Ben Guastella

Ben Guastella

Head of CG & Technical Artist

Senior CG Generalist & Simulation Artist / Lead character fx artist / 20 yrs

Chico, CA

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Senior Character FX Artist

DC Super Pets (2022)

Lead Character FX Artist

Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway (2021)

Character Simulation Technical Director

Spies in Disguise (2019)

cfx artist

Coin Operated (2017)

Character FX Artist

Penguins of Madagascar (2014)

Character FX Artist

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Character FX Artist

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

Character FX Artist

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012)

Character FX Artist

Megamind: The Button of Doom (2011)

Character FX Artist

Megamind (2010)
025 Demo Reel Supercut
Ben Guastella CG Generalist Reel 2018
Ben Guastella Character FX Demo Reel 2015
Hello, my name is Ben Guastella and I have 20 years professional experience as a CG/3D Generalist and Technical Artist, ranging from contributing to blockbuster feature films, global marketing visuals for Fortune 500 companies, automotive applications and most recently, large scale autonomous production of synthetic data for AI applications. As the Head of Computer Graphics and Technical Art for Synthesis AI, I am responsible for the overall growth, vision, leadership, and technical direction of the CG/tech-art team.

Over the past 4 years, my focus has been on utilizing VFX, game-engine, and AI technologies to design, create and improve large scale procedural content generation pipelines for the purpose of synthetic data. All aspects of the CG content produced by Synthesis AI have either been directly created, prototyped, or conceptually designed by myself in an effort to streamline the production process, reducing time-to-value for our customers, all while maintaining the highest quality and photorealism in our products. Along with the technical aspects, I built, hired, managed, and continue to mentor our world class CG team, providing hands-on guidance, Technical Art Direction, and additional business context for solving our most technically challenging verticals.

Prior to my time in Executive Management here at Synthesis AI, I occupied a number of leadership and artistic roles across the globe and within Silicon Valley. At Animal Logic in Sydney, Australia, I was a department lead for the film Peter Rabbit 2, providing on-site supervision and technical art direction during the film’s production. As a Senior Artist for Mercedes-Benz Research and Development in Sunnyvale, CA, I produced high quality CG content for use both in production vehicles (real-time visualizations within the HMI) and future-looking show cars. Throughout my career, I have always pushed the boundaries of what is possible with the latest technologies.

In addition to more traditional CG and Technical Art skill sets, I have also developed content and workflows leveraging next generation AI and Machine Learning toolsets, such as text-to-image generation, text-to-video generation, controllable image generation, LLM text prompting, ml-trained skin deformers, and deepfake/face-swap.

I am excited to discuss future opportunities where my many years of experience in department supervision, CG production, generative AI, and technical art can come together and further push the boundaries of what is possible, both artistically and technologically.
Work History

  • Senior Character FX Artist

    Animal Logic

    May 2020 - September 2020
    remote

    Responsible for simulation look-dev, shot work and contributint to overall cfx pipeline design/tooling.

  • Animal Logic

    May 2020 - June 2020
    Remote

  • Lead Character FX Artist

    Animal Logic

    August 2019 - March 2020
    Sydney, Australia

  • Character Simulation Technical Director

    Blue Sky Studios

    October 2018 - July 2019
    Greenwich, Connecticut

  • Head of CG and Technical Art

    Synthesis AI

    September 2020 - February 2025

    Responsible for the overall vision, leadership, and technical approaches of an interdisciplinary team of artists and technical artists to create robust, procedurally generated, CG and AI-powered pipelines. Department supervision, technical art direction, pipeline/workflow design, emerging technologies, R&D, CG/ML integration. Creating large scale procedural content generation workflows, Character FX, promoting Artist and Department development, 3D generalist, Houdini, Nuke, technical art direction, Gen-AI prototyping and production integration. Department/project scheduling, bidding, budgeting and hiring.

  • CG Artist / VFX Artist / Technical Artist

    Freelance

    May 2009 - Present
    Remote

    Freelance FX Artist/TD creating feature film quality simulations. I am available for remote freelance work for both live action and animated projects.

