Josh Book

Josh Book

Animation Director / Art Director / CG Supervisor

Supervisor Animation Director / Supervisor Art Director

San Francisco, CA

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Consultant

La Noria (2018)

Animator

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

Animator

Ghost in the Shell (2017)

CG Creative Director, CG Animation Direc

Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

Art Director, Cinematics Director

Marvel Heroes (2013)

CG Supervisor

Bubble Guppies (2011)

CG Creative Director

Fanboy and Chum Chum (2009)

CG Creative Director

The Penguins of Madagascar (2008)

CG Creative Director / Animation Supervisor

Tak & the Power of Juju (2006)

Animator

Fantastic Four (2005) (2005)

Animator

xXx: State of the Union (2005)

Animator

Elektra (2005)

Animator

Racing Stripes (2005)

Animator

Tripping the Rift (2004)

Digital Artist

Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003)

Digital Effects Artist

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)

Animator

Rainbow Valley Fire Department

Digital Effects Artist

Galaxy Quest

Director-level creative experienced in leading teams on high profile projects for big name clients. 20 years of art, animation, and CG production experience in the fields of TV Animation, Video Games, Film and Commercials. This diverse background has led to the ability to build highly efficient art and animation pipelines with an extremely high visual quality bar, yet able to work within any limitations or constraints such as budget/time/tech. Capable of overseeing all areas of CG production and artistic processes. https://www.JoshBook.com
Work History

  • Co-Founder / Creative Director

    Mighty Yeti Studios

    June 2013 - Present

  • Animation Director

    Anki

    April 2017 - August 2017

  • Animator

    Atomic Fiction

    November 2016 - January 2017
    Oakland, CA

    Animation on two VFX films, including layout, for both full CG and matchimation live action shots

  • Animator

    Spiritwalk Games

    August 2016 - December 2016

  • CG Creative Director

    Ghostbot, Inc.

    October 2013 - December 2014

    • Consulting on CG pipeline; animation/lighting/look dev for spec feature film project.

  • Art Director

    Gazillion Entertainment

    October 2009 - September 2013
    San Mateo, CA

    Marvel Heroes - Art Director

    • Established visual style and look of game, from visual development to final in-game graphics.
    • Creative direction of 30 person Art Department, including Concept Art, Character, Environment,
    Animation, Tech Art and VFX teams; Co-Managing with Art Producer. Hired entire art team.
    • Provided animation direction for animation and VFX team during daily reviews.
    • Worked closely with Marvel producers for brand assurance and character representation.
    • Oversaw Marketing art asset creation including key art, online/print ads, trade show booth design,
    giveaways, product packaging, online store assets. Created studio and game logos and icon.

  • Director, "Marvel Heroes" Cinematics

    Gazillion Entertainment

    January 2010 - August 2013

    • Directed over one hour of animated cinematics for "Marvel Heroes", using CG, 2D hand drawn, in-game, and motion comics animation.
    • The opening "Marvel Origins" cinematic was widely acclaimed, and received over 100,000 views in 24 hours. The cinematics were repeatedly mentioned in reviews as a game highlight.
    • Built in-house pipeline which included story-boarding through animatic, with review points throughout production. All CG was in-house with a small team I directed. Worked with animation production studios and comic book artists for 2D animat

  • CG Supervisor

    WildBrain

    May 2008 - March 2011
    San Francisco, CA

    Bubble Guppies (Nickelodeon) - CG Supervisor
    Sheriff Callie's Wild West (Disney Jr) - CG Supervisor
    Lamisil Beach Commercial - CG Supervisor

  • Mentor

    Animation Mentor

    January 2008 - December 2010
    Remote

    Taught global animation students through animation critiques and weekly Q&A sessions

  • Consulting CG Supervisor

    Special Agent Productions

    August 2009 - November 2010

    CG Supervisor and Technical Director generalist work for commercials.

  • Consulting Animation Supervisor

    Mixamo

    July 2009 - October 2009

    Gave notes on ways to plus motion capture / mo-cap animation performances for shots and sequences.

