to the 2006 hit Hoodwinked for Kanbar Ent/The Weinstein Company.

Since that film wrapped in March of 2009, Mike has directed the feature length animated adaptation of EA’s Dante’s Inferno and is presently directing another R-rated feature length project that will be announced at this year’s Comic Con.

Mike Disa on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1918538/

He was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Argentine immigrant parents. In 1976 his family moved to Southern California, where his father started an auto repair shop.  Marcelo graduated from West Covina high school in 1983, and that same year began his formal art education at Otis Art Institute of Parson’s School of Design.

Marcelo began working as a commercial artist in 1985 doing black and white illustrations for the Los Angeles Times Syndicate; his illustrations were featured in 56 newspapers across the United States. Two years later Marcelo embarked on a career in television animation, as a storyboard clean up artist and character designer.

In 1989 Marcelo would establish a relationship with the Walt Disney Company that would span well over a decade, both in feature animated films and theme park design. During which, some of that time he was working as a freelancer while living in St. George, Utah.

In 2003, Marcelo Vignali returned to Southern California to join the creative team at Sony Picture Animation. Since then he has worked on a variety of Sony projects. In addition to Surf’s Up, Marcelo has also worked on Open Season (2006), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), and Hotel Transylvania.

For over 25 years Marcelo Vignali has carved out a name for himself in various industries, from commercial illustration, television animation, computer gaming, theme park design to feature animation — from Disney’s Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, to Surf’s up, to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs — enjoying the reputation of being one of the entertainment industry’s top talents.

Marcelo currently resides in Los Angeles, California, and is working on Sony Pictures Animation’s latest animated picture, Hotel Transylvania.

Join Marcelo at CTN-X 2009
CTN Member Marcelo Vignali

An Organic Approach to Special Effects Animation

Joseph Gilland is an animation director, special effects animator, journalist, author and musician. His most recent book ‘Elemental Magic – The Art of Special Effects Animation’, has quickly become a sensation in the global animation community, bringing to print for the first time the magic behind the visual effects animation that has dazzled animation audiences since the 1930’s. Joseph’s approach to the animation process focuses not only on technical know how, but also reveals the raw energy underlying all great animation works. With passion, emotion and a vast amount of practical experience, Gilland introduces the reader to a fluid organic process of discovery and interactive experimentation that breathes new life into a fine art form that many believe to be a highly technical and tedious affair. While writing and illustrating Elemental Magic over the last four years, Joseph began bringing his vision to a workshop series entitled ‘An Organic Approach to Special Effects Animation’. The workshops and his book evolved together, feeding off of each other and resulting in a book that not only contains Joseph’s deep expertise on the subject, but also reflects the feedback of animation artists and students from around the world.

In his long and storied animation career, Joseph has utilized his traditional and digital animation talents at such studios as Walt Disney Feature Animation, Don Bluth Animation, and the National Film Board of Canada. At Walt Disney Feature Animation, Joseph served as Supervisor of Visual Effects for the Disney classics Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear. Joseph also served as Head of Florida Special Effects Unit for the features Kingdom of the Sun, and Tarzan, and was Special Effects Animator on such notable titles as Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, James and the Giant Peach, Hercules and Mulan. His broad experience also includes animating on several short film projects at the National Film Board of Canada, and directing dozens of television commercials as an independent director. From 2003 to 2005, Joseph headed up the world renowned animation program at the Vancouver Film School.

Joseph is currently at work on an independent short film and is writing a follow up volume to ‘Elemental Magic’ that will delve deeper into special effects and also include a DVD with real time step by step ‘how-to’ footage, and clips from live workshops.

Upon graduating from High School, Pruiksma was accepted into the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. where he received a very solid formal Art and Film training for two years. He was also fortunate enough to get his introduction to classical animation techniques by veteran puppet animator Lou Bunin.

Transferring to Cal-Arts for the remainder of his animation education, Pruiksma applied the foundation he had learned at Pratt to Disney style character animation under the instruction of renowned Disney artists T. Hee, Jack Hannah, Elmer Plummer and Ken O’Connor. From 1979 to 1981 he produced two short animated films, learning everything about animated film production from design to sound mixing.

