First Year Specialist

Shaun Featherstone is currently your First Year Studies Coordinator at the School of Animation & Visual Effects, where he has taught since 2003. His own area of expertise is Animation Preproduction and Storyboarding, working in his native England as a freelancer for many years. Alongside this, Shaun was co-director and founder of the Animex International Festival of Animation & Games in the UK. Here at AAU, Shaun is the student lead for both History of Animation and History of VFX, where students enjoy an exciting take on their contextual studies. Shaun also oversees the wider program of studies in the First Year, working directly with undergraduates to hone their career path from day one.

Jess earned a BA from Rhode Island College and a Certificate in multimedia production from University of Rhode Island before finding her love of Compositing. She moved to San Francisco where she completed a Bachelors in Fine Arts in compositing at the Academy of Art University. She was then hired by a small company in Venice CA named Luma. During her time at Luma they expanded to become a multinational company working on major blockbusters. Her film credits include: Thor, Iron Man 3, Captain America, Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy along with 30 other titles during her time in Los Angeles. In 2015 she moved to northern California where she began teaching what she loves and continuing to bring industry insight to her students here at Academy of Art University.

3D Modeling Specialist. Rey's art career started in the fine art world creating bronze sculptures and showing his art in galleries and museums. He has since been working for 15 years as a freelancer doing 3D modeling, traditional sculpting, and 3D printing for the collectible sculpture market. Clients have included A&E, HBO, Universal Studios, Universal Records, Warner Brothers, Sony Interactive Entertainment, San Francisco Giants, Winter Olympics, and Independent Collectors. Rey has also worked at a design firm as an Art Director and Senior 3D Modeler creating custom Sculptures for Museum Exhibits, and Zoo’s with a focus on anatomical accuracy. Projects locally have included the SF Zoo, The Marine Mammal Center, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. In the fall of 2017 he started as an Organic Modeling Instructor at AAU to share his knowledge of Digital Sculpting in the current market.

Linda spent five years at Disney where she helped create the ballroom.sequence on Beauty and the Beast, the Wildebeest Stampede in The Lion King, and the Whale Sequence 'Pines of Rome' in Fantasia 2000. The next nine years of her career Linda was a lead animator with Industrial Light and Magic. Her screen credits include Dragonheart, Mars Attacks, Galaxy Quest, and Star Wars episodes 1 and 2, where she was lead animator on Watto and Yoda. In 2002-2004 Linda worked at PDI Dreamworks. She animated on Shrek 2 and Madagascar. Linda has enjoyed teaching part time at Academy of Art University since January 2005. From 2009-2018 Linda wrote, illustrated and self published her first children’s book ‘Finny and the Seal Hotel.’ Finny is being developed into a short animated film which Linda is directing and producing. It’s currently in production through the Academy of Art’s Studio X program.

Van has worked as a director, animator, previs artist, technical director, and designer for films and games produced by Dreamworks, Sony Imageworks, Paramount, Digital Domain, Activision, 2K, Naughty Dog ILM, and Blue Sky Studios. His credits include working on such franchises as Aqua Man 2, Harry Potter, Shrek, Madagascar, Ice Age, Uncharted, How to Train Your Dragon, Captain America, NBA2K, and Thor. In addition, he has also worked as a director or animator on award-winning XR projects screened at the Tribeca, Cannes, and Venice Film Festivals. His interest in teaching comes from his love for storytelling, animation, and learning. His multidisciplinary background and breadth of experiences have given him a unique perspective that he incorporates into his classes. Van enjoys creating “Aha” moments for these students that can have lasting impacts.

Amrinder Singh is a 3D generalist with a background as an engineer, he has been working in the Computer Graphic field since 2008 and since then he has worked in movies, games, and commercials as an Animator, Creature Animator, Rigger, 3D Modeler, lighter and texture artist. Along with day work, Amrinder works on creating short films. His last short film, SideKick, has screened in eighteen film festivals including the big CG convention Siggraph. And his upcoming film Dinohunt is in production. Amrinder’s free time is always occupied with meditation and carpentry projects.

Tan Bi is a Digital sculptor/3D artist passionate about traditional art. Currently, he works with the ILM as a senior creature modeler. In the past few years, he has focused on sculpting realistic characters and creatures for feature films and physical output. As a co-founder of evolutio.art, he works with top artists in the industry to create next-generation human and animal anatomy reference products.

After working for some fairly notable companies such as Rhythm & Hues, Sony Playstation (SCEA), and Apple, John found himself teaching at the Art Institute of California in Orange County -- and spent the next 10 years teaching within their Visual Effects and Motion Graphics (VEMG) department. During that time he also took on part-time teaching jobs at schools such as Laguna College of Art and Design, the University of La Verne, and Irvine Valley College. John’s teaching goal has always been to try and be for his students…what his own mentors and instructors were to him. Having relocated to Colorado in 2019, he is pleased to be able to teach remotely for the Academy of Art – where he himself earned his MFA in 2006 in Animation: Compositing. Previous to that he had earned his BA from Fresno State University in Art, with an emphasis in Graphic Design.

