School of Animation
& Visual Effects

A 2D animator is concerned with creating 2D images by either hand drawing each frame or digitally manipulating flat media for games, television, the web, or feature films. Good with your hands? With frame-by-frame manipulation, a stop motion artist creates a performance using posable puppets, props, and sets. Their work can be seen on television, film, and advertising.

A 3D animator is concerned with the movement in computer graphic imagery including characters, inanimate objects such as robots or cars, or cameras for television, feature films, or games.

The modeler creates a 3D character that you see in an animated movie. It is brought to life after it is textured and animated. The modeler also creates environments like houses and buildings and props like weapons, cars, and planes.

VFX compositing allows filmmakers to integrate multiple layers of computer-generated and live action elements into one single believable sequence.

A storyboard communicates a filmmaker’s vision.

It’s a visual representation of how a story will play out, scene by scene. Made up of a chronological series of images, often accompanying notes.

Azra is an award-winning filmmaker, experienced Unreal Engine Artist, and Compositing Supervisor with a demonstrated history of working in the motion pictures and film industry. Skilled in on-set production, on-set supervision, lighting, virtual production, and post-production. Experience with Unreal Engine, Python, environment creation, FX, Nuke, Houdini, Vue, Realflow, Maya, and Node-based compositing. Strong arts and design professional with a Bachelor of Arts (B.F.A.) focused in Visual Effects from Academy of Art University and an A.A in Cinematography and Computer Science.

She has just finished work on James Cameron’s Avatar: The way of Water, building on her supervision of the underwater sequence in Alita: Battle Angel (2019) and has contributed to the development of Wētā’s next-generation water pipeline.

Pavani was CG Supervisor on Avatar: Flight of Passage (2017), a 3D flying-simulator ride for Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park which won a Visual Effects Society Award for Outstanding Visual Effects. She led the team in designing a bespoke pipeline to deliver every aspect of the ride’s fully immersive Pandora environment, created in stereo at 10K 60FPS.

Pavani joined Wētā FX as a Lighting Technical Director on Avatar (2009). She was Lead Lighting Technical Director on Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and CG Supervisor on The Hobbit trilogy (2012–14). Drawing on her architectural background, she led the team in building and later damaging the post-apocalyptic CG world in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015).

Pavani began her VFX career at Rhythm and Hues in Los Angeles where she contributed look development to Academy Award-winner The Golden Compass (2007).

She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Accomplished Digital Artist and Storyteller with 25+ years of experience in the Motion-Picture and TV industries.

Projects Include:

• Steps (Netflix Animation) – Art Director
• Super Girl (Encore) – Set Design (model, surfacing and VFX)
• Laika:
  • Wildwood – Set Design, World Build and Layout
  • Get Back – Look Development Artist (Environment/Set Design and Costume)
  • Missing Link – Sr. Digital Artist, Sr. Texture Artist, and Look Development Artist
  • Kubo – Production Designer, Set Designer, Look Development
  • The Boxtrolls – Production Designer, Layout, PreVis.
  • ParaNorman – VFX Supervisor, Matte Painter, Look Development.
  • Coraline – Seq. Art Director (Starry Night), Director of Digital Design
• Will Vinton Studios – Director of CG
• Metropolis Digital – Founder, Partner, Creative Director, VFX Supervisor

Freelance projects Include:

• Commercial (TV) – Art Director, Animation Director, Sr. Digital Artist, Producer
• The Visitor (TV) – VFX Supervisor, Compositing
• The Alchemist’s Letter – Art Director, Digital Artist, Compositing
• The Mouse that Soared – Lead Creative, Producer, and Compositing
• First Bloom – FX Lead, Compositing
• Fox Kids (Multiple projects) – VFX Supervisor, VFX Producer, Compositing
• Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within – Texture Supervisor and Lead Artist

Dan is currently on-set Visual Effects Supervisor on the Avatar sequels, where he is leveraging his 15 years of experience in both game and film visual effects working with directors to help create new virtual production techniques and workflows.