Hired by Walt Disney Studios as an animation trainee in the summer of 1981, Dave was privileged to study animation under Eric Larson and other of Disney’s hand-picked “Nine Old Men”, learning the foundations of classical Disney style animation that these artists had developed and honed to perfection during their long careers in the medium. It was on production at the Disney studios that Pruiksma gained his most practical applications of the principles of full character animation on productions such as “Mickey’s Christmas Carol”, “The Black Cauldron” and “The Great Mouse Detective” as well as numerous shorts for the soon to opened Epcot Center and some assistant work on an experimental computer project based on “Where the Wild Things Are” animated by Glen Keane and directed by a young upstart named John Lassiter. It was also at Disney studios that Dave was fortunate enough to be paired as an assistant animator with top animators Ed Gombert and Mark Henn, both of whose superb instruction and tremendous patience added the finishing touches on the young animator’s training.

Promoted, in 1985, to full-fledged animator on “The Great Mouse Detective”, Pruiksma worked in this capacity or as a Directing/Supervising Animator on nearly everything produced at Disney Feature Animation Burbank including “Oliver and Company, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Cranium Command (a short for Epcot) Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, “Kingdom of the Sun (later re-worked into The Emperor’s New Groove) and Atlantis, not to mention providing animation on various Disney shorts and television projects and developing and instituting various training programs at the studio while mentoring, when they were just starting out, a number of the top animators in the field today. Pruiksma performed all these duties until 2001, when he retired from Disney Feature Animation to pursue other interests.

Over the years, Pruiksma also worked on projects beyond the walls of Disney including 1987’s animated feature “The Great Chipmunk Adventure”, Paula Abdul’s combination live-action animation music video, “Opposites Attract” and a number of animated television commercials and shows. He has also consulted on a number of animated computer games and other projects, lectured on animation around the world, storyboarded and directed television animation, designed for famous artist Paul Frank and animated under the skilled direction of the great animator/director, Eric Goldberg.

Today, Pruiksma continues writing essays and articles and doing interviews regarding his thoughts on current trends in character animation and his views on the changes in the industry in general. He is also an Associate Professor at the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, California where he teaches the time tested principles of classical character animation (taught to him by the great animators of the past and applied to his work in animation for over 3 decades), to a new generation of animators studying both traditional and computer animation.

This teaching and consulting seems to agree with Mr. Pruiksma as he states, “I like the idea of keeping my hand in the animation pool, but just out of reach of the sharks that always seem to infest those waters. I am proud and thankful for my years of work in animation during it’s second Golden Age, which enabled me to bring to life many memorable characters such as Flounder, Mrs. Potts and Chip, The Sultan, Flit, Victor and Hugo the gargoyles, Harcourt, Packard and others. I have been privileged to work with the best of the best and was facilitated in helping to create some of the highest quality animation that this generation of artists was capable of producing, creating characters that will surely stand the test of time. In the end, I am happy and proud to be a contributor to this most lively of arts.”

Originally born and raised in New England, Robert attended Paier College of Art, a private art school located in Hamden, Connecticut. He then transferred to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he earned a BFA in Illustration in 1990. Following graduation he continued to advance his studies in Architectural Rendering, Production Design and Directing for Live Action Film at UCLA, in West Los Angeles.

Prior to his graduation, Robert was approached by recruiters from the Walt Disney Studios, seeking participants for a storyboard-training program. After successfully completing this program he sought out opportunities in the Background Layout and Environment Design areas of production within the studio. This in turn lead to a position in 1993, that involved working on a feature property through Disney’s Paris studio in France. Since then Robert has continued to work as a Layout Artist for Warner Brothers Feature Animation, Disney Direct to Home Videos and Walt Disney’s Feature Animation. He has also freelanced for numerous other studios.

