Derek Esparza

Work History

• 

  Senior Animator

  Respawn Entertainment

  October 2018 - December 2024

  Chatsworth, CA
• 

  Student Mentor

  Animation Mentor

  June 2014 - Present

  Mentor for the Creature Animation: Fight or Flight class. Provide students with personal instruction weekly via online Q&A sessions and individual critiques. Also involved with 11secondclub.com critiques and Animation Mentor Live Q&A recordings.
• 

  Senior Animator

  Sony Pictures Imageworks

  November 2008 - September 2018

  - senior animator on "Hotel Transylvania 2"
  - senior animator on "The Amazing Spiderman 2"
  - senior animator on "Smurfs 2"
  - senior animator on "Oz, the Great and Powerful"
  - senior animator on "The Amazing Spiderman"
  - lead animator on "Green Lantern"
  - intermediate animator on "Alice in Wonderland"
  - associate animator on "G-Force"

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
• 

  Animator

  Wētā FX

  August 2014 - October 2014

  - animator on "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies"

  
• 

  Freelance Animator

  Blur Studio

  June 2014 - July 2014

  Worked on game cinematics for Halo 2: Anniversary Edition
• 

  Character Animator

  Reel FX

  March 2014 - May 2014

  - animator on "The Book of Life"

  
• 

  Associate Animator

  Cryptic Studios

  August 2008 - November 2008

  Animated various cycles and other animations for the game Champions Online.
• 

  Lab Technician

  Academy of Art University

  2006 - 2008

  assisted students with everything from log in and tech issues, to critiques on their personal projects.
  
  maintained computer labs and all classrooms by updating them to latest software, and sometimes hardware, after every term.