This is the entire schedule of panels and programming that happened during the 2019 LightBox Expo! Check out the LBX Videos page to see many of our 2019 videos!

FRIDAY

Keynote: Iain McCaig & Karla Ortiz
Legends Iain McCaig and Karla Ortiz welcome everyone to the inaugural LightBox Expo!

ImagineFX presents: The Social Media Panel
Loish, Pernille Orum, Stanley “Artgerm”

Reel FX Animation: ONE studio THREE locations
Reel FX Animation is a collective of extraordinary creative talent who bring imagination to life through great stories for screens and venues of all shapes and sizes. Best known for co-producing the Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominated animated feature film THE BOOK OF LIFE with 20th Century Fox, this 25-year-old animation studio continues to grow with almost 400 staffers across its Hollywood, Dallas, and Montreal locations.    In this session, we will discuss the strategies and challenges of international collaboration between our three locations. Topics include the importance and power of unifying the creative and production culture, production and pipeline integration, inter-studio and cross border communication, managing physical growth (studio expansion) and the most important role of artist recruitment, development and retention. Speakers include Chuck Peil, Marta Marks & Chantal Azar.

Dreamworks Portfolio / Reels Tips
Applying for TV or Feature animation jobs? Join the DreamWorks Recruitment team: Doeri Welch, Vanessa McAteer, Rabia Abedin, Jen Elrod, and Carlos Vasquez as they share overall guidelines, samples of portfolios & reels, and answer your questions about how to prepare your work.

Costumed Life Drawing
Kevin Chen is a figure drawing instructor and freelance concept artist on projects such as “Ender’s Game” & Guardians of the Galaxy 1 & 2.” He is also the director and founder of Concept Design Academy in Pasadena, California. Draw along side with Kevin from our costumed model, Stacy E. Walker. Kevin will be demoing and going around the room giving feedback/draw overs for the interested participants.

Vance Kovacs: The Art & Visual Development for Lion King
Vance Kovacs will present and discuss his Keyframes and Visual Development for Disney’s 2019 Lion King.

Intuitive Approach to Digital Sketching with Fresco
This workshop will teach you the building blocks to create visual stories from start to finish in Adobe Fresco.

Flying Monsters: Illustrating Flying Vertebrates
How do you get a Pegasus off the ground? Or a dragon? Or a Griffin? And in a way that is scientifically possible, and therefore adds authenticity to your creature building and animation? Join Creature Designer Terryl Whitlatch and world class Paleontologist Dr. Michael Habib in this cutting edge presentation on flight in pterosaurs, birds, and bats and their application to flying vertebrates of the imagination.

3D Character Designing Panel
3D sculpting has become more and more apart of character designing these days. Just ask our incredible panelists: Rafael Grassetti, Matt Thorup, Angela Smaldone and Justin Goby Fields. Keep up to date and get some valuable insight, hear important questions answered in this wonderful panel moderated by Banks Boutté

Lights! Pencils! Action! Live-Action Storyboards with the Illustrators of IATSE Local #800
A discussion on storyboarding your favorite live-action films by the artists who draw them. Speakers: Benton Jew, Danelle Davenport, Darrin Denlinger, Dave Lowery and Moderator Tim Burgard

Storytelling Career Path: 10 Reasons Why Storyboarding Will Open Doors To The Projects You Want
With many more media outlets than ever before, being a Story Artist is in more demand than ever.  Learn what you need to succeed in visual storytelling to stay relevant and stand out from the competition.  We’ll discuss real world tips to land interviews, boost your salary, and always stay employed.  Animation Director Sergio Paez leads this chat about navigating the career paths of being a visual storyteller for TV and Feature projects.

Jennifer Wuestling: The Art of the Study
Come catch a live demo about setting the foundation for high quality 2D rendering with Jennifer Wuestling.

Love, Death + Robots Concept Art
Talk and review of art from Marcin Rubinkowski for two episodes of Netflix Love Death and Robots series. Audience will have opportunity to see stuff from ConceptArt, Environmental Design and also Character Design for Xbot 4k, that eventually became the Robo-Promo face from the first Season.

How to Lay Down Oil For Maximum Effect
Watch Greg Manchess as you learn how the simple skills of calligraphy are used to achieve compelling brushwork to create images that draw the viewer in.

Dynamic Sketching Process
Peter Han is an entertainment and concept designer with clients including Sony, Konami, Trion, and many more. Join him as he demonstrates his process of creating detailed sketches in Procreate.

Everything You Wanted to Know About Feature Animation
What portfolio will land me a feature job? How much should I get paid? How do I eventually become an Art Director? Which company pays the best? How do I find my style? What about visas? Questions, questions… So many questions that have been asked by students and industry professionals that I can sort of answer. Come watch a Netflix Art Director Sunmin Inn attempt to answer these questions over illustrated slides so you don’t have to look directly at me during the talk (please don’t look at me).

Making Your Freelance Career Bulletproof
A freelance career is filled with artistic and financial uncertainties, it can be really scary! But with a good plan, it can be the most rewarding life for an artist. Join Nathan Fowkes as he takes you through the good, the bad and the ugly of freelancing, and lays out ideas, not just for a good plan B, but plan C, D, and E. You won’t want to miss the story of the time when Nathan went all the way to plan E, and still managed to feed his kids and pay the mortgage!

Production Design at Sony Pictures Animation
Join a panel of visual development artists working on Sony Pictures Animation’s first-ever musical as they discuss their personal experiences getting into the industry with the studio’s head of recruiting. They will share personal anecdotes, trial and error work, and crucial advice for those interested in getting into the industry.  Speakers: Carlos Zaragoza (production designer), Joe Moshier (character designer), Andy Harkness (art director), Jana Day (executive director/recruiting)

A Happy Mind for the Creative Journey
The art journey can be tough, especially if you feel alone. In this casual and fun talk, Ahmed Aldoori and Sinix will discuss the creative journey regarding mental health, community, and self-discovery from their experiences as YouTubers, teachers, and concept artists.

