Animation and Production

YZ Tan started his career in 3D animation when he joined Southern Star’s satellite studio in Singapore to develop 3D-animated TV series. While working on these series, his interest in body mechanics bloomed, leading him to the games industry. He briefly joined Koei Entertainment Singapore before going to work for LucasArts at the end of 2006. Tan spent a year at LucasArts in San Francisco working on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, where he contributed to the 3D animation and previsualization using the studio’s proprietary game engine. He later returned to Singapore to join the new games team in Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, continuing to work on the game and other titles on various platforms.

Taking a break from production, Tan joined DigiPen’s Singapore campus in 2010 as a lecturer for the BFA program’s animation courses for junior and senior projects. What was intended to be a two-year break from production triggered a calling for a career change as he experienced a strong feeling of fulfillment as an educator. Tan has taught CG animation classes and project classes across all levels for the past nine years. While in Singapore, he supervised most of the individual and team 3D film projects and, more recently, the students’ 2D game projects, as well. In 2019, Tan joined DigiPen’s Redmond faculty as a senior lecturer.

Selected Game Credits

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3/Xbox 360)
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (PS3/Xbox 360)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Jedi Alliance (NDS)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes (NDS)
• The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition (iOS)
• Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge – Special Edition (iOS)

Jazno Francoeur’s career began in 1990, when he interned at the Walt Disney Feature Animation studio in Orlando, Florida. Upon graduating from Kansas City Art Institute in 1992, he began working at the Disney studios in Los Angeles, California. During that time, Francoeur worked on a number of films, including Lilo & Stitch, Tarzan, Mulan, Pocahontas, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, The Emperor’s New Groove, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Brother Bear, John Henry, and Roger Rabbit’s Trail Mix-Up, as well as the Aladdin video game for Sega Genesis and numerous other shorts, park projects, and commercials.

In 2004, Francoeur became an animation instructor at DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington. After transferring to DigiPen’s branch campus in Singapore in 2008, he was invited to a seven-month effects course at Lucasfilm Animation.

In addition to his career as an animator and educator, Francoeur is a performing musician (with his ensemble Mercymachine), a published poet, and an exhibiting photographer.

Film and Game Credits

• Brother Bear (2003)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002)
• John Henry (2000)
• The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
• Tarzan (1999)
• Mulan (1998)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
• Pocahontas (1995)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Trail Mix-Up (1993)
• Disney’s Aladdin for Sega Genesis (1993)
• Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Mark Henne joined DigiPen in 2012. He directs the MFA in Digital Arts program and teaches the senior animated film course in the BFA program, among other topics.

He started working in animation and visual effects in 1990 when he joined Rhythm & Hues Studios in Los Angeles. In 1994 he moved to Pixar, where he worked on the original Toy Story and continued there until coming to DigiPen. On Pixar’s Brave, he spent four years refining the technology and finished look of the hair and clothing. His major credits include Crowd and Simulation Supervisor for WALL-E and Hair and Cloth Simulation Supervisor on The Incredibles. His other projects include Ratatouille, Monsters, Inc., A Bug’s Life, and the short film The Blue Umbrella.

Henne has spoken in courses at SIGGRAPH about his work on Toy Story and Monsters, Inc., as well as co-authoring a Pixar technical report titled “Volumetric Methods for Simulation and Rendering of Hair.”

While at Rhythm & Hues in 1993, Henne earned a Primetime Emmy certificate for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Special Visual Effects, recognizing his work on the wormhole effect for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. His pioneering cloth animation for the 1992 Lexus “Car Cloth” commercial was included in the New York Museum of Modern Art’s presentation titled “The Art and Technique of the American Commercial.” Henne also worked on smooth skin articulation algorithms for the very first Coca Cola Polar Bears commercials.

Henne has an MS in Computer Science from the University of California Santa Cruz. His expertise is in using simulations to create organic movement in computer animation and the design and implementation of facial articulation software and controls.

Film Credits

• The Blue Umbrella (2013)
• Brave (2012)
• WALL-E (2008)
• Ratatouille (2007)
• The Incredibles (2004)
• Monsters, Inc. (2001)
• A Bug’s Life (1998)
• Toy Story (1995)

Pamela Mathues graduated with honors from the Columbus College of Art and Design with a major in illustration and minor in fine art. She worked for Walt Disney Feature Animation for more than 10 years, contributing to such films as The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear. She also worked on the 2D game The Act for Cecropia (now React Studios).

