Danielle Powers

Danielle Powers

Vis Dev Artist and Background Painter

Senior Visual Development / Senior BG Painter / 12 yrs

Burbank, CA

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Visual Development Artist

Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai (2023)

Background Painter

Green Eggs and Ham (2019)

Visual Development

Amusement Park (2019)

Concept Artist

My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

Background Painter

Elena of Avalor (2016)

Color Stylist / Background Painter

Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero (2014)

Prop Design And Color

VeggieTales: Beauty and the Beet (2014)

Prop Design And Color / Visual Development Artist

VeggieTales: Celery Night Fever (2014)

Character Visual Deveopment

The Pirate Fairy (2014)

Concept Art

VeggieTales: Merry Larry and the True Light of Christmas (2013)

Texture Painter

The Penguins of Madagascar (2008)

CG Texture Artist Apprentice

Tak: Mojo Mistake (2008)

Danielle Powers began her professional art career at Nickelodeon as a modeling and surfacing apprentice when the studio first launched it's CG department. After that, she pursued a path of background painting and visual development.

She started out as a color stylist at Disney TV, then advanced to background painting, working on multiple shows. Following Disney, she went on to Paramount and then Warner Bros. Some projects she has contributed to include: Veggie Tales, My Little Pony, The Pirate Fairy, Sofia the First, Penn Zero, Wonder Park, Animaniacs, Green Eggs and Ham, Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. In addition to film and television, Danielle has also created concept art for Disney Interactive games.

When she's not working for a client, Danielle enjoys traveling and plein air painting, both digitally and traditionally with gouache and/or watercolors.

Danielle is located in Burbank, California and is interested in remote and onsite work in the Los Angeles area.
Work History
  • Background Painter on Unannounced Show

    Nickelodeon Animation Studio

    July 2022 - November 2023
    Burbank, California, United States
  • Background Painter

    Nickelodeon

    August 2022 - September 2023
  • Environment Artist

    Sunrise Animation Studios

    August 2022 - February 2023
    Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa · Remote

    Vis Dev artist on the David feature. Release date 2025.

  • BG Painter & Vis Dev Artist

    Warner Bros.

    October 2016 - June 2022
    Burbank

    I worked on Green Eggs and Ham and Animaniacs as a Background Painter and Gremlins as a vis dev artist.

  • Vis Dev Artist

    Paramount Animation

    May 2016 - October 2016
    Hollywood, CA

    • Amusement Park (Feature).
    • Paint over CG models and design various background elements and props in Photoshop.
    • Texture callouts of realistically painted props.
    • Paint color keys over rough models and layouts.

  • Freelance Designer

    big idea

    June 2013 - September 2015

    Designed and painted props, lighting keys

  • Color stylist

    Disney ABC Television Group

    December 2013 - February 2015
  • Contract Concept Artist

    Disney Interactive Studios

    March 2013 - August 2013
    Glendale, CA

    • Concept artist on Frozen Build It and Stack Rabbit.
    • Create designs for game landmarks and props.
    • Create background layouts and full color rendering.
    • Some pre viz and production modeling.

  • Character Vis Dev Painter

    Walt Disney Animation Studios

    January 2013 - March 2013
    Glendale, Ca

    • Character Vis Dev Painter for “Pirates” (Tinkerbell 5).
    • Create color keys for five of the main characters.
    • Render realistic paintings over character drawings, including ortho and 3/4 views.
    • Collect reference images for cloth, hair and surface materials to pass on to texture painters.
    • Apply textures to painted characters for texture reference.

  • Visual Development Artist

    Creation Studio Productions Limited

    December 2011 - December 2012

    • Primary visual development artist for an animated feature.
    • Helped establish the overall style of the film with the director and production designer.
    • Designed 12+ interior and exterior sets and dozens of props using Maya and Photoshop.
    • CG set design to establish layout and architecture of environments.
    • Digital paint over CG renders to create lighting and color keys.
    • Create texture and model reference pages for overseas studio.
    • Responsible for approving and writing notes for CG work from overseas studio.
    • Work primarily remotely with the production designer, director and storyboard artist.

  • CG Texture Artist Apprentice

    Nickelodeon Animation Studio

    May 2007 - May 2008
    Burbank, CA

    • Tak and the Power of Juju, The Penguins of Madagascar, Fanboy
    • Painted textures using Photoshop. Textures varied in style from slightly realistic to stylized and painterly. Texture seams were removed using BodyPaint, followed by detailed turnaround renders of each completed character and prop. All rendered was done using Maya Software.
    • Created complex shading networks in Maya including hand-painted and procedural. Materials created and edited included various metals, glasses, liquid, ice, plastic and slime. Edited existing shaders to suit the style of a particular show. All shaders were exported and saved in a collaborative shader library which I helped organize and contribute to.
    • Textured 100+ props, 20+ characters and sets.
    • Worked with Art Director to determine desired aesthetic of textures.
    • Organized reference material provided by Dreamworks Animation and helped create model packs for props and characters.
    • Worked with CG Supervisors to create optimal UV layouts for dozens of props and characters using Maya’s UV Texture Editor.
    • Modeled, lit and composited shots in Maya and After Effects.

Education
  • Concept Design Academy

    2009 - 2011
  • BS in Game Art & Design

    The American Animation Institute

    2008 - 2011
  • Bachelor of Science in Game Art & Design

    The Art Institute of California

    2004 - 2007