Personal Projects vs. Clients: How to Balance Both
Artists J.A.W. Cooper, Ryan Lang and Zac Retz discuss their personal projects and how they balance it with their ‘day jobs’. Hosted by: Matt Johnson

Illustration Panel
Join Jason Seiler, John Picacio, Camila D’Errico and Iris Compiet as they discuss the Ins and Outs of the art of illustration. Hosted by Jonathan Hardesty.

Talking Threads: Narrative Worldbuilding Through Costume
The Talking Threads are an artist collective exploring the role of costume and costume specialists in the entertainment industry. For the past 3 years, they have been developing a book that will give insight into the storytelling role of costume design, with a specialized focus on animation, gaming, and illustration. Sharing examples, processes, and resource tips to help creatives make more thoughtful design choices and learn ways to adapt ideas for more stylized mediums. Join 4 of the 5 author/artists; design mentor Jessie Kate Bui, costume designer Gwyneth Conaway, stop-motion costume fabricator Rebecca Black-Gliko, and visual development artist Maria Ferreira Kercher as they discuss and demonstrate how to fluidly develop and expand your world through costume design.

Painting Between the Lines
Join Donato Giancola as he opens a dialog on approaches taken to challenge the artist and elevate the art of the genre. We examine how the engagement of tropes from science fiction and fantasy are blended with artistic influences outside the genre to create visually and narratively compelling solutions. Donato will share his extensive historical knowledge and two decades of experience in the commercial, freelance and commissioned art marketplace.

Using Positive and Negative Space for Character Design in Adobe Fresco
Watch as Sam Nielson teaches a successful and flexible technique he has used for character designs in both film and games over the last 25 years. Sam will also show how Adobe Fresco improves this technique.

Clip Studio Paint Workshop
Learn how to use Clip Studio Paint, the tool optimized for drawing and painting with @TheOneWithBear

Mixed Media Experimentation
Interested in the ways different media can work together to form a beautiful, cohesive entity? Join Francis Vallejo as he discusses how to experiment with various different mixed media.

Designing Memorable Characters for Film with Crash McCreery
After 30 years in the entertainment industry designing characters, Crash McCreery has worked on many projects that have impacted our culture, but two in particular stand out as the most memorable experiences of his career: “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Rango”. In this informative and entertaining talk, Crash will explore the design challenges he faced on both films and how some of the most memorable characters created for film were born.

Art of Storytelling
Join Shannon Tindle, Michelle Lam and Toniko Pantoja as these incredibly talented individuals talk about the craft of storytelling and storyboarding. Hosted by Matt Lyon.

Character Design Mix Up
Join Charlie Wen (live action), Claire Hummel (games), Peter de Seve (animated film), Amanda Jolly (television) as these top character designers from different entertainment industries talk about the art of character design. Hosted by Matt Johnson.

Animal Life Drawing: Birds of Prey: Eagle
Join us for this unique opportunity to meet and draw a golden eagle up close and personal with artist and animal activist, Manny Carrasco.

Spyro and Other Dragons: Adapting Classic Character Design
Join Nicholas Kole for a discussion about the unique challenges of adapting classic characters. He’ll cover working with the expectations of existing fan-bases, the ins and outs of bringing your own personal spin to a classic design, and how to preserve the intention of the original creators.

Imposter Syndrome Panel
Ever feel like you don’t belong? Or that you secretly don’t deserve your success? Worried you’re headed for inevitable failure? Congratulations and sympathies: you’ve got imposter syndrome! Join our panel as they discuss how to cope in an industry of long hours and instability while protecting your mental health.

Worldbuilding for Animated Films and Games
World Building for Animated Films and Games with Armand Serrano Description: A lecture presentation about the essentials in creating effective environment design in animated films and games focusing on both audience’s perception and production needs.

Advanced Anatomy for Pros
Proko instructor Stan Prokopenko will present the most actionable anatomy concepts that will help you improve your figure drawings and superheroes. Sometimes knowing a lot about anatomy can make your drawings worse. In this panel, you’ll learn how to apply anatomy correctly. 90-minute talk including Q&A at the end.

Expressive Characters
Wouter Tulp (Sony Picures Animation, Paramount Pictures) shares insights on the development and the expressiveness of his character designs.

Designing Peculiar Creatures
A conversation about how using the ordinary world around us can bring to life the most peculiar and iconic creature designs.

Composing with Shapes
In this demo, you will get a glimpse into how the machinery works in the mind of one of the world’s first digital painters, Craig Mullins. He will talk about and demonstrate how he thinks about painting as composing shapes.

Art Talk
Are you looking to become a full time freelancer? Get a studio job? Develop your own intellectual properties? To succeed in today’s art world requires more than just an art skill, it requires decision making, eliminating fears, maintaining motivation, structure, organization, networking and purpose in order to get what you want. Join Stephen Silver for this informative Art Talk session as he walks you through effective techniques in order to prepare and help you be your best.

Gouache Painting Demo
Join J.A.W. Cooper for a live 60 minute opaque gouache painting demo!

Journey & Lessons
In this session, Karla Ortiz talks intimately about her own personal and difficult journey as an artist. This talk is full of personal stories and important lessons Karla has learned along the way. Join us for a very intimate hour full of laughter, sadness, loss, triumph, and full of life & art lessons that apply to all.

Visual Narrative in Animation: From Storyboard to Character and Set
Join Celine Kim (Visual Development), Teny Issakhanian (Story) and Grace Kum (Character Design) for analyzing how to visualize narrative and the way it effects the thinking process in design and board in animation. We will discuss in-depth about what makes a successful narrative picture from shot choices to the detailed action of the characters, along with sets and establishing shot paintings.

 

SATURDAY

Sony Pictures Animation: The Story Artist Story
Join Story department leadership from Sony Pictures Animation to learn about their personal journey — in the form of hilarious storyboard pitches! Speakers: Guillermo Martinez (head of story), Miguel Jiron (head of story) and Caitlin VanArsdale (story artist)

The Importance of Authenticity in Animation
With the current explosion of new content and distribution worldwide, there is an opportunity for a diversity of subject matter, point of view and style that feature animation has never seen before. This diversity, however, is not guaranteed. Feature film animation can often suffer from looking at its past work for direction and inspiration. While there is value in looking at our past, if we do in look inside for the path to the future we can miss the opportunities this renaissance of content has created.

