Juan Diego Zapata

Juan Diego Zapata

Senior Animator / 22 yrs

Madrid, Spain

Hire Me

Lead Animator

Despicable Me: Minion Rush (2013)

Animator

Ice Age Village (2013)

Freelance Senior Animator

Borderlands (2024)

Freelance Senior Animator

Back to the Outback (2021)

Senior Animator

Amusement Park (2019)

Senior Animator

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

Senior Animator

Smallfoot (2018)

Animator Lead

My Little Pony Movie (2021)

Senior Animator

Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes (2018)

Animator Lead

Capture the Flag (2015)

Senior Animator

Modern Combat 5: Blackout (2014)

Senior Animator

TV commercial

Remote freelance animator with many years of experience in the entertainment industry. I started as a CG artist, teacher and entrepreneur and progressively focused on what I like most: character animation for Features, Cinematics and Commercials.
Work History

  • Animator

    Agora.studio

    August 2023 - February 2025

  • Animator

    Agora Studio

    August 2023 - February 2024

  • Animator

    Little Zoo Studio

    March 2023 - June 2023
    Madrid, Spain

  • 3d senior animator

    Agora Studio

    December 2022 - January 2023
    Madrid, Spain

  • Senior Animator

    Little Zoo Studio

    September 2022 - November 2022

  • Animator

    Brazen Animation

    March 2022 - August 2022

  • Animator

    Agora Studio

    January 2022 - March 2022
    Madrid, Spain

  • Animator

    Agora

    September 2021 - January 2022

  • Senior Animator

    Agora Studio

    September 2021 - January 2022
    Madrid, Spain

  • Lead Animator (undisclosed animated feature)

    Boulder Media

    February 2019 - February 2021
    County Dublin, Ireland

  • Senior Character Animator on Spiderverse

    Sony Pictures Animation

    July 2018 - October 2018
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadá

    Senior Character Animator on Spiderman into the Spiderverse.

  • Senior Character Animator on SmallFoot

    Sony Pictures Animation

    November 2017 - July 2018
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadá

    Senior Character Animator on Small Foot

  • Senior Character Animator

    Mikros Image

    May 2017 - September 2017
    London, Reino Unido

  • Senior Character Animator on Paramount Animation’s "Wonder Park".

    Ilion Animation Studios

    September 2015 - March 2017
    Madrid y alrededores, España

    Wonder Park will be Paramount Animation’s first original animated feature.
    Dylan Brown, former Pixar artist and supervising animator on Ratatouille and Finding Nemo, will direct the film. Its cast will feature the voice talents of Matthew Broderick, Jennifer Garner, Jeffrey Tambor, Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Mila Kunis, John Oliver and Brianna Denski.

  • Lead Animator on "Capture the flag"​ ("Atrapa la bandera")

    Light Box Entertainment

    December 2014 - June 2015
    Madrid

    Managing a team of 5-6 animators and quality control of animation on given sequence.
    Interpret and communicate the feedback of the director and his vision to the team.
    Work from the storyboard/animatic to create feature level, key-framed animation of complex shots.

  • Senior Character Animator

    Light Box Entertainment

    September 2014 - November 2014
    Madrid Area, Spain

  • 3D Senior Animator for i-Phone Game projects

    Gameloft

    September 2010 - September 2014
    Madrid Area, Spain

    Keyframe in-game and cut-scenes animations and character set-up.
    Supervision and mentorship of junior animators.
    Documentation creation, tasks planning, etc..
    Projects:
    -Asphalt Overdrive.
    -Despicable Me 2: Minion Rush.
    -Blitz Brigade.
    -Modern Combat 5.
    -Gameloft Live.
    -Real Football 2013.
    -Ice Age Village.
    -Littlest Pet Shop.

  • Instructor.

    U-tad

    October 2012 - June 2013

    Software: Autodesk Maya 2013.

  • Autodesk Certified Instructor.

    CICE, S.A.

    October 2002 - July 2011

    3D Animation Instructor. SOFTWARE:
    3DS Max 2011.
    Photoshop CS 5
    Premiere Pro CS 5
    Nuke 6.1

  • Co-founder and Animation Director

    BigTimeWorks

    February 2005 - March 2008

    3D animation for TV, Web, Games.

    - Research for potential clients and their needs. Client portfolio management.
    - Organizing small freelance teams. Preproduction, production & post production supervision.
    - Delivering projects on time while respecting the allocated budget.

  • Freelance Senior Animator

    Revistronic

    March 1997 - March 2003

    Character animation for the games:
    -Grouch.
    -Toyland Racing
    -Fenimore Fillmore.

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Education

  • Feature Film character animation.

    iAnimate

    2013 - 2013

  • Kyle Balda's Masterclass in Character animation

    Ars Animación

    2003 - 2003

  • Máster in Animation in Film, 2D Animation.

    Escuela de Artes Visuales (EAV)

    1997 - 1998

  • Master´s degree in Information Sciences.

    C.C. de la Información. Complutense.

    1989 - 1994

  • Baccalauréat Serie B

    Lycèe Francais de Madrid

    1974 - 1988