Francine Landes has been teaching, directing, and choreographing throughout Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States. She is a Tony Award-winning actress having performed both on-Broadway and off-Broadway. Francine earned her B.F.A. from the Juilliard School in New York City and an M.A. from Columbia University. She has worked and performed in film, television, the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Stratford Festival of Canada, the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne, Australia, PBS, and the San Francisco Opera Company. Francine has been teaching acting, character embodiment, movement for actors, and Acting for Animators to students all over the world.

As our Portfolio Specialist, George teaches courses in Graduate Preproduction and Cinematic Storytelling Principles. He was previously a Senior Systems Engineer at Apple Computer, Inc. and Technical Supervisor for ILM in what was known as “The Rebel Unit”. He holds a BS in Information Systems Management from San Francisco State University.

Bruce Nicholson was born in Los Angeles, California in 1948. He started making films in college while pursuing a liberal arts degree at UC Berkeley and subsequently enrolled at UCLA and Sherwood Oaks Film School to continue his training. After entering the Visual Effects field, he got his big break in 1976 working on the original Star Wars. He remained at ILM for 19 years, serving in capacities as Compositor, Comp Supervisor, and Visual Effects Supervisor, garnering 2 Academy Awards in the process. After leaving ILM, he became freelance and worked in similar capacities. He is a member of the Visual Effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the Visual Effects Society. In addition to teaching at Academy of Art University, he is engaged in independent filmmaking and plays the saxophone.

Amy Gohal Stephan is a creature/character TD full of ambition and creativity. She currently lives in San Francisco and works at the Academy of Art University where she has taught a variety of Visual Effects classes. She has worked at an array of animation and film houses in LA, Oregon and in Canada including Disney Animation, Laika and Rainmaker for example. Amy has a Bachelor’s Degree in Animation and Visual Effects from the Academy of Art University (2008) where she studied hard and focused on rigging and cloth simulation. She enjoys working closely with animators, modelers and concept artists to make sure everything fits together to their liking. Amy enjoys supporting teams and individuals on making their projects amazing. While She loves teaching Amy also branches out and works on illustration projects from time to time.

Billy started his animation career in 1992 at Colossal Pictures. His initial work was focused on commercials, shorts and games. In 1994, Billy did the 2D special effects for James and the Giant Peach. After which, he worked at Wild Brain. He did backgrounds and characters and props for FernGully 2 and even pitched his own show idea. Billy started teaching animation at the Academy in 2017. He has a master's in education (2005), and an MFA in animation and visual effects (2017). As of today, he hold a a CTE credential for Media arts and Entertainment.

Charlie Canfield is a 4-time Emmy award-winning animator, designer, and director creating sequences for film, documentaries and ads for over 30+ years, with an emphasis on digitally hand-drawn animation.

Sarah is an illustrator and art instructor with a deep love and appreciation of storytelling with the human figure. Obsessed with the visual language of Art Nouveau, she finds inspiration in the natural world and the beauty of the people around her. She also indulges in art inspired by all forms of entertainment including movies, animation, video games, graphic novels, and music. Sarah loves to spend her days drawing and painting, sharing her knowledge, studying from live muses, and creating dreamy, whimsical art!"

A lifelong artist, Garrett got started with 3d in university more than 20 years ago studying Architecture at UC Berkeley. He graduated with degrees in Architecture and Fine Art, the intersection of which falls perfectly on Environment and Level Design, paving the way for work as a 3d Modeler and Level Designer on video games. Garrett has been teaching at the Academy of Art for over 15 years, putting that general knowledge and love of teaching to work helping others discover the joy of digital creation. Besides 3d, he also loves most forms of technology, tinkering with PCs, and backpacking. Garrett currently lives in Minnesota, where he recently (during the pandemic) moved with his growing family. San Francisco will always hold a special place in his heart!

JD Haas is an animation director at Paramount/Nickelodeon (formerly Warner Brothers Animation and Industrial Light & Magic). He teaches 3D Animation in his Spungella Animation Workshop and at the Academy of Art University.

Tom Meade has worked in the visual effects industry for ten years as an Animation Technical Director and Puppet Technical Director on projects such as Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, the Planet of the Apes trilogy, Avengers: Infinity War, and Alita: Battle Angel. Tom has taught 3D modeling, character rigging and scripting at the Academy of Art University and has co-authored two books on Autodesk’s Maya. Tom received his BS in Film Production from Boston University and his MA in Counseling Psychology at California institute of Integral Studies. He is currently researching the use of virtual reality technology for treatments in the mental health industry.

Jonathan Gilbert graduated with an MFA in 3D Animation and Visual Effects with a specialization in dynamics at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. During his education, he discovered Side Effects Houdini, which immediately became his software of choice for effects.

Mr. Owyeung started his visual effects career at ILM. His film credits include The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Innerspace, Howard the Duck and many others. His model making genius was responsible for the imploding house effect in Poltergeist; this was done as a miniature practical effect without any computer graphics. His resume included stints at Tippett Studio and Disney Feature Animation. He also produced CG animation for a NOVA Televison series called "Becoming Human".

3D Animation

Industrial Light & Magic, Hanna Barbera, Toon Disney.