Illustrative Wizardry (for League of Legends)
Join Jessica Oyhenart & Esben Rasmussen (Riot Games) as they arm your illustration tool-kit with magical tips-and-tricks to get you from ideation to completion.

The Fractal Method of Figure Drawing
In this workshop, top industry Visual Designer, Marcelo Vignali, will teach you how to apply his Fractal Method to help you organize your thoughts, develop your design skills, and help you maintain balance and proportion in your work. The Fractal Method is a practical approach that applies directly to character design, background design, prop design, and designing compositions — essential skills for any artist working in animation, games or entertainment media.

Freelance Illustration with the iPad
Jarom Vogel melds the low-tech inspiration of paper cutout art with the high-tech combination of digital art and augmented reality to create his energetic illustrations. He discusses the ins and outs of freelancing with Procreate on the iPad.

Jumpstart your Illustration Career
Is it style? Voice? Luck? Networking? Confidence? Practice? Deep, deep anxiety? Surprise, it’s all of them! Join Deborah Lee as she discusses what she wishes she knew before her career as an author and illustrator working with freelance clients such as NPR, Macmillan, Chronicle Books, and Harper Collins. Deborah will also discuss insights into incorporating her experiences with mental illness and Asian-American identity into her work. Note: This talk may include mentions of abuse and self-harm.

Photoshop Brush Magic
Join Adobe’s Illustration Evangelist and creator of the Kyle Brush library, Kyle T. Webster, as he leads a deep exploration of the true illustrative power of advanced Photoshop brushes. You will learn expert drawing and painting techniques that take full advantage of Photoshop’s complex (and often under-utilized) brush settings panel, discover ways to effectively emulate your favorite natural media tools, and gain a better understanding of how the right brushes can improve your own digital art workflow.

Arte y vida como artista con Humberto Ramos y Francisco Herrera
Desde cómics hasta animación y parques temáticos, entre los dos lo han hecho todo. Únase a los artistas Humberto Ramos y Francisco Herrera mientras hablan sobre el arte, la vida como artista y las lecciones que aprendieron en el camino.

From Comicbooks to animation to theme parks, between the two of them, they’ve done it all. Join artists Humberto Ramos and Francisco Herrera as they talk about art, life as an artist and the lessons they learned along the way.

This presentation will be in Spanish.

Persistence of Vision
Aaron Blaise will be focusing on all of the twists and turns of his career and how it’s a persistent vision of wanting to be an artist that has kept him going.

Creature Design for Entertainment
Join concept artist Brynn Metheney for a lecture about creature design! Brynn will discuss how she uses her fascination with animals to help build believable creatures, the principles she’s found useful in starting and finishing a concept, and the differences in designing creatures for a variety of different industries.

Adding 3D Tools to Your Illustration Workflow
Alexandria Neonakis goes over how and why she uses 3D software as a base for 2D illustrations. Listen in as she covers her entire workflow from concept to final, walking people through her thought process at every stage.

Creating the Illustrated Novel: The Artist Author’s Journey
An amazing group of illustrators, concept artists, and visual storytellers ( Iain McCaig, Greg Manchess, John Picacio, Mia Araujo, and Armand Baltazar) share the journey of creating the art and writing their stories. We’ll discuss the business of getting published, and why the drive for artists to create their own visual stories is so important for their careers and compelling to the world at large.

Why I love pencils so much
Join Viktor Kalvachev as he shares his vision, approach and techniques for pencil drawings and how he uses them to quickly find the right shape, style and character for his many different projects.

Charcoal Techniques for Costumed Figure Drawing
Join Francis Vallejo (Anansi Boys, Jazz Day, Figure Drawing Instructor at the College for Creative Studies) as he demonstrates a charcoal technique that uses 3 simple values to quickly block in a costumed figure. Suggested materials if you would like to draw along: compressed charcoal, white smooth drawing paper, rubber erasers, and vine charcoal.

Digital Portrait Painting
Join Stanley ‘Artgerm’ Lau for an hour of fun portrait painting demonstration and answer some of the tough questions regarding illustration & comic industry.

How to Make Six Figures by Selling Content Online
Content creators share their stories and learnings from making over $100k a year on Gumroad. Creators include Stan Prokopenko, Anthony Jones, Max Ulichney and Kalen Chock. Moderated by Gumroad founder Sahil Lavingia

Titmouse: D&D in the Writers Room
Playing a tabletop RPG can train you well for a writer’s room – both in TV and video games. Through fluid storytelling and improvisation, writers can develop great characters and story arcs in RPGs that go on to serve as invaluable skills in the professional writing world. Join owner of Titmouse, Chris Prynoski and other industry leaders as they take the audience through a live example of just how impactful a session of D&D can be on the creative writing process.

Creating for All Ages: Inside Netflix Animation Series
Netflix has extended its philosophy of empowering creators into the animation space, fueling the creation of new forms of storytelling for audiences of all ages. From innovative board-driven preschool titles like the upcoming series Go! Go! Cory Carson, family-friendly content like Green Eggs and Ham, adult series like Big Mouth and a new series for kids, Netflix’s portfolio of animated series reflects the company’s commitment to creative freedom and providing content that sparks joy for everyone. Join a panel of top animated series creators including Stanley Moore, Megan Dong, Jared Stern, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett and others as they share their visions and passion for their projects. Panel moderated by Jennifer Wolfe.

Character Design Representation: An Artistic Journey
A personal tour through childhood with Gabby Zapata (Disney Digital Network) to discover what makes us unique and how differences bring us closer.

Bringing a Character to Life
Take an in-depth look at Rafael Grassetti’s projects as he shares his process from designing a character using ZBrush to 3D printing using different projects as subjects.

Storyboarding with a Point of View
Storyboarding is all about having a perspective, whether it’s the artists’s own or the characters in the story. Join Maggie Kang as her talk concentrates on the importance of point of view in a storyboard- from big picture story, to sequence, to shot selection.