After that production, she moved west and became a Grand Canyon river guide and an award-winning photographer. She then moved with her husband to Washington to teach at DigiPen.

Film Credits

• Brother Bear (2003)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002)
• Mulan (1998)
• Pocahontas (1995)
• The Lion King (1994)

Matt Brunner started out as an artist with a BFA from the University of Colorado Boulder. He survived as a classic starving artist in Austin, Texas, for about 10 years showing in various galleries and museums until he finally gave in and got a job as an art director for an educational live-television production studio. This led him to graduate school to get a degree in computer animation and digital cinema (then a brand new field) at the Texas A&M Visualization Lab.

After getting his master’s degree, he went to a stop-motion animation studio in Portland, Oregon, called Will Vinton Studios (aka Laika) and founded the studio’s digital animation and VFX department. He directed and animated many high-profile commercial projects and short films, incorporating traditional animation media with digital and 3D characters and effects.

When video games began to emerge as a powerhouse animation and storytelling medium, Brunner decided leap to the next wave of innovation and work with a new, unreleased platform at Microsoft: the Xbox. He worked at Microsoft as an art director, cinematics director, and experience director on several projects, most notably on the game Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge. With the next wave of consoles, he left Microsoft and co-founded Airtight Games. He was the Chief Creative Officer at Airtight and Art/Animation/Cinematics Director on all their large console projects, including Dark Void and Murdered: Soul Suspect.

At DigiPen, Brunner has been teaching art direction, helping student artists learn how to make video games, coaching student teams, and advising BFA and MFA film and game projects. He also teaches Houdini as a game and film development tool.

He has been a featured speaker at many key conferences and industry shows, including SIGGRAPH, GDC, FMX, and the BAFTAs. He still stays actively engaged in all his art loves: painting, sculpture, animation, and film.

Selected Game Credits

• DragonSoul (PerBlue)
• Titan Empires (PerBlue)
• Murdered: Soul Suspect (Airtight Games)
• Dark Void (Airtight Games)
• Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (FASA Studio)

After watching various animated Disney films as a child, Richard Morgan was hooked on animation as an art form. In high school, he met two of his heroes, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, authors of The Illusion of Life, considered to be the bible of animation. They encouraged him to push for a sense of storytelling in his artwork.

In pursuit of his dream to be an artist, Morgan attended Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida. During the weekends and summers, he worked with Walt Disney Creative Entertainment, the theatrical and live performance division of Walt Disney Imagineering. In his spare time, he would do extensive study — in figure drawing class, the local zoo, or even at the mall — to sketch people and animals from life. In doing so, Morgan soon had a portfolio that would earn him a much sought-after internship with Walt Disney Feature Animation. After graduating, he earned a full-time position animating on feature films including The Lion King, Pocahontas, Hercules, Mulan, John Henry, Tarzan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, and others.

After more than a decade with Disney, he moved across the country to start his own company, Aspen Sienna Art Studio. Morgan and his wife opened a gallery and he painted plein-air/studio landscapes for five years in beautiful Montana. Before long, however, he realized he missed the energy and excitement of the animation industry (not to mention the warmer weather of Florida).

Teaching seemed like a good fit for him and he became an instructor of Design and Film Theory courses at his alma mater. He continued to paint and show in galleries throughout Northern Florida. Morgan eventually found his way to DigiPen Institute of Technology in Singapore. He taught there for three years before transferring to DigiPen’s Redmond campus as a senior lecturer.

Morgan enjoys the creative process and giving back to the next generation of artists and game and film developers. He currently teaches animation courses including Basic/Advanced Animation, Digital Painting, and 2D Film.

Film Credits

• Brother Bear (2003)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002)
• John Henry (2000)
• Tarzan (1999)
• Mulan (1998)
• Hercules (1997)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
• Pocahontas (1995)
• The Lion King (1994)

Chris Mosio’s career as a filmmaker began after graduating the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. Since then, he has worked as a professional cinematographer for 30 years.

Mosio has worked on nearly two-dozen feature films, from small independent projects (like The Gamers: Dorkness Rising) to Hollywood studio productions (Akeelah and the Bee). He’s had the good fortune to work with such talents as Will Smith, Lily Tomlin, Angela Bassett, and Laurence Fishburne, as well as the supreme privilege of filming some the most extraordinary ordinary people all around the world — amputees in Haiti, flood victims in Bangladesh, and people whose lives have been indelibly touched by cancer, right here in Seattle.

