SEAN ECKOLS



WORK EXPERIENCE

FREELANCE CLIENTS: DREAMWORKS ANIMATION, DUNCAN STUDIOS, CLOUD 10 STUDIOS, NETFLIX, HASBRO, ON ANIMATION, BAOBAB STUDIOS

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION – Glendale, CA 2023
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT - Concept, Design

CLOUD 10 STUDIOS – Dallas, TX 2023
DEVELOPMENT PROJECT - Concept, Design

BASE FX – Xiamen, PRC 2020 - 2023
LORD OF THE WEST - Production design
WISH DRAGON 2 - Production design

ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN – Pasadena, CA 2020
Adjunct Professor, Entertainment Design

AQUAMEN LLC – Hollywood, CA 2019 - 2020
KONG THE BEGINNING - Concept, Visual Development

NETFLIX ANIMATION – Burbank, CA 2020
LEO - Concept, Visual Development

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION – Glendale, CA 2018 – 2019
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON HOMECOMING - Design, Visual Development

SONY PICTURES ANIMATION – Culver City, CA 2012 – 2018
THE LEGEND OF SMURFY HOLLOW - Production Design
OPEN SEASON SCARED SILLY - Production Design (Vancouver)
THE STAR - Art Direction, Design, Visual Development (Montreal)
SURF’S UP 2: WAVEMANIA - Design, Visual Development
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE - Visual Development
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 - Visual Development
VARIOUS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS - Visual Development

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION – Glendale, CA 2008 – 2012
KUNG FU PANDA 2  - Visual Development, Design
KUNG FU PANDA SECRETS OF THE SCROLL - Visual Development, Design
KUNG FU PANDA SECRETS OF THE MASTERS  - Visual Development, Design
KUNG FU PANDA SECRETS OF THE FURIOUS FIVE - Visual Development, Design
KUNG FU PANDA HOLIDAY SPECIAL - Visual Development, Design
MERRY MADAGASCAR - Visual Development, Design
VARIOUS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS - Visual Development

SECRET PLAN STUDIOS – Glendale, CA 2012
Animated television commercial - Art Direction

DUNCAN STUDIO – Pasadena, CA 2007 – 2008
Visual Development, Generalist on various projects

9 LLC – Pasadena, CA 2007
9 Feature Film - Visual Development, Design

THE HENSON COMPANY – Hollywood, CA 2007
TJ Bearytales – Lighting and Compositing, Generalist

WALT DISNEY FEATURE ANIMATION – Burbank, CA 1997 – 2007
JOE JUMP (released as WRECK IT RALPH) - Visual Development
AMERICAN DOG (released as BOLT) - Visual Development
MEET THE ROBINSONS - Lighting and Compositing
CHICKEN LITTLE - Visual Development, Look Development, Lighting and Compositing
TREASURE PLANET - Visual Development, Look Development, Lighting and Compositing
TARZAN - Look Development, Lighting TD, 2D and 3D Backgrounds

3DJOE – San Francisco, CA
Design and creation: 3D environments, textures, lighting and animation for educational title

BLAM Gaming Development – San Francisco, CA
3D environments, characters and textures for 3D games

ILLUSIONS GAMING – Sausalito CA
2D and 3D animation, modeling and texture map painting

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

ART CENTER COLLEGE OF DESIGN - Pasadena, CA Adj. Professor, Ent. Design
TECNOLOGICO DE GUADALAJAR - Guadalajara, MX. Advisor in animation design
DISNEY AND DREAMWORKS - Drawing, sculpture and digital media instructor
GNOMON SCHOOL OF VISUAL EFFECTS - Hollywood, CA Instructor, Lighting
ACADEMY OF ART COLLEGE - San Francisco, CA Drawing and Sculpture workshops instructor, TA

EDUCATION
BFA Sculpture and Illustration - Academy of Art University
San Francisco, Deans Honor List
JAMES SANFORD MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP San Francisco Society of Illustrators
STUDIO ASSISTANT to Milton Hebald Sculptor Rome, Italy
ASSOCIATE IN ARTS Commercial Art and Illustration
College Of San Mateo, Deans Honor List

COMPUTER SKILLS
Photoshop, Maya, Blender, etc.

LANGUAGES
Fluent in English, Spanish and Italian, beginner in Mandarin.

I have worked as a visual development artist, art director and production designer on animated feature films, shorts, television, commercials and video games. I have experience leading art teams and working with production in house as well as with vendors (on location abroad and remotely). Having worked in several departments at various stages in my career I am also fully versed in the production pipeline process, from pre-production through post production. My visual development portfolio showcases a diverse selection of my work, and I am always happy to provide a more comprehensive professional portfolio of my latest work upon request. 

I am available for freelance, consulting or full-time work.

 ABOUT ME

I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN CARACAS, VENEZUELA. I GRADUATED WITH A BACHELORS OF FINE ARTS DEGREE IN ILLUSTRATION AND SCULPTURE FROM THE ACADEMY OF ART UNIVERSITY IN SAN FRANCISCO.

I LIVED AND WORKED IN ROME, ITALY WERE I WORKED AND STUDIED UNDER THE TUTELAGE OF MASTER CONTEMPORARY FIGURE SCULPTOR MILTON HEBALD, A THIRD GENERATION STUDENT OF AUGUSTE RODIN. IN ADDITION I HAVE HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE OF ASSISTING AND/OR APPRENTICING WITH SEVERAL OTHER PROFESSIONAL PAINTERS AND SCULPTORS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA.

MY CAREER AS A DIGITAL ARTIST BEGAN WORKING FOR THE VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY IN AND AROUND SAN FRANCISCO. I RELOCATED TO LOS ANGELES TO WORK FOR WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS, LATER DREAMWORKS ANIMATION, SONY PICTURES ANIMATION AS WELL AS VARIOUS OTHER ANIMATION STUDIOS AS VISUAL DEVELOPMENT ARTIST, ART DIRECTOR AND PRODUCTION DESIGNER.

I RECENTLY RETURNED TO LOS ANGELES FROM XIAMEN, PRC. WHERE I WAS WORKING AS A PRODUCTION DESIGNER ON ANIMATED FILMS AS WELL AS CONCEPT AND VFX DESIGN FOR VARIOUS ANIMATED AND LIVE ACTION PROJECTS.

CONTACT

info(at)eckols.net