Our Journey
These artists (Phillip Boutte Jr, Peter Ramsey, Eric Ramsey, Marlon West and Marco Nelor) from across several entertainment platforms, including film, animation, games and visual FX, discuss their career trajectories and share their unique experiences navigating the broad entertainment landscape.

Magic with Watercolors
Iris Compiet (Faeries of the Faultlines) is lifting the veil of the Faeries of the Faultlines and shares her secrets on capturing a unique Faery creature using watercolors.

Set Design for Animation
Helen MingJue Chen has created extensive VisDev work for Disney and has contributed to comic book titles for Marvel and DC. Her background is in animation, and that’s also what this session is about: backgrounds in animation! Join Helen as she explores the ingredients of effective set design for animated worlds.

The Magic of Watercolor
Where he comes from, they call him the ‘Water Bender’ because of his control of watercolor. Join celebrated illustrator, Gonzalo Cárcamo, as he demonstrates masterful techniques and the magic of watercolor.

Storyboarding Across Multiple Mediums! TV Animation to Feature Films to Video Games and Beyond!

Creating Fantastical Characters in ZBrush
Join Quincy Vadan as he shows you how to create fantastical characters using ZBrush.

Life Drawing
What is the best way to loosen up? How can I push my gestures further? How can I simplify what it is I’m seeing? Join Stephen Silver for this one hour drawing session as he discusses and shares with you his approach to help answer these questions. Be prepared to do some drawing while learning fun techniques that you will be able to incorporate into all your future life drawing sessions.

Design for TV and Film
Neville Page will be sharing with you techniques used to create creatures, characters and props from films like Avatar, Star Trek Discovery, and Shazam, to name a few. You will walk away with a better understanding to his design process as well as his use of unique tools used in creating his designs. Some good info will be shared on high end cos play techniques as well.

Contemporary Costume Design for Video Games
Join Ashley Swidowski as she discusses the challenges and joys of creating contemporary silhouettes for video games. What is contemporary costume and how does it differ from other categories? How do you marry narrative and costume? What are the challenges of creating costumes within game production?

Lighting for Story
Join Sam Nielson as he teaches the critical components of lighting a scene so that it communicates and amplifies a story. Sam has worked for Blizzard, Sony Pictures Animation, Warner Brothers Games, Illumination Entertainment, Disney Interactive, Dreamworks TV, and Disney Imagineering.

Weta Workshop: Concept Design for Live Action
For over 25 years Weta Workshop has been making imagination a reality, as a facility that builds what we design for the entertainment industry.  This talk will follow our process of creating innovative story driven design from conception through to physical onset fabrication with James Doyle (3D Department/ Head of Department) and Paul Tobin (Senior Concept Artist/ Course Supervisor at Weta Workshop School).

Understanding the Visual Vocabulary of Storytelling
In visual storytelling — such as film and media — there are two types of Visual Vocabulary for communication: the Visual Vocabulary our audiences already know, and the Visual Vocabulary we teach our audience. Taught by one of the industry’s leading professionals, Marcelo Vignali, this presentation is essential for those who work in animation, live action, computer gaming and illustration. If you want to learn how to create effective designs that tell a story, this presentation is a must.

How to Prepare for a Career in Animation Today
How do you prepare yourself to join today’s competitive animation industry? Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi (former Pixar art directors, The Dam Keeper, Co-Founders of Tonko House) share their view on the future of the ever evolving animation industry from their perspective and share their experiences transitioning from art directors at Pixar to starting their own independent studio, Tonko House.

Expanding your Medium: Concept Art with Pencils, Inks, and Screen Tone
Creating concept art doesn’t have to be done in the same way each time. Here, we will explore alternative forms of concept art using pencil, ink, and screen tone paper to create expressive concepts for the visual development pipeline.

Cooking Up an Animated Short: Finding the Right Ingredients
Making an animated short is difficult. Starting your own animation studio in order to create that short can be an overwhelming endeavor. Jalil Sadool, with 15 years experience working as lead animator on projects like James Cameron’s Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and How To Train Your Dragon 2, left the industry to start Steamroller Studios with two former industry colleagues. Some people say Jalil is the only person they know who has stumbled upon an animation studio only to wake up one morning and find he was running it! In this Lightbox talk, you will learn about how the world of Spice Frontier was created: from its characters, to their relationships, and the story itself (which came about thanks to Jalil’s love of both food and science fiction). You will also learn all about creating an animation studio, building relationships between team members, and cultivating the world-class talent needed to succeed in this industry. You will be able to watch Spice Frontier in full during the talk.

Character Sketching Demo
Join Dela Longfish (God of War, Star Wars 1313, Star War Force Awakens.) as he sketches a range of characters from imagination.

Building Better Worlds
As a busy Art Director, Raphael LaCoste rarely has time to linger over a painting. He shares tips on how to paint an effective scene when pressed for time, and how to stylise environments. Raphael discusses his processes and explores the ins and outs of Procreate through the lens of his breathtaking paintings.

Photoshop Brushcraft: Transfigure Your Painting Practice
Illustrator, toolmaker and former Adobe Creative Resident Syd Weiler demystifies Photoshop brushmaking. This hands-on session provides a comprehensive overview of the Photoshop brush-building suite for everyone from apprentice to master magician. Get comfortable with creating new brushes and tweaking old favorites to match. Be inspired to incorporate elements of your environment for unique and personal tools that do the work for you. Discover the depths of the interface between Photoshop and the new Fresco painting app. Walk away knowing how to conjure perfect brushes to charm your workflow.

Polishing All of Your Artistic Facets
Developing all of your artistic abilities and how to use them in your career. Craig Elliott will show you how to take any interest or skill you have and use it in your art and artistic career by showing examples of methods he and other artists have used to prosper from these abilities.

Drawing Technique for Story
A 90 minute demo with Louie del Carmen focusing on developing skills, technique and philosophy essential in executing animation storyboards. Also, covering essential topics like line quality, perspective, composition, workflow tips and more.

Drawing from Life
Drawing from observation is a key component to being a well rounded representational artist. Coro will cover a few different approaches and techniques he uses when drawing from life. Drop by and pick up a few non-nonsense tricks that can help you to achieve greater accuracy in your drawing.

