Matt Ellsworth

Matt Ellsworth

I'm an animator that specializes in stop-motion.

Junior Animator / 13 yrs

Portland, OR, United States

Hire Me

Replacement Animation Tester

Missing Link (2019)

Facial Animator

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Track Reader

The Boxtrolls (2014)

Rapid Prototype Assistant

ParaNorman (2012)

My first animation gig was as an assistant stop-motion animator on a Radio Shack commercial in 2010. Since then, I have worked at Laika for the past 7.5 years doing everything from testing and fixing the physical 3D printed stop-motion puppet faces, to animating the faces in CG.
Work History

  • Replacement Animation Tester

    Laika

    October 2016 - April 2018

    Testing stop-motion puppet faces before taking them to stage for final animation. Administering any needed touch ups or changes needed for smoother animation. Keeping faces organized.

  • Facial Animator

    Laika

    November 2014 - July 2015

    Animating the facial performances of characters in Maya, for selection of 3D printed final animation faces for stop-motion puppets.

  • Track Reader

    Laika

    July 2012 - March 2014

    For the feature film, The Boxtrolls, I precisely broke down the phonetics of dialog and nuance of sound effects to frame by frame accuracy and organized this information in Excel to produce the final x-sheet for completing stop-motion animation on stage. Additionally, completed facial animation using Maya as requested.

  • RP Quality Assurance

    Laika

    November 2010 - July 2012

    For the film ParaNorman I pulled #D printed stop-motion faces off the printer and through sanding, gluing and sprying with finishing coats, honed the raw faces into camera ready assets.

  • Stop-Motion Animator

    De Carlo Studios

    May 2010 - May 2010

    Freelance animator on stop-motion Radio Shack commercial "Three's Company". Animated the plam trees in one shot.

  • Student

    Academy of Art University

    2006 - 2010

  • Production Coordinator

    Magnetic Image

    May 2001 - September 2002

    Scheduled and assembled professional video equipment packages and crew members for clients, delivered and picked up equipment at locations and completed final billing of jobs.

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Education

  • Academy of Art University

    2006 - 2009