The real-time nature of the virtual set production environment taps into his knowledge of real-time engine/pre-rendered pipelines and how to connect them to modern film VFX workflows.

Through his time at Wētā FX, ILM, Sony Imageworks, Dan has worked on blockbuster franchises like The Avengers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Avatar. He has also contributed to the VFX of multiple full length animated features including Happy Feet and Hotel Transylvania. Dan is an active member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences as well as the VES. In 2010, he won a Visual Effects Society Award for his role in creating the jungles of Pandora for Avatar.

Dan’s storytelling work goes beyond feature films and includes supervising on the animated shorts that helped launch the highly successful game Overwatch, as well as cinematics for the franchises of World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone.

Talks & Events:

• Academy of Art University: VFX & AI | 2023
• CEA: Calgary – She-Hulk | 2023
• Siggraph: She-Hulk | 2023
• CEA: Vancouver – She-Hulk | 2023
• FMX – She-Hulk | 2023
• Spark VFX – She-Hulk | 2023
• Foundry’s She-Hulk Webinar | 2022
• CG World Japan: Infinity Saga | 2020
• CEA – Vancouver: Facial Animation & FACS | 2020
• Film Academy – Germany: Lecture Series | 2020
• SparkFX – Vancouver: Super Heroes | 2020
• UBISOFT – Toronto: Avengers & Facial | 2019
• CEA – Manitoba: Avengers | 2019
• CEA: Vancouver: Thanos | End Game | 2019
• Siggraph: All Stars – Infinite End | 2019
• CEA: Vancouver: Thanos | Infinity War | 2019
• Siggraph: All Stars – Making Thanos | 2018
• Marvel Press Day: LA – VFX pipeline for Avengers | 2018
• Effects MTL Making of Infinity War | 2018 keynote
• Animago: Deadpool / ID2 / PXL | 2016
• Siggraph: Deadpool | 2016
• FMX: Deadpool | 2016
• Siggraph: X-Men: Days of Future Past | 2014
• VES CAVE – Vancouver: Ender’s Game | 2012

My experience as VFX supervisor includes more than 40 films and TV productions, both on-set and in-house, collaborating with directors, producers, cinematographers and editors, advising, supervising VFX teams, reviewing shots, budgeting and managing resources and schedules.

As Head of 2D at FuseFX I managed a large team of compositors and matte painters working on multiple TV and film projects.

As Director of Training and Artist Development I designed and managed training platforms and developed learning initiatives and lead collaborative program for the Pitch Black group (FuseFX, FOLKS VFX and El Ranchito).

My first book, The Filmmaker’s guide to Visual Effects, was published by Routledge/Focal in 2017, 2nd edition published in 2024. My second book, The Complete Guide to Photorealism was published by Routledge in 2021.

I received a primetime Emmy Award and two VES Awards as VFX Supervisor on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire.

I am an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Art since 2013.

For 15 years I also wrote music for theater. But that’s another story.

Landis Fields is an Emmy Award-winning artist currently working as the Real Time Principal Creative on Lucasfilm’s hit Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, created by Jon Favreau. He received the Visual Effects Society (VES) Award for ‘Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project’ for his contributions as well as the Emmy™ Award for ‘Outstanding Special Visual Effects’ on The Mandalorian and the Emmy™ Award for ‘Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie’ for The Book Of Boba Fett. Fields began learning 3D while enlisted in the United States Air Force as an F-16 Avionics Specialist. After his enlistment, he enrolled at the Academy of Art University to further his knowledge of fine art and computer graphics. Possessing a strong interest in the production pipeline as a whole, Fields accepted an internship at Giant Killer Robots which jump-started his career as a generalist. He joined Lucasfilm Animation in 2007 working with Dave Filoni on the award-winning animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. When the series wrapped, he joined Doug Chiang’s CG Art Department at Imagemovers Digital. Fields returned to the Lucasfilm family in 2012 joining ILM’s digital model shop. He received the VES Award for ‘Outstanding Models in a Photoreal or Animated Project’ for his work on BB-8 for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fields later transitioned to Postviz Supervisor on Marvel’s Doctor Strange working with Visual Effects Supervisor Richard Bluff, which earned the duo a VES nomination for ‘Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Photoreal Project’ for the New York Mirror Dimension. Shifting his sights to cutting-edge, real-time graphics, Fields next worked on the wildly popular attraction Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run for Disney Parks. His unique combination of creative and technical skills, partnered with a passion for collaboration and innovation has lent itself well to the continuously evolving world of Real-time Design, Virtual Production, and Real-time VFX.