Marvel Panel
Panelists include Andy Park, Ryan Meinerding, Jackson Sze, Anthony Francisco, Rodney Fuentebella, Karla Ortiz and Jana Schirmer. Hosted by Iain McCaig.    Between these artists, they are some of the key members of Marvel Studios’ visual development for the entire lifespan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the most successful shared universe of franchises and stories in film history! The work of this team of Hollywood’s mightiest artists have generated billions in box office and shaped the movie industry for over a decade! Come join in the discussion as they talk about their work at Marvel Studios and answer your questions!

Storytelling Through Crowdfunding
Join head of story, author and illustrator, Brian Kesinger and publisher Bob Self as they share their insights on how to tell a story through crowdfunding campaigns to engage your audience and meet your goals.

Costume Concept Art for Motion Picture
What truly defines a character? Is it their personality? Their virtue? Their style? One might argue that the defining benchmark of any successful character design starts with their costume. Phillip Boutte Jr. will break down what it is like to work with Hollywood Costume Designers to come up with the signature looks as well as share key processes that he uses to create his finished pieces.

Living the Dream –  Visual Development Journeys At Dreamworks
Dreamworks Artists: Soyun Park, Ellen Jin, Avner Geller, and Floriane Marchix share how they became Visual Development artists, talk about their roles, the challenges they face, and offer advice.

Deconstructing Art Direction
A practical behind-the-scenes look at being an art director in publishing: the daily concerns of the job, finding artists, and examples from thumbnail to final cover.

Respawn Entertainment Panel – The Artist’s Journey
Join this artist panel from the new Star Wars original game JEDI: Fallen Order coming this November. Follow 6 artists from different backgrounds as they discuss their artistic journey into the entertainment industry.

Panelist includes:
Lead Concept Artist: Jordan Lamarre-Wan (Disney Interactive, Reel FX, Kojima Productions, Respawn)
Senior Hard Surface Artist: Tim Wallace (Blur, SOE, id Software, Riot Games, Treyarch, Respawn)
Lead Character Artist: Lars Martinson (Avalanche, Crytek, ILM, Respawn)
Senior Environment Artist: Jobye Karmaker (Ubisoft, Monolith, Respawn)
Animator: Laure Retif (Dreamworks Animation, MPC, Luma Pictures, Psyop, Infinity Ward, Respawn)
Senior Skybox Artist: HanHee Lee (Bioware, 343 Industries, Monolith, Respawn)

SCOOB!: The Re-Imagining of a Classic
For 50 years Scooby-Doo has been imagined and re-imagined, with no two shows looking exactly alike. In ” SCOOB!,” the first full- length, theatrical animated Scooby-Doo adventure, he and the Mystery Inc.gang get an updated look in a fully animated 3-D feature. Producer Pam Coats and Production Designer Michael Kurinsky share how the team is bringing the beloved 2-D characters into the 3-D world -making them feel fresh for a new generation of Scooby-Doo fans.

Oh My Gouache! Decades of Studying Light
Life the great teacher! This will be an opportunity to hear John Burton share his insights from decades of traveling the world studying from life the effects of light on form. He will show how he has been able to create an authentic effect of light in all his mediums from gouache and oil to his current digital work. This is a rare opportunity not to be missed.

Fill your Art with Character
Character design bursting with quirky personality is Max Ulichney’s passion. In this session, he’ll explore ways to create designs filled with color, humor, and humanity – all ingredients that factor into great character design and eye-catching illustration.

Clarity of Vision: Directing for Animation
Tony Bancroft (co-director of Mulan and co-host of The Bancroft Brothers Animation podcast) hosts a panel of talented directors of animation from features and TV. What are the skills needed to be a director in animation? How do you communicate your vision to a large crew of artistic talent? How do you work with executives, producers and studios? And what exactly does a director DO in animation? Bancroft looks for answers from the illustrious Trisha Gum (The Lego Movie 2), Clay Kaytis (Angry Birds Movie and The Christmas Chronicles), Rodney Rothman (Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, 21 Jump Street) and Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch, HTTYD and The Croods).

Yingjue Linda Chen: Character Sketching and Ideation with Adobe Fresco
Join Yingjue Linda Chen as she gives a demo of how to approach early development and character sketching and ideation for animation with built in sketching tools by Adobe Fresco.

Live Performance Demo and Lecture
Come join Michal Makarewicz as he animates a performance shot in Maya using the layered method. Live and in real time!

Story Driven Character Creation in ZBrush
Matt “The Redbeard”

Inside the Animation Studio: Understanding Roles, Responsibilities and Ethics in Respect Towards the Artist
A roundtable-type discussion with questions from the audience about roles, the responsibilities and ethics towards artists. Speakers: John Nevarez, Stephen Silver, Armand Baltazar

Firestarter Panel: Networking in the Creative Community
Professionals discuss their approach to make connections at events and online and tell about their experience on what is important to make an impression to find the right job at the right place or the best possible client. Speakers: Ben Mauro, Yangtian Li, Armand Serrano, Maxx Burman and Peter Han. Hosted by Banks Boutté.

Cinematic Storytelling
Feature Film storytelling can be a long and bumpy road, and after 22 years at Pixar, I’ve learned there are many ways to carve a way to a great film. One has to overcome the challenges of world building, character creation, setting a scene, connecting the dots, and ultimately creating an entertaining and engaging piece of storytelling that an audience will enjoy. A story team has many tools to utilize on their journey – Staging & Composition, Editing, Writing, Acting, and many others to help along the way. This presentation will dive into some of the ways these tools can be used and what I’ve learned battling in the story trenches alongside incredible artists and directors over the years.

Keyframe Art for Film
Story! Story! Story! This workshop will explore the goal of film design, which is Illustrating and enhancing the story. Senior Concept Designer Christian Alzmann will share how to put story at the center of every decision you make as a designer and how to create and arrange the visual elements needed to communicate the story.