  • Animation Director

    Electronic Arts

    June 2008 - October 2008
    Redwood Shores, CA

    Unreleased Project - Animation Director
    Godfather 2 - Animator

  • CG Creative Director

    Nickelodeon Animation Studio

    May 2005 - March 2008
    Burbank, CA

    DreamWorks’ Penguins of Madagascar - CG Creative Director, Director (pilot), Animator (pilot)
    Tak and the Power of Juju - CG Animation Director, CG Creative Director, Animator
    Fanboy and ChumChum - CG Creative Director
    Bubble Guppies (pilot) - CG Animation Director

    • As Head of CG, I oversaw the CG Department’s contributions to four CG animated series
    • Built CG Department to a multiple series team of 50+ CG artists and production staff
    • Established the CG pipeline / workflow methods and department structure
    • Established series’ CG looks and animation styles, from CG visual development to final frames
    • Maintained quality across episodes; supervised both in-house and overseas teams
    • Worked with Producers and Writers to keep scripts within production parameters
    • Character animation, modeling, and compositing on “Tak” and “Penguins” pilots
    • With studio recruiter formed highly successful CG Apprentice program
    • Taught several classes for Nickelodeon University studio training program

  • Animator

    Film Roman

    2005 - May 2005
    North Hollywood, CA

    Tripping the Rift - Animator

  • Animator

    Pacific Title & Art Studio

    October 2004 - January 2005

    Character animation, FX animation, and Pre-Visualization for films. Projects include:
    "Fantastic Four": Character Animation, FX Animation, and Pre-Visualization for FX development.
    "Elektra": FX Animation.
    "XXX2: State of the Union": FX Animation; Main Title Pre-Visualization.
    AMC “Clip” spec commercial: Direction, Character Animation, Modeling, and Rigging.

  • Animation Director / Animator

    MTV

    2003 - 2004

    "The Andy Milonakis Show". Freelance. Animated all 61 FX shots for "The Andy Milonakis Show" pilot.
    Directed and animated show opening for "MTV’s 1st Annual Super Bowl Tailgate Spectacular".

  • Animator

    Brain Zoo Studios

    2003 - 2004

    Animation for "Shark Tale", "Shrek 2", "Pitfall Harry", and "Alone in the Dark" game cinematics (PlayStation 2, XBOX).
    Animation, modeling, and blend shape creation for "Rainbow Valley Fire Department" half-hour direct-to-video production.
    Lighting, FX and compositing for "Psi-Ops" game cinematics (PlayStation 2, XBOX).

  • Animator

    Creative Capers

    2003 - 2004

    "AOL Super Buddies". Freelance Character Animation, Blendshape Modeling for web 3D avatar project. Project was particularly fun and challenging because characters could only be animated through Maya's blendshape sliders.

  • Animator / Artist

    Visual Story Tools

    1998 - 2004

    Various Projects: CG Visual Development; Animation, modeling, texturing for ”Pet Cassette”.

  • Animator / Artist

    Jimmy Kimmel Live

    2002 - 2003

    "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC). Motion graphics, titles, FX work, art department work for daily live TV show on an ongoing freelance basis as needed.

  • Animator / Artist

    Super 78 Studios

    July 2002 - September 2002

    "Toyota Tent Event" commercial: Animation, Modeling for :30 spot.
    "PowerPuff Girls: Relish Rampage": Character Animation for game cinematics (PS2).

  • Animator / Artist

    Playback Technologies

    March 1999 - February 2000

    "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps": Animation and modeling on set for playback graphics for a couple of days on the Universal lot. Worked a few feet from Eddie Murphy. Ate lots of craft services. 03/99.

    "Galaxy Quest": Screen graphics conceptualization for spaceship displays. 02/00.

  • Animator / Artist

    Disney TV / Rutherford Bench Productions

    December 1999 - January 2000

    "Disney One Saturday Morning": Animation, modeling, CG artist work on visual development for re-design proposal of Saturday morning program block interstitials. Worked with Jim and Joel Hodgson.

  • Animator / Artist

    New Standard Post

    June 1999 - August 1999

    "Racing Stripes": Animation and modeling for pre-visualization. Previs/pitchvis for feature film.
    "Stripped" (HBO TV Pilot): Animation, modeling, texturing, look development for animated sequences.

  • Lead Artist

    Black Ops Entertainment

    October 1997 - August 1998

    "James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies" (PlayStation): Animation, modeling, texturing. Supervised team of seven artists and animators.

  • Lead Artist / Computer Graphic Artist III

    Electronic Arts

    May 1995 - September 1997

    "PGA TOUR Pro"; Production Designer: Visual Development and Art Direction for golf game.
    "PGA TOUR 97"; Lead Artist: Art Direction and Supervisor for three artists.
    "PGA TOUR 96"; Artist: Animation, Modeling, Texturing, Interface Design.

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Education

  • American Animation Institute (The Animators’ Guild

    1998 - 2002

  • University of California, Santa Cruz

    1990 - 1994