Documentary films are an important aspect of Mosio’s filmmaking background, and perhaps the genre he loves most. Mosio received an Emmy Award for his cinematography on the documentary film The Cultivated Life. He continues to find his voice and vision in filmmaking as well as teaching and mentoring young adults at DigiPen.

Dan Daly graduated from Whitman College in 1987 with a major in English and minor in political science. He went on to attend night school for three years at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where he studied traditional figure drawing. He also he attended a figure drawing workshop with Burne Hogarth at the Scottsdale Artists’ School.

In 1990, Daly submitted his portfolio to Walt Disney Feature Animation, and was chosen for a 16-week intensive internship at Disney’s Florida studio. After successfully completing the program, he returned to California and spent a year working as both a special effects inbetweener and character inbetweener for Kroyer Studios on the feature film FernGully: The Last Rainforest, and as a character inbetweener for Don Bluth Studios on the feature film Thumbelina.

Daly was then hired permanently by Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida. He spent 12 years at Disney, working his way up to the position of Key Assistant Animator, where he was responsible for leading crews of three to ten artists, as well as mentoring entry-level artists. Daly’s credits at Disney include Trail Mix-Up, The Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan, John Henry, Lilo & Stitch, and Brother Bear. While at Disney, Daly continued to attend figure drawing and painting sessions and workshops, as well as seminars on most aspects of filmmaking, including Bruce Block’s lectures on visual structure in filmmaking.

After Disney’s Florida studio closed, Daly began showing and selling some of his plein-air paintings at the Germanton Gallery in Germanton, North Carolina, and also completed several portrait commissions before moving to Wisconsin to become Supervising Animator at a small start-up studio. While animating during the day, he attended regular evening portrait painting sessions at the studio of Dan Gerhartz, a prominent oil painter. After two years in Wisconsin, Daly moved to Washington to begin his teaching career at DigiPen.

Daly is passionate about drawing and animation and enjoys sharing this passion with his students. His greatest pleasure in teaching is when he sees this passion take hold in a student.

Film Credits

• Brother Bear (2003)
• Lilo & Stitch (2002)
• John Henry (2000)
• Mulan (1998)
• Pocahontas (1995)
• The Lion King (1994)
• Trail Mix-Up (1993)
• FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992)

Antony de Fato teaches both introductory and advanced animation theories and techniques at DigiPen. He graduated from the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis on drawing and a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics for housing design.

De Fato began his pursuit of an animation career in 1987 by moving to Los Angeles and landing his first job in the industry at Walt Disney Feature Animation. In 1994, he moved to Florida to work at Disney’s animation studio in Orlando. After that studio shut down in 2004, he worked on freelance animation projects, including Stitch’s Great Escape for one of the Disney theme parks. In 2005, he was hired by Cecropia, a Boston game company, and worked at their Orlando-based studio on The Act, a hand-drawn arcade game. After that studio also closed, de Fato moved to Flagstaff, Arizona, where his wife was a whitewater river guide in the Grand Canyon. He joined DigiPen near the end of 2008.

“I come from an industry rather than an academic background, and although I miss the excitement of the production atmosphere, I enjoy teaching a subject I am passionate about and sharing that passion with students,” de Fato says. “It is most gratifying to see students grasping new concepts and to watch their growth as artists and animators. Working in the animation field was always a dream of mine, and hopefully, in some small way, I can help the students to realize their dreams, too.”

Film and Game Credits

• The Act (2006), Lead Animator
• Brother Bear (2003), Assistant Animator
• Lilo & Stitch (2002), Assistant Animator
• The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), Assistant Animator
• John Henry (2000), Assistant Animator
• Tarzan (1999), Assistant Animator
• Mulan (1998), Breakdown Artist
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Breakdown Artist
• Pocahontas (1995), Inbetweener

Ebae Kim graduated with a major in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, while also taking the 3D computer graphics program at Brown University. Once out of the academic environment, Kim began her broad career in communicating concepts and ideas through narration, art, game design, video, and user experience. Industries that she has worked in include comics, video games, corporate consulting, animation, live-action film, and board games.

Some of Kim’s notable clientele include Webtoon, where she launched her Webtoon Original series The Masked Fables, Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she worked at the MIT Game Lab to design and create artwork for the award-winning physics game A Slower Speed of Light, SpaceX where she created concept art, storyboards, and matte paintings for the interplanetary transport system launch video, and Wizards of the Coast where she created artwork and set dressing for Magic: The Gathering promotional material.

Since 2019, Kim has been at DigiPen Institute of Technology teaching comics, storyboarding, game and film project classes, as well as giving guidance to anyone who has an interest in visual storytelling.

