Carlos Zaragoza - Production Designer
Carlos Zaragoza most recently served as the Production Designer for Sony Pictures Animation's The Emoji Movie, now in theaters and releasing on Digital HD on October 10, and Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on October 24, 2017.His wide experience includes art directing for over 17 years in feature live action, animation, musical theater, commercials, TV drama and shows. His credits include designing for movies like Pan’s Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo del Toro, that won the Oscar and Satellite Awards for Best Production Design, the animated The Tale of Despereaux, Gnomeo & Juliet, Madagascar, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman.He was awarded by the Art Director’s Guild with the ADG Excellence in Production Design Award for his work in Pan’s Labyrinth.Originally from Spain, his “circus life” took him to London, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, where he lives now.
Aurora Jimenez - Visual Development Artist
Aurora currently serves as a visual development artist for Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming Hotel Transylvania 3, slated for theatrical release in July 2018. Her recent credits include visual development for Sony Pictures Animation's The Emoji Movie, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and Hotel Transylvania 2, as well as Universal Pictures' The Tale of Despereaux. She was production designer on the animation feature El Guerrero Sin Nombre produced by Tornasol Films in Spain, and art director on 3D Animation series like Felix & The Flying Machine for Disney Channel. She also collaborates doing visual development on independent projects, like the 3D animation short film La Noria, directed by Carlos Baena, which is currently in development.. She was also character designer for games, in projects at Electronic Arts, such as The Sims Medieval, The Sims Medieval: Pirates & Nobles, and The Sims 4. She graduated with a a Bachelor in Arts at the Fine Arts School, at the Complutense University, in Madrid, and an Art Direction for Film & TV Degree at ECAM / Madrid Film School. She has been working in the motion pictures, film, and games industry for 17 years. Originally from Spain, her circus life took her to London, Toronto, San Francisco & Los Angeles, where she lives now.
You can see more of her work at www.aurorafilmdesign.com
Lizzie Nichols - Visual Development Artist
Lizzie Nichols is a visual development artist at Sony Pictures Animation. She has worked for DreamWorks Television Animation, RGH Entertainment, Rough Draft Studios, and Walt Disney Imagineering. Her freelance clients have included Disney Television and Cartoon Network. Her credits include Smurfs: The Lost Village, The Emoji Movie, Hotel Transylvania 2, Home (TV Series), Futurama, and Generator Rex. Currently she is working on Hotel Transylvania 3, due out in 2018. She is an environment and prop designer and painter. She is originally from Connecticut and received a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from Wellesley College in Massachusetts in 2003. She graduated from Art Center College of Design in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in Entertainment Design.
Joey Chou - Visual Development Artist
Joey Chou was born in Taiwan and grew up in Southern California. Since graduating from Art Center College of Design with illustration degree, he has been working as visual development artists in feature and TV animation for the past 10 years. He is currently working at Sony Picture Animation. He has worked on films such as The Emoji Movie, Hotel Transylvania 2, Cloudy with Chance of Meatballs 2, animated shorts, Surfs Up 2: Wavemania, Kung Fu Panda: Legend of Awesomeness, and more. He has worked with studios such as Disney, Nickelodeon, Dreamworks, Warner Bros, Cartoon network, Paramount, Sony, Netflix, and many more. Joey is also known for doing illustration work for children's book such as It's a Small World, Say What, I'm a Ballerina (Little Golden Book), Monster and Sons, and the B. Bear and Lolly series. He works with publishers such as Simon and Schuster, Chronicle Books, Random House, Disney Press, and HarperCollins. His graphic sense of style is influence by many great illustrators from the 60s such as Mary Blair, Miroslav Sasek, Alice and Martin Provensen, and Ezra Jack Keats.You can see more of his work at http://www.joeyart.com
Ernie Rinard - Visual Development Artist
Ernie Rinard most recently served as a visual development artist on Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming Untitled Animated Spider-Man, slated for theatrical release in December 2018.He has worked as visual development artist on several Sony Pictures Animation features, including The Emoji Movie, now in theaters, as well as Surf's Up and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 and 2. Prior to working at Sony, Ernie won design award from from BMW, in which one of his designs was turned into a show car. He then went on to work in visual effects, ultimately working on the team that won an Oscar for VFX on Spider-Man 2. His additional credits include serving as a concept designer for The Angry Birds Movie, as well as a visual development artist for features such as Spider-Man, 2012, The Haunted Mansion, and X-Men 2. Ernie grew up in Southern California and received his BS in Industrial Design from Art Center.
Yuhki Demers - Visual Development Artist
Yuhki Demers currently serves as a visual development artist for Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming Untitled Animated Spider-Man, slated for theatrical release in December 2018. Most recently before that, he served as visual development artist on The Emoji Movie, now in theaters and releasing on Digital HD on October 10, and Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD on October 24, 2017.Prior to Sony Pictures Animation, Yuhki worked as a visual development artist in the development department of Paramount Animation. There, he worked closely with directors and writers to carefully craft their worlds and create pitch imagery to present for green-light consideration. He has also worked as a character designer for Disney TV’s upcoming Big Hero 6 television show, and was lead concept artist on Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric. Yuhki received his BFA from Art Center College of Design in Illustration with an emphasis in Entertainment Arts in 2011, and is also currently teaching at the California Institute of the Arts.
