Feature Animation Training

Feature Animation Training classes are offered every Tuesday evening and taught by industry professionals from Pixar. Students are trained in building the basic mental processes of a character, and even learn to explore emotional aspects of acting to enhance their characters.

 

Meet the Team

  • Allison Rutland

    Allison has a background in Fine Art and went to Sheridan College for Computer Animation. She started her animation career in Toronto, working on TV shows and commercials, then in London at MPC and Framestore. Since 2009 she has worked at Pixar Animation Studios on projects like Toy Story 3, Brave, Coco and many more. Allison was a Directing Animator on Onward and is currently a Directing Animator on Elemental. She received the Annie Award for Outstanding Animation in a Feature Film for her work on Inside Out.

  • Brett Schulz

    Brett Schulz

    Brett Schulz (AAU Alumni) has worked in the animation industry as a Character Animator for over 20 years and has a vast range of experience. He's worked on video games such as Star Wars Republic Commando, Gladius, and RTX Red Rocks. For the past 18 years he's been at Pixar Animation Studios and has worked on over a dozen films including Ratatouille, Coco, Toy Story 4, and Soul. He's currently a Directing Animator for the upcoming Feature Film 'Elio.'

    Check out his IMDB page here

    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2848289/

  • Nickolas Rosario

    Nickolas Rosario is a California native and AAU graduate with 20 years of animation experience and 10 years of teaching experience. He joined Pixar Animation Studios in 2006 where he has animated on a number of films including Wall-E, Toy Story 3, Inside Out and Soul. Nickolas has also contributed in Character Development on films including Monster University, Onward and Lightyear. He is also credited as Directing Animator on Coco and Luca.

  • Shaun Chacko

    Shaun Chacko is a graduate of Sheridan College and has over 20 years of experience in traditional and CG animation. He has been at Pixar Animation Studios since 2006 and has animated on over a dozen films, from Ratatouille, Wall-E and UP to Soul, Luca, and Turning Red. Shaun is currently a Directing Animator on the upcoming Inside Out 2.

  • Simon Christen

    Simon is an Academy of Art University Alumni and has worked as a character animator at Disney Feature Animation and for the past 14 years at Pixar Animation Studios. He has worked on over a dozen films including Ratatouille, Inside-Out, Coco, Soul, Onward, Luca and the upcoming Elio.

  • Stephen Wong

    Stephen has worked as a character animator at studios such as ILM, Bluesky, Tippett Studios, and for the past 15 years at Pixar Animation Studios, where he's worked on over a dozen films including Ratatouille, Coco, Toy Story 4, Luca and the upcoming Elio.

  • Nathan Wall

    Currently animating on "Elemental" at Pixar. I've worked in animation for 15 years; started at BlueSky, stopped over at Dreamworks, and have been at Pixar most of the time. I've been teaching animation since 2011.

  • Terry Song

    Terry Song interned at Pixar Animation Studios after graduating from Academy of Art University and has been there since as an animator for the past 15 years. He’s worked on films including Up, Toy Story 3 and 4, Inside Out, Coco, and Turning Red.

  • Cody Lyon

    Cody Lyon is an Animator from Colorado and AAU Alumni. He began his career working at Niantic in San Francisco on the mobile game Pokémon GO. In 2016, he was hired at Pixar Animation Studios as an intern and has worked there ever since. Some of his projects include Coco, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, Onward, Soul, Luca, Turning Red, and Elemental. He is also credited as an Lead Animator on the short film Ciao Alberto.

  • John Lee

    John Lee started working at Pixar Animation Studios in 2006 as an animator on “Ratatouille.” Since then he has animated on many award-winning feature films including “WALL-E,” “Up,” “Toy Story 3,” “Inside Out," and received the Annie Award for Outstanding Animation in a Feature Film for his work on “CoCo”. He also was a directing animator on "Onward".