    Past project include:
    -Fluid/smoke simulation for Thomas the Train App.
    -Cloth simulation for upcoming animated short film.

  • CFX Artist

    DreamWorks Animation

    June 2010 - April 2015
    Redwood City, CA

    My work as a Character FX Artist has included the simulation development of multiple cloth garments as well as a large amount of 'shot work'. I specialize in quick turn-around times of difficult, highly art directed shots and maintained one of the highest per-week shot output in the department. Along with my artistic abilities, I also supported my department's tool-set as the 'Maya Rep', helping to create, optimize and organize our wide array of custom Maya tools across multiple films and studio locations.
    My film credits include: Megamind, Megamind: Button of Doom, Scared Shrekless, Madagascar 3, Mr. Peabody and Sherman, How to Train your Dragon 2, Penguins of Madagascar and B.O.O.
    My film reel is available on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/117756386

  • Sr. CG Generalist (Cloth and Hair Specialist)

    Machine Zone

    July 2017 - April 2018
    Palo Alto, CA

    I am responsible for designing a film quality cloth and hair simulation pipeline from scratch for use in our 3D cinematics and advertising. As the Senior CG generalist, I played a critical role in 3d pipeline design and development, as well as taking on challenging production shots which include rigging, surfacing, animating, lighting and compositing. Along with cloth/hair simulation, I am also one of MZs FX Artists, responsible for pyro, destruction simulations and many other effects for pre-rendered sequences, as well as for use in our game engine.

  • Senior 3D Motion Designer

    Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc.

    January 2016 - June 2017
    Sunnyvale, CA

    Senior 3D Artist and Motion Designer. Responsible for modeling, texturing, lighting, animating and simulating 3D content for both pre-rendered and realtime applications. Visual Designer for motion/animation related projects. 3D production pipeline development. UX design for automotive applications.

  • cg lighter

    Hogarth Worldwide

    May 2018 - September 2018
    on-site @ Apple

  • cfx artist

    Nimble Collective

    August 2016 - August 2016

  • Senior Visual Designer & CGI Artist

    Raygun Studio

    May 2015 - December 2015
    Palo Alto, CA

    3D generalist and lead 3D content creator. Responsible for creating visually stunning particle simulations, 3D models and photo realistic product renders for large scale print publications.
    Responsibilities:
    -Photorealistic 3D modeling & texturing
    -Photorealistic lighting/rendering in Cinema 4D & Luxion Keyshot
    -Fluid simulation using X-Particles
    -Particle rendering using ThinkBox Krakatoa
    -Adobe AfterEffects motion graphics and green screen compositing
    -Photo/Video Shoot on-site CG consultant
    -Pipeline development & testing
    -Python tool development

  • Lead Photographer, Director of Photography

    Freelance Photographer: Self Employed

    June 2005 - Present

    I have been a freelance photographer for many years and have shot many types of projects including weddings, fashion, real estate, food and fine art landscapes. Please feel free to visit my Flickr page to see my most recent projects. https://www.flickr.com/photos/bguastella/

    I am available for contract or full time photography work.

  • Adjunct Professor

    California College of the Arts

    September 2012 - August 2016
    Oakland, CA

    In Fall of 2012, I began teaching an Into to Character & VFX class at CCA Oakland (in addition to my role as a CFX artist at DreamWorks). I cover all simulation based effects, including particles, fluids, hair, cloth and rigids.

  • VFX Artist, 3D Modeler, Graphic Designer

    Ben Guastella Graphics

    May 2005 - 2010

  • Special Effects Artist

    IMC Productions

    2006 - August 2009

  • Animator

    Instructional Media Center at Chico State

    May 2006 - July 2009

  • Guest Artist

    CSU Summer Arts

    2008 - 2009

  • Fashion Photographer

    LuLu's Fashion Lounge

    May 2006 - August 2007

  • Photographer/Graphic Designer

    The Chico Project

    June 2005 - August 2007
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Education

  • Bachelors of Science in Applied Computer Graphics

    California State University-Chico

    2003 - 2007

  • Chico High School

    ? - ?