Letting Go and Embracing your Purpose
We live in a society where many have been unable to find their creative-purpose in life. While we all begin as artists, many are either swayed or never take the risk to take the leap of faith–often afraid of the pitfall below. With this talk, I hope to share a perspective that’s been around for many centuries, and hopefully it could change how you envision not only your dreams and goals–but your very purpose in this odd game of Life as well.

Designing Baby Groot
Join Marvel Studios Senior Visual Development Artist Anthony Francisco as he walks you through the design process of Baby Groot, Loki and Dora Milaje in this eye opening presentation.

Designing in Clay
Join Andrea Blasich for a live 90 minute demonstration of physically designing in clay

Animal Life Drawing: Journey the Ambassador Wolf
Join us for this unique opportunity to meet and draw “Journey” the Ambassador Wolf up close and personal with Charlotte Belland.

Painting Environments in Procreate
Art Director and Concept Artist Nikolai Lockertsen creates vibrant, larger-than-life works on the go using Procreate on the iPad. Join him as he details his workflow step-by-step, from thumbnailing a concept through to bringing a richly-detailed environment to life.

Artists & YouTube
Join Laura Price, Sinix, Ross Tran and Stan Prokopenko as they share their life as both artists and YouTubers. Hosted by Matt Johnson.

Finding Your Way Without Losing Yourself
This all-female panel will discuss the perils and challenges of forging a career in the arts and animation industry. Join us for advice, support and solidarity, and to learn about the many ways to find your path and identity as a creative.

Digital Painting
Request day! Aaron Blaise lets the audience request what they want to see subject and character wise.

Adding Charm to Character Illustration
Learn how to take a simple character design and turn it into an illustration with, well, character!

Concept Art Awards
The Concept Art Association invites you to a night of celebration at the Concept Art Awards Presented by LightBox Expo. Hosted by Jonah Ray (Mystery Science Theater 3000, Nerdist), nominees from six categories will be honored by their peers and curated judges, along with celebrating lifetime achievements to the pioneers of our field and the professional work created during this years submission process. The awards themselves are created by CAA’s Premiere Sponsor, Legacy Effects.

 

SUNDAY

Sony Pictures Animation: The Making of “Hair Love”
Join the filmmakers for a screening and behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Hair Love,” a touching animated short film about an African American father learning to do his daughter’s hair for the first time. “Hair Love” is a collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation that was launched by director Matthew A. Cherry as a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 with a fundraising goal of $75,000. Strong support led to the campaign amassing nearly $300,000, making it the most highly-funded short film campaign in Kickstarter history. Speakers: Matthew Cherry (director/writer/producer),  Karen Toliver (producer) and Stacey Newton (producer)

Illumination: An International Perspective – How Illumination Collaborates All Over the World
Learn from Brad Ableson (Co-Director of Minions: The Rise of Gru), Momo Wang (Creative Director), Jamie Kapili (Director of Development), Kelly Lake (Associate Producer), Lia Abbate (Story Supervisor), and Travis Ruiz (Visual Development Artist) on how Illumination partners all over the world to tell global stories and how their roles have an international reach.

Mach 5 and Only The Cream: Storyboarding the Worlds of The Incredibles & Incredibles 2
Story Supervisor Ted Mathot will share his experience of working with Brad Bird, Mark Andrews, and the story teams on Incredibles 1 and 2, including story and scene development, storyboarding lessons, storyboard rough animatics, deleted scenes, leading a team, and a few choice stories.

Cartooning from Life
Gesture drawings are the animator’s exercises to ensure healthy artistic muscles. Join animator, designer, cartoonist Dean Yeagle for a one hour costumed life drawing session.

Story Time!
Join Iain McCaig and Mishi McCaig for an hour of hot tips on Visual Storytelling, as well as behind-the-scenes tales of their creative collaborations in the Film Industry.

Creating a Parallax Illustration using Procreate and Code
Coding meets Jarom Vogel’s whimsical, energetic art style to give his environments the illusion of life. Based on his popular Skillshare class, this session will take artists through the process of coding a parallax illustration using images created in Procreate. Code will be provided.

Drawing and Thoughts
Claire Wendling will be doing a traditional style live demo, where she will show her process and provide tips as she goes along.

Composicion para narradores visuales
Conferencia sobre el arte de componer visualmente tomas cinematograficas para contar historias, esto incluye pela

Building & Selling your Animated Pitch
How do you engage and hook the networks into buying into your vision?  Join Jim Bryson, Adam Jeffcoat, and Rob Hoegee Emmy award winning co-creators of Niko and the Sword of Light. Hosted by Matt Lyon, creator of Arctic Dogs.

A Fly on the Wall
Filming artists in their process can be a tricky task, as you don’t want to intrude nor contrive them into doing something that is forced or unnatural. To create an environment that allows for the story to unfold naturally, you have to let them be, and yet be prepared. This lecture will focus on the filming process used for several on my documentaries, with examples and fun anecdotes. Hosted by Loic Zimmermann.

Color and Form Design for Feature Film
How can you create unique color palettes? Finnian MacManus will guide you through a journey showing how to develop a sense for color and design for film- Techniques for both students and professionals, as well as life experience and process.

Drawing and Painting Characters
Kelsey Eng will be demonstrating how to create a character concept and bring it to life with color using Photoshop.

Introduction to Textures
How would you paint something slimy? How would you make something look metallic? Textures are a key visual tool in an artist’s repertoire. In this interactive and fun session, Jonathan Hardesty breaks down his methodology and approach to capturing various textures.

Sketching with Intention
Sketching for many can be thought of as spilling ideas on a page, or waiting for something to happen. But having clear intention whether based on the modes of study, exploration, or story can help you break past walls and keep you focused on goals. Join Peter Han in a discussion and demo on sketching with a purpose.

Light and Color
As a VisDev artist at Sony, Disney, Dreamworks, Laika and more, Zac Retz is no stranger to creating environments rich with vibrance, energy and impact. In this session, he will demonstrate his environment process, focusing on the stars of the show: color and lighting.

Gesture Drawing
This short workshop is for students of all levels that want to turn up their gesture drawing skills by Gesture drawing with a Story Emphasis. During the Workshop we will draw from a model, students will get live feedback, and Louis Gonzales will demo a few approaches to telling stories with your Gestures. So bring your sketchbooks, iPads or whatever you sketch with and let’s turn Gestures into Stories!

