mike dietz – character animator - Mike Dietz Dot Com

mike dietz – character animator949.448.0653mike@slappypictures.comwww.mikedietz.comexperienceowner/animatorPencil Test Studioslake forest, ca, 2009 to present• Co-founder and animation director of an independent animation studio specializing in productionservices and content creation for games, television, film, web and mobile devices.• Art directed and animated on a broad range of projects in a wide variety of 2D, cg, stop motion andmixed media animation styles, working with high profile clients such as Disney, Pixar, Nickelodeon,McDonalds, Microsoft, and House of Moves.• Worked with numerous game development studios, providing game specific animation production andconsulting services, leveraging extensive experience working within game development pipelines.• Responsible for establishing and managing in-house and outsourced animation production.animation directorPapaya Studio irvine, ca, 2009• Brought in specifically as directing animator on a console game featuring Pixar’s Toy Story charactersin order to leverage my previous experience with the characters and with Pixar as a production partner.• Worked directly with Pixar creatives to ensure characters and game content remained true to thesensibilities of the original properties.• Responsible for recruiting, directing, mentoring and managing of animation team.animation director/principal animatorHeavy Iron Studios/THQ los angeles, ca, 2005 to 2007• Animation director and principal animator for high-profile interactive entertainment studio, specializingin the development of character driven games based on Pixar and Nickelodeon properties.• In addition to creating production animation assets, responsibilities included establishing andmanaging the studio’s animation department, overseeing all in-house and outsourced production, andalso planning of future projects and studio growth in collaboration with other studio directors.• Part of a small team directly responsible for establishing and maintaining creative relationships withproduction partners such as Pixar, ensuring productions effectively align with their creativesensibilities.• Responsible for recruiting, mentoring and managing all animation staff, collaborating with engineeringand art leads in development of project pipelines, tools and technologies, and directly participating inthe design, development and production of all in-house titles.• Project credits include: Pixar’s Up (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii), Pixar’s WALL-E (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii), AnnieAward winning Pixar’s Ratatouille (Xbox 360, PS3), The Incredibles, Rise of the Underminer (Xbox,PS2, GameCube)freelance animator/illustratorSlappy Pictureslaguna niguel, ca, 1995 to present• Founder and managing director of contract animation studio specializing in cel, stop-motion and cganimation. Services offered range from pre-production to post, including character and prop design,background styling, illustration, layout and posing, storyboards, animatics, clean up, full animation in avariety of media, digital ink and paint, compositing and digital post production.• Projects include television series, short films, commercial spots, theme parks and location basedentertainment, feature film title sequences, corporate videos, interactive entertainment titles andanimation for the web and mobile devices.• Partial client list includes: Walt Disney Imagineering, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, The Jim HensonCo., Vinton Studios, Disney Interactive, DreamWorks, LucasArts, The Wall Street Journal, andDouglas R. TenNapel, Inc.

animation director/animation leadThe Collective irvine, ca, 2003 to 2005• Animation director and animation project lead for cutting edge interactive entertainment studio,producing production animation assets as well as managing several animation teams across studio’sconcurrent development of multiple titles.• Responsible for recruiting, mentoring and managing animation staff, collaborating with tech and artleads in development of project pipelines, tools and technologies, and participating in the design,development and production of all in-house titles.• Also responsible for supervising all in-house and outsourced animation production, working directlywith individual animation leads and project producers, while also personally creating animation assets.• Project credits include: Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith (Xbox, PS2), Mark Ecko’s GettingU.P. (PS2), and Wrath Unleashed (Xbox, PS2).directorVinton Studios, “The PJs” portland, or, 1999 to 2001• Episode director of “The PJs”, a half-hour, stop-motion animated television series produced for FoxTelevision/The WB Network.• Responsibilities included visual development of episodes and supervising all aspects of production,including storyboarding, v.o. recording, animatic, sets, puppets and props, lighting, animation, editingand post production.producer/director/supervising animatorThe Neverhood mission viejo, ca, 1995 to 1998• Co-founder of award winning interactive entertainment company specializing in stop-motion puppetand clay animation.• Set up studio from scratch, supervised all animation production and collaborated with programmers indevelopment of proprietary technologies required to produce a stop-motion PC game.• The company’s first project, The Neverhood Chronicles, won Best Animation on a Game Platform atthe World Animation Celebration.• Project credits include: The Neverhood Chronicles (PC CD-ROM), Skullmonkeys (Sony PlayStation),and Boombots (Sony PlayStation).animation directorShiny Entertainment laguna beach, ca, 1993 to 1995• Director of animation and lead animator for award winning interactive entertainment companyspecializing in traditional cel animation.• Responsible for setting up and managing the company’s animation department and supervising bothstaff and freelance animation artists.• Collaborated with programmers in development of proprietary animation software and processes fordigitizing traditional animation for use on video game platforms.• Project credits include: Earthworm Jim (Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, PC CD-ROM), Earthworm JimCD (Sega CD), and Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Sega Saturn, PC CD-ROM).supervising animatorVirgin Interactive Entertainment irvine, ca, 1991 to 1993• Director of animation for interactive entertainment company specializing in cel and computeranimation.• Responsible for setting up and managing the company’s animation department and supervising bothstaff and freelance animation artists.• Collaborated with programmers in development of proprietary animation software and processes.• Project credits include: Disney’s Aladdin (Sega Genesis), Disney’s Jungle Book (Sega Genesis, SuperNintendo), Cool Spot (Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo), Global Gladiators (Sega Genesis, SuperNintendo), Robocop vs. Terminator (Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo), and Monopoly Deluxe (Windowsand DOS).

educationsoftwarejohn watkiss master classes, los angeles, caanatomy and compositionsaddleback college, mission viejo, caadvanced life drawing, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004kuenster bros. school of animation, venice, caclassical animationgraphic artists’ guild, ny, nyprofessional education programillustration workshopsschool of visual arts, ny, nyadvertising art directionsyracuse university, syracuse, nybachelor of fine artsadvertising design/illustrationanimation/compositingmaya, 3ds max, flash, toon boom, digicel flipbook, after effects, premiere, vegas pro,dragonframe, deluxe animatorgraphics/illustrationphotoshop, sketchbook pro, painter, illustratorgame developmentunreal engine, unityaudio editingsoundbooth, sound forge, magpie promanagementalien brain, source safe, perforce, excel, filemakerinterestsanimation, drawing, video games, running, sound design, film study, animationreferencesavailable upon request