Sam Nielson is a concept artist and illustrator whose diverse experience has given him an in-depth view of creativity and artistic storytelling. With over 20 years of work in the animation industry, he has done game, film, and television work, for studios such Blizzard Entertainment, Dreamworks, Sony Pictures Animation, Disney Imagineering and Disney Interactive, Illumination Entertainment, and many others. His work has been published via Spectrum Annual, ImagineFX, 3DTotal, Scholastic, HarperCollins, and many others.

Sam currently teaches online classes for Schoolism.com, and also teaches for the award-winning animation program at BYU. His classes cover lighting, digital painting, character design, visual development, gesture drawing, digital sculpting, and animation. Sam has also taught these subjects at workshops around the world.