Michael is an accomplished animation supervisor and character animator with nearly 20 years of industry experience in both television and feature animation. Throughout his career, he has contributed to multiple Academy Award and Emmy-winning films and series.

Michael holds a BFA in Illustration from Syracuse University and an MFA in Visual Effects and Animation from the Academy of Art University. He began his career at Nickelodeon Animation Studios as part of their in-house pre-production team, quickly advancing to a leadership role and overseeing the animation pre-production of seven different shows.

Currently, Michael works at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he has served as both an animator and animation supervisor for over 12 years. His feature film credits include Wreck-it Ralph, Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2, Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Strange World, Moana 2, and other unannounced projects. He has served as animation supervisor on iconic characters such as Baymax, Olaf, and Searcher. Michael’s contributions to animated shorts include Frozen Fever, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Inner Workings, Once Upon a Snowman, and Olaf Retellings.

Supervisor with over 25 years in the Visual Effects industry on over 40 feature film and television projects.

With an extraordinary career spanning Blue Sky Studios, Framestore London, MPC, and currently at Wētā, Jason has held pivotal supervisor roles on blockbuster films including the Avatar and The Hobbit trilogies, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Avengers. His exceptional talent and industry expertise will be invaluable to our team. As a sequence VFX, CG, and Motion Graphics supervisor, Jason’s insights will be instrumental in advancing our department’s commitment to excellence, innovation, and preparing students for thriving careers in the visual effects and animation industry.

Christian began his career as an art director for one of the world’s biggest advertising agencies, crafting unique work for clients such as Sony and Adobe. Working with high-profile clients to create beautiful, memorable imagery served him in excellent stead when he decided to pivot to VFX in the mid-2000s. He graduated from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University with a Masters of Fine Arts in 3D Animation and Visual Effects and launched his VFX career with The Orphanage, before joining Framestore in 2007. Since then, he has worked on a huge range of titles, including The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace, Where The Wild Things Are, Avatar and the Oscar-winning Gravity. Christian made the move to Montreal in 2013 and quickly established himself as a key member of the studio’s senior team, supervising titles such as Paddington, Alien: Covenant, Mary Poppins Returns, Captain Marvel, The Aeronauts and the BAFTA-winning His Dark Materials. His current project is 1899, a major episodic project for Netflix utilizing Europe’s largest LED volume facility. Here he leads a team spanning concept art, visualisation, virtual production and VFX.

Marcelo Vignali is one of the most respected creative executives, production designers, art directors, and visual development artists currently working in the world of animation. Formally trained as an illustrator, Marcelo has helped create many classics throughout his year career, such as Disney’s Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, and Sony Pictures Animation’s Surf’s Up, Hotel Transylvania and Spider-Man, Into the Spider-Verse. As well as having worked in themed entertainment as a Disney Imagineer, helping to create ToonTown.

As the Art Director of Visual Development at Disney Television, Marcelo brought his experience at the executive level and helped rewrite the development process, hired and trained the development team to create new and exciting content for Disney Jr. Disney Channel, and their streaming service Disney+.

Marcelo has twice been nominated by the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) for Production Designer of the Year, once for his work on Surf’s Up, and again for his work on Hotel Transylvania.