Robert has advanced his career through accepting additional challenges and responsibilities as a Layout Supervisor and Production Designer. Projects have encompassed work ranging from direct to home video, to feature length films. This work has included international projects based in Germany, France and Australia. And the most recent international task involved the making of the movie “9“ in Luxembourg.

In addition to his numerous television credits, Robert’s direct to home video and feature format screen credits include Background Layout Artist on  “A Goofy Movie“, “Another Goofy Movie“, “Quest for Camelot”, and “Space Jam“, Production Designer on “Lady and the Tramp 2“, “Mulan 2“, and Co-Production Designer on “9” and Layout artist on “The Princess and the Frog”. Robert has also worked on numerous projects as a visual development and conceptual design artist. These undertakings range from animated and live action film, to parade float and interior design work. He has also taught part time and conducts lectures and workshops in Layout for Animation, Production Design and Professional Portfolio Presentations.

Currently, Robert is working for Walt Disney Feature Animation studios on their soon to be released “Winnie the Pooh” movie.

Beck started his career in film distribution, working at MGM/UA, Orion Classics, Cannon Films and Expanded Entertainment (Tournee of Animation), before starting his own company, Streamline Pictures in 1989, the first U.S. distributor to import anime features such as Otomo’s Akira and Miyazaki’s Laputa: Castle In The Sky. Beck was instrumental in launching Animation Magazine, and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Beck was also the West Coast Bureau Chief forKidscreen magazine in 2000. He has also created, written and produced animated films for various clients. His latest animation project, Hornswiggle, recently aired on the Nicktoons Network.

Join Jerry at CTN-X where he will moderate and interview animation talent from yesterday, today and tomorrow.
CTN Member Jerry Beck

Frank is currently the CEO of his own company, Gladstone Film, Inc., producing and directing animated projects, consulting on animation processes, filmmaking skills and story structure at major studios worldwide. Additionally, Frank continues to teach about animation, film history, production techniques and cinematic fundamentals at secondary schools, colleges and professional guilds across North America, in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.
Help us welcome Frank Gladstone to CTN-X 2009. Register Now http://www.regonline.com/ctnanimationexpo2009

Gary is a producer, director and animator who shared public recognition with his artistic partners when he resigned from Walt Disney Productions in 1979 and co-founded Don Bluth Productions with Don Bluth and John Pomeroy. Since then he has animated, produced, co-directed and supervised post-production on 12 films and four video games, including, Banjo the Woodpile Cat (1979); The Secret of NIMH (1982); An American Tail (1986); The Land Before Time (1988); All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989); and Thumbelina (1994) and the hit video games Dragon’s Lair (1983); Space Ace (1983); and Dragon’s Lair II: A Time Warp (1989) and Dragon’s Lair 3D: Return to the Lair (2002).

In 1986 he, along with Morris Sullivan, Don Bluth & John Pomeroy, moved Sullivan Studios and 87 of its employees, their families and pets to Dublin, Ireland. They produced three of the films listed above and helped start an animation course at Dublin’s Ballyfermot Senior College, in association with Sheridan College, in Oakville, Ontario, Canada.

The company’s financial backing collapsed in 1992, and the studio was forced to protect itself in receivership. In early 1993, the company was purchased by Media Assets, a subsidiary of Star TV, and continued operations as Don Bluth Entertainment, Ireland, Ltd.
Recruited by 20th Century Fox in early 1994 to assist with the creation of Fox Animation Studios, Inc, Mr Goldman, along with Don Bluth, was the creative leader of the new company. Within a year and a half of agreeing to work with Fox, the duo began production on Anastasia. Fox Animation Studio was in business for six years and employed 316 artists, technicians and administrative staff. Along with Anastasia (1997), Gary was producer/director, with Bluth, on Bartok the Magnificent (a feature-length, direct to DVD (1999) and Titan A.E. (2000).

Mr. Goldman continues to partner with Bluth under the moniker Don Bluth Films, developing intellectual properties for animated feature films, and giving seminars on production to animation professionals and students from around the world at venues in New York, Chicago, Savannah, Provo – BYU Center for Animation, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mexico, Florence, Italy and Oulu, Finland.