Pixar presents Bo is Back – A Journey Through the Growth and Re-invention of Bo Peep
It’s been 20 years since we last saw Bo Peep and her sheep with Woody and the gang. Come hear from Team Bo members who helped lead the way in her re-design and animation for Toy Story 4. Speakers: Becki Tower & Carrie Hobson

Knowing More About Knowsmore
Join Animator Jason Figliozzi and Clean Up Key Rachel Bibb of Walt Disney Animation Studios as they autofill you in on the search history behind blending CG and Hand-Drawn Animation to create everyone’s favorite search engine scholar, Knowsmore from Ralph Breaks The Internet.

Going Indie – How to Make a Living Without Working for Anyone
Do you need to choose between creative fulfillment and getting paid? Maybe not. In 2014,  Peter Mohrbacher quit a career in the game industry to pursue a new career that allowed him total creative control. There is a growing community of indie artists that are succeeding without the need for freelance clients, galleries or the entertainment industry. Peter will be getting into specifics about why he chose this path and how it’s possible to make it financially viable.

Environmental Design Panel
Join Helen MingJue Chen, Craig Mullins, Sunmin Inn and Samantha Kallis as they discuss Environmental Design. Hosted by Betsy Bauer.

Best of Both Worlds: Traditional Painting & Industrial Design Workflows in Infinite Painter
Jama Jurabaev (The Mandalorian, Star Wars) will discuss his initial impressions of infinite painter and his usages of it. Andrew Theophilopoulos (Digital Nomad | Principal Artist Infinite Painter) demonstrates an organic workflow of traditional Alla Prima oil painting on the IPad. Yariv Newman (Concept Artist | Core Product Development Team Infinite Painter) will demonstrate industrial design techniques utilizing perspective mapping and other advanced features. Infinite Painter is a versatile mobile painting app with a slick interface, natural brushes, realistic blending, and an expansive toolset for both iOS and Android.

New Generation of Creative Pipelines
David “vyle” Levy spends a good amount of time testing software for creators all year long in order to speed up his own pipeline. Join him for a presentation and painting demo, during which he will go through all the ones he tested and abandoned so you don’t have to!   This presentation will cover:  – The Right Tool for the Right Job  – Current Tendencies  – Future Trends  – Prices Involved in Making a Choice  – Movie Industry Software vs. Animation Industry Software  – Painting Demo

What You Do Wrong and What You Don’t See
In this inspirational talk Darek Zabrocki and Michal Kus, founders and teachers at Focal Point School will take you behind the curtain and share with you a unique look on the reality within the entertainment industry. They will both share experiences on: “how to avoid”, “how to overcome”, “how to change your mindset”

Painting a Character Scene in Procreate
Join Art Director and Concept Artist Nikolai Lockertsen as he demonstrates the creation of his rich and quirky character designs, and explores the techniques of creating an environment that complements and reinforces your character.

The Power of Great Tools
With great tools you can achieve great things. Understanding the strengths of the software you use will help you get the most out of it. Also relying on your skills and workflows to help build confidence and consistency with your work, regardless of application.

How to Approach Stylized Environment Art
Join Danar Worya as he shows you how to make stylized environment art using different mediums.

Maxon presents Innovative Approaches to VR and 3D Design
With new emerging technology such as VR coming to the forefront, learn how a collection of concept artists are using it in new and innovative ways within their creations. Discuss along with industry leading designers, how to incorporate and use 3D to solve complex design challenges and bring new worlds to life. Speakers: Brandon Parvini, James Ramirez, Blake Kathryn, Brianne Gagg, Steve Teeple, Finnian MacManus, Saiful Haque. Moderated by Mathias Omotola

Five Shots
How do we tell a story visually? How do images convey more information than we find on a page of script? Join Mark Andrews as he shares what he’s learned in his 25 years in the entertainment industry taking a close look at sequential storytelling and the use of visual progression to order information and build towards points of emphasis that impact and support the story being told.

How to Tell Stories through Illustrations
Telling stories is a fundamental part of human history and culture. But how do we effectively communicate stories through images? How do we evoke emotions and establish a connection with the viewer? What techniques can we use to turn our vague ideas into finished illustrations? These are just some of the questions that we will be discussing. If you’re curious to learn more, join Djamila Knopf’s talk “How to Tell Stories Through Illustrations”

CGMA Panel: The Future of Digital Arts Education
A Conversation about Art Education in the 21st Century. Speakers: Nathan Fowkes (Schoolism) Edward Quintero (Model 3D Academy), Kevin Chen (Concept Design Academy), Guillaume Champavere (Emile Cohl), John Park (Brainstorm), Lilliams Garcia (CG Master Academy) and Ted Davis (CG Master Academy). 

 This panel will focus on the future of Digital Art Education. Of the fifteen most expensive schools in the nation, eleven of them are art schools. Fewer- and fewer -industries are relying on college degrees as a prerequisite for employment.  

 What role- if any -does formal education play in our industry in the future? Between the student protest, to walkouts, is it safe to assume that we are at some tipping point? And if so, what can be done about it? Lastly, the panel will assess formal educations’ significance to today’s entertainment industry and- more broadly -its efficiency as a surrogate to formal education.

Watercolor, spots that suggest shapes
Gonzalo Cárcamo is an artist and illustrator who lives in São Paulo, Brazil.  Known for his famous watercolor techniques and illustrated books, he will show us his process of creating a detailed traditional watercolor painting.

Simple Storyboarding
Michael Daley (Pixar Story Artist)  talks about simple tips and tricks that will keep you moving forward on your storyboarding projects.

Combining 3D with Illustration
Keeping up with the demands of production in a fast paced industry, 3d is being integrated into the field of illustration. Join concept artist Justin Goby Fields as he demonstrates how he incorporates Zbrush into his Illustrations and answers audience questions.

Working with Appeal
Join Pernille Orum (WB’s ‘DC Super Hero Girls’, ‘Hit-Girl in Hollywood’) as she shares her journey to become a freelance artist working for the larger companies and her approach to character design and colors.