Pat Jandro is one of DigiPen’s very own as a graduate of the first BFA animation program cohort back in 2008. Right out of school, he joined the cinematics team at Bungie to help the studio close out their run of the Halo franchise with Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach. From there he went on to help launch Destiny, Destiny 2, and nearly every expansion before leaving after nearly a 12-year run. Now he is blazing paths in VR entertainment as the Lead Animator at Endeavor One.

Jandro is proficient in many areas of animation and game design, but professionally focuses on gameplay, cinematics, motion capture, camera operation, facial animation, editorial, and motion graphics. After gaining numerous accolades and awards for his contributions to the Halo and Destiny series, Jandro continued that tradition with Arashi: Castles of Sin, Endeavor One’s latest release. The game received several nominations for VR Game of the Year and even took home the Most Immersive Moment award in UploadVR’s Best of 2021 Awards thanks in part to his work on the wolf companion, Haru.

He oversees advanced physicality in animation at DigiPen and helps with art project teams in an Animation Supervisor type role. In advanced physicality in animation, students focus their work on physically demanding performances and are introduced to animation using motion capture data. Other advanced animation techniques are taught using various tools native to Maya, such as Animation Layers, Graph Editor, and Time Editor.

Randall Ng has a Bachelor of Science degree in Graphic Design/Illustration from San Jose State University. He started his education in traditional art, then gradually focused on digital art and animation. He has worked for companies such as Atari Games Corporation, 343 Industries, Microsoft, WB Games, and Amazon Game Studios. Prior to joining DigiPen, he had also worked as a 3D instructor, director of graphic design, and martial arts instructor in the Bay Area.

Ng has been a veteran video game artist/animator for over 20 years. His video collaboration with YouTube sensation DR. SMOOV, TRANSFORMERS: Generation One, won first place at the BotCon 2009 film festival and was also included as a bonus feature on the Shout! Factory Complete DVD series release of the original Transformers cartoon. Years later, he worked on the remastered Blu-ray release of The Transformers: The Movie. He has appeared at several conventions around the country and hosted many panels expanding on his career as an artist, father, costume builder, and filmmaker.

Ng focuses on presentation and core skills and believes that without the basics, one cannot master more complex functions or art/animation techniques. He currently teaches Introduction to 3D Animation, where he emphasizes that the principles of 2D animation are extremely relevant in the 3D world, only in a different medium.

Selected Industry Credits

• Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (MPC)
• Halo 4 (343 Industries)
• Halo 5 Guardians (343 Industries)
• Halo: The Master Chief Collection (343 Industries)
• Justice League Heroes (Snowblind Studios)
• Lord of the Rings: War in the North (WB Games)
• Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-earth (WB Games)
• Mace: The Dark Age (Atari Games Corporation)

Eddy Ortega graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design with a BFA in Game Art & Design and a minor in Business. With over a decade of experience in the game industry, Ortega aims to blend his passion for digital art, education, and culture with his desire to support the success of artists from all backgrounds.

His first job found him in an unusual position as a prototyper at Intel Corporation’s R&D team. Although he was primarily trained as an artist and game designer, Ortega taught himself how to program and bloomed into an all-around game developer during his time at Intel. He designed and prototyped dozens of innovative game experiences using the Unreal Engine and “emerging technologies” — now known as augmented and virtual reality.

Pursuing his lifelong dream of making his own games, Ortega left Intel and co-founded Polymath Lab, an independent collective of multidisciplinary artists and developers. As creative director, he oversaw the development of two unreleased game IPs and numerous client projects ranging from experimental AR/VR applications to brand development for fellow startups.

While being a founder was exciting, Ortega’s work truly deepened when he pivoted to a senior producer role at fellow indie studio, Funomena. He became invested in supporting richly diverse teams to create emotionally deep and experimental games, including the acclaimed VR game Luna. Through this role, his passion for game development connected with a desire to support the success of other artists.

After over 10 years in the game industry, Ortega put his newfound passion into practice by joining the Department of Animation and Production at DigiPen.

As a neurodivergent first-generation Venezuelan American immigrant, Ortega has seen firsthand how systemic injustice, privilege, and industry gatekeeping makes it difficult for newcomers to find success, especially if they are of a marginalized background. This gives him a keen sensitivity towards increasing opportunities for all creators.

In the classroom, this manifests in a fervor toward guiding artists to not only be artistically proficient, but also deeply self-aware. Ortega creates an educational experience that is simultaneously industry relevant and spiritually resonant with the voices and needs of today’s youth.