Gary was ‘Artist in Residence’ at the Savannah College of Art & Design for the winter quarter of 2008, teaching three courses in 2D Animation, Advanced 2D Animation and Animation Production.

Gary Goldman has been a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1976.  He and his wife, Cathy, live in Phoenix, Arizona.  They have five children and seven grandchildren.

As a feature film producer and consultant, his credits include: Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday, Stuart Little, Father of the Bride, As Good As It Gets, America’s Sweethearts and What Women Want.

This is a rare opportunity to join Bruce outside the big studio environment as he shares his knowledge with us.

Lecture Visual Structure in Filmmaking
Length 45 min

Bruce will present a lightning version of his seminar, demonstrate the basic principles in his book, show examples from films and reveal how important visual structure is to storytelling. Thousands of artists, writers and producers have attended Bruce’s studio lectures. If your work appears in feature films, television shows or computer games, don’t miss this unusual opportunity to hear Bruce Block explain visual structure and how to use it. After the lecture Bruce and attendees will retreat to the “Shop Talk” lounge to continue the conversation and Q+A. Bruce will also be available to sign books and answer questions.

For time and date please refer to CTN-X Schedule Overview….click here. (Schedule subject to change.)

Prior to DreamWorks, she worked at Gentle Giant Studios as the Communications Director and Manager of the Digital Department.  In this position she managed the 3D scanning and modeling for the studio and interfaced with Visual Effects Producers and Supervisors from both live-action and animation films as well as Consumer Products clients.  Some of the projects include “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “Star Wars: Episode III,” “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.”

In 1995 Lepito began her journey in the animation industry as an Assistant to the Producer and Recording Assistant on the Disney Animation Studios film, “Hercules.”  She then transitioned to Production Department Manger of the Story department on “Treasure Planet” and finished the film as the Communications Supervisor acting as the film liaison to the studio.

Lepito earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Television Production and Political Communication at Emerson College.  Her career began with an internship at WBZ Radio on the Peabody award winning children’s show, Kid Company.

He has been a professional at this for twenty years and has shown his art in shows nationally and internationally.  As a former Disney Animator, Dave contributed his talents to such modern classics as “Beauty and the Beast,”  “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas,” “The Lion King,” “Hercules,” “Fantasia 2000,” and many others as part of the second Golden Era of Animation.  Dave teaches workshops on creativity to artists and others and  his family workshop, Wondrous Stories is a fun-filled weekend of writing children’s stories with your children.

He has taught and lectured at UCLA, USC, Art Center College of Design, Disney, Sony and Esalen Institute among others.  He has been the featured artist for several years at Esalen for their fundraising events, and he is also the featured artist for the organization Humanity Unites Brilliance, a global humanitarian entrepreneurial network.  He has designed logos for corporations and individuals, done portraits of famous folks as well as friends, and created commissioned images for clients.  With acclaimed speaker and world’s leading gerontology expert,  Dr. Ken Dychtwald,  along with Ken’s wife Maddy and Dave’s daughter Grace, he co-wrote and illustrated a magical children’s book about transformation entitled “Gideon’s Dream- A tale of new beginnings,”  which is on bookshelves now.   Dave is illustrating Dr. Deepak Chopra’s first children’s book, “You With The Stars In Your Eyes,” which will be published by his publishing company Conscious Kids in June 2009.

Dave is also working on a documentary film project with Soul Fabric Films (www.soulfabricfilms.com) dealing with the return of sacred story to traditional Hawaiian culture through the hero’s journey of the outrigger canoe.  Dave lives with his wife Robin, who is his Muse, their brilliant daughter Grace, the perfect dog, Rosie and a tortoise named Sweetheart on a small ranchette in the horse country of Chatsworth, California.  Dave makes art mostly from his studio and alchemical laboratory (la-BOR-a-tory) twenty steps from his house.

Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) (animator)
Stuart Little 2 (2002) (animator)
Osmosis Jones (2001) (animator)
Fantasia/2000 (1999) (animator) (segment “The Firebird Suite”)
Hercules (1997) (animator: “Gods” and “Miscellaneous”)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (animator: “Phoebus”)
Pocahontas (1995) (animator: “John Smith”)
Aladdin (1992) (rough inbetweener)
Beauty and the Beast (1991) (rough inbetweener)

Come listen to this fascinating artists Dave Zaboski at CTN-X
CTN Member Dave Zaboski

15 Books / 1000 Talks / 5 Businesses
Teaching business lessons that last a lifetime for the creative thinker.

THE BEST PRESENTATIONS solve people’s problems. Lee Silber is known as “The Wild Idea Guy” for focusing on innovative and imaginative solutions to workplace and business problems. Silber concentrates on the Big Idea and as a result there are always a lot of “Aha!” moments when he speaks, and even more “Wows!” when he’s done.

LEE SILBER IS ALSO KNOWN FOR:

Being prepared, professional and easy to work with

Entertaining, captivating and motivating audiences

Having a simple and clear message

Taking a creative approach to topics

Using memorable phrases that inspire change

Lee  has joined the crew of CTN-X 2009 as a speaker and after the presentation he will retreat to the “Shop Talk Lounge” to carry on the conversation and have Q+A.

Monsters vs. Aliens (2009) (animator)
Kung Fu Panda (2008) (animator)
Bee Movie (2007) (animator)
Flushed Away (2006) (animator)
Over the Hedge (2006) (animator)
Madagascar (2005) (character development)
Shark Tale (2004) (animator)
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) (animator: “Marina”)
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) (animator: “Spirit”)
The Road to El Dorado (2000) (supervising animator: “Tzekel-Kan”)
The Prince of Egypt (1998) (additional animator)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) (supervising animator: “Frollo”)
Pocahontas (1995) (character designer)
Aladdin (1992) (animator: “Jafar as Beggar/Snake”)
FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) (character designer) (leading character animator: “Hexxus”)
The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (supervising animator)
The Little Mermaid (1989) (character animator)
Oliver & Company (1988) (character animator)
The Great Mouse Detective (1986) (character animator)
The Black Cauldron (1985) (additional animator)
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (1983) (animator)

Kathy Zielinksi has joined the crew at CTN-X 2009.
CTN Member Kathy Zielinski

In his role at Exodus Films, Howard is responsible for production and development.  Prior to assuming his current role as president of Exodus Film Group in 2007, Howard served as president of Warner Bros. Feature Animation and senior vice president of Disney Feature Animation.  During his time at Warner Bros. Feature Animation, Howard oversaw the award-winning animated feature “The Iron Giant” and the international hit “Space Jam.” He oversaw about 600 staff members while he was at the helm.

During his twelve years at Disney, Howard was one of the senior architects of the company‘s animation renaissance, collaborating on such animation successes as “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas” and “The Lion King.”  These films were honored with 13 Academy Awards® and 11 Golden Globe awards.

Most recently he worked alongside Jeffery Katzenberg at DreamWorks as an executive producer on “Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron” for DreamWorks Animation.

Originally getting his start in the U.K., Howard established and ran the Disney U.K. studio during the making of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” then came to the United States to launch and lead the Florida studio for Disney.  After spending six years with the company, he oversaw the move into Disney’s iconic “Hat Building” in Burbank, California and opened their studio in Paris. He then made his move to Warner Bros. and as president of feature animation was responsible for additional memorable films.

Memberships include the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS), British Academy of Film & Television Arts (BAFTA), and Association Internationale Du Film D’Animation (ASIFA). He has received ASIFA-Hollywood’s Certificate of Merit and UNICEF’s Children Fund Award. Join him at the CTN Animation Expo as he speaks to the virtual studio experience.

Join Max at CTN-X for his experience and knowledge of running a virtual studio for high quality feature film animation.

CTN Member Max Howard

Join Bill at CTN-X 09 where his will be joined by other experts in from 2D, 3D and VFX as he hosts some engaging round table discussion on the subject of animations.
CTN Member Bill Kroyer