Costume Design Panel
Join Neysa Bove, Griselda Sastrawinata-Lemay, Yangtian Li and Imogene Chayes as they discuss their experience as a costume designer. Hosted by Philip Boutte Jr.

Ideas Unlimited
Where do ideas come from, and what do you do when they seem to run dry? Welcome to Iain McCaig’s highly interactive demo, where he will share his tricks for generating ideas on demand, and supercharge the quest for never-ending inspiration.

Cinematic Storytelling for Film and Comics
Award-nominated animator, writer, director, and comic book creator Stephan Franck (The Iron Giant, SILVER) presents his approach to visual storytelling, and how to bring clarity, emotion, drama and cinematic impact to the storyboard and the comic page.

Drawing Exercises – Putting Theory into Action
Join Viktor Kalvachev as he guides you through a few easy to learn exercises that will put you on the path to mastering your pencil technique.

Netflix Original Animated Films: Spotlight on Klaus, The Willoughbys, Over the Moon
Join us to hear production designers and other lead artists share the creative approaches behind Sergio Pablos’ passion project Klaus, Kris Pearn’s quirky comedy The Willoughbys, and Glen Keane’s feature directorial debut Over the Moon. Netflix’s director of character animation James Baxter will present a lineup of speakers who will share early insights into their overall approach to designing the worlds for these upcoming Netflix original animated features. Highlighted speakers include Klaus production designers Marcin Jakubowski & Szymon Biernacki (in a video presentation), The Willoughbys production designer Kyle McQueen joined by lead artists Aniket Natekar and Helen Ahlberg, and Over the Moon production designer Celine Desrumaux.

Picking up the iPad
Follow Nicholas Kole on a walkthrough of his character design work, with a focus on how he adapted his illustrative process from Photoshop to Procreate. He discusses taking the leap, shares the unique strengths of Procreate, and answers audience questions with live demonstrations.

Concept Design Workshop in Adobe Fresco and Photoshop: Finnian MacManus
This workshop will show the benefits of painting with Adobe Fresco, while also showing the illustration process in Photoshop that Finnian uses on a daily basis. Attendees will get feedback and support on their own sketches and will get to try out the Fresco software.

Background to Foreground: A Discussion with the Concept Artists of The Art Directors Guild
Insights into the Unique Stories, Interests, and Professional Practices of several of the top Feature Film Concept Artists in Local 800. Speakers: Andrew Kim, Raj Rihal, Shae Shatz and Dean Sherriff. Moderated by Matthew Cunningham

New Problems Require New Solutions
In this presentation, Cody Gramstad will talk about the trials and errors of coming up with creative solutions in the new medium of VR. He will do this by exploring the lighting design for the Emmy Award winning VR short Asteroids! and demoing the production design approach of four time Emmy Award winning VR short Crow: The Legend by Baobab Studios.

Wheel of Death
The ‘Wheel of Death’ is a fun demo/exercise. Watch the legend, Crash McCreery spin a wheel of random descriptions and create concepts from whatever the wheel lands on!

Costumed Figure Painting
Join in on this costumed figure painting session with Karla Ortiz (Dr.Strange, Avengers Endgame, MTG). This class is uninstructed but Karla’s painting will be put on screen so we encourage everyone to come paint along with her or just come and watch a top level professional at work.

Impact of Character Design & World in Mobile Games
How do you make your mobile game stand out from thousands of other alternatives? Mobile has become the largest platform for gaming with billions of users which have thousands of games to choose from. In such a crowded and competitive market, character design, building a story, and creating a world for users has become one of the primary differentiators of quality for players. Join BaÅŸar Muluk, Art Director at Peak on how the characters and the world in one of the most popular mobile games was conceived and created.

The Idea Factory
If you’ve ever struggled with a tough brief, this is the panel for you. Our experts share techniques for ideation breakdown, methods for exploring new ideas and concepts within the confines of a brief, and how to handle the challenges you may meet along the way.

Illustrating for Children’s Books
Steph Laberis, Anoosha Syed and Elsa Chang discuss their experience working on children’s books for a variety of publishers. Hosted by Lily Williams.

Animation Visual Development Panel
Join Brittney Lee, Brittany Myers, Lorelay Bove, as they share their experiences working as an animation visual development artist. Hosted by Tuna Bora.

Concept Art for Films
Jama Jurabaev (Starwars, Ready Player One, Jurassic World 2) shares his workflow and experience working as a concept artist for film.

Making Splash Art (for League of Legends)
League of Legends has some of the best splash art in the industry. Interested in learning how these artist create the art that everyone loves? Join Riot Games Senior Illustrator, Alvin Lee, as he takes you through his thoughts and process.

Acrylic Fantasy Painting
Join award winning Magic the Gathering illustrator Jesper Ejsing for a talk and demo about how he approaches traditional fantasy illustration with acrylic paint!

Animation Superstars!
Brooke Keesling (Animation Guild & ASIFA Hollywood VP and longtime Animation Talent Development for Cartoon Network & Disney) will lead a lively discussion with animation giants, Jorge Gutiérrez (Director & Executive Producer: Book of Life, Maya and the Three, Son of Jaguar, El Tigre), Jeanette Moreno King (Storyboard Artist & Director: Alien News Desk, Disenchantment, Futurama), Alonso Ramirez Ramos (Director, Executive Producer: Steven Universe: The Movie, Disney’s Mickey Mouse shorts, Gravity Falls), Charlotte Jackson (Storyboard Artist: Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Looney Tunes Cartoons, Billy Dilly), Matt Price (Writer, Story Editor: Regular Show, Apple & Onion, Final Space)

Creating Animal Characters in Fresco
In this demo, Lynn Chen will show her process of designing cute animal characters from sketching to colors. She will draw inspirations from reference photos and exaggerate the shapes and gestures. The process will be focused on volumetric drawing, lighting and exaggeration, while also showcasing how Fresco helps to make drawings fun and easy.

Character Design Demo
Join Aaron Blaise for an 60 minutes character design demo and Q&A from the audience.