Sara McKechnie

Work History

• 

  Senior Animator

  Noggin

  February 2022 - February 2024

  Directed animation on linear and interactive kid's educational content.
• 

  3D Animator and Compositor

  Noggin

  April 2019 - February 2022

  Animating original interactive short form content for Nick Jr's Noggin app.
• 

  AE Compositor

  Titmouse

  March 2018 - April 2019

  New York City

  Projects:
  Niko and the Sword of Light Season 2 -- Amazon
  Deadly Class - Syfy
  Ballmastrz S2 - Adult Swim
  
• 

  3D Creature Animator

  Omega Darling

  September 2018 - October 2018

  New York City

  Animated CG wolves for the new 25th anniversary opening sequence for the Chicago Wolves hockey team.
• 

  Compositor

  Titmouse

  February 2018 - August 2018

  New York City, NY, United States
• 

  3D Animator and Compositor

  Noggin

  June 2017 - February 2018

  New York City

  Animated interactive content for Nick Jr's Noggin app.
  3D character animation in Maya + 2D animation and compositing in After Effects
• 

  AE Compositor

  Titmouse

  September 2014 - June 2017

  New York City

  Projects:
  Team Hot Wheels: The Skills to Thrill -- Netflix
  Team Hot Wheels: Build The Epic Race -- Netflix
  TMNT Half-Shell Heros: Blast to the Past -- Nickelodeon
  Home TV series for Dreamworks -- Netflix
  Niko and the Sword of Light -- Amazon
• 

  Student

  Animation Mentor

  June 2013 - December 2014

  Mentors:
  Class 01- Animation Basics: Robyne Powell (DreamWorks)
  Class 02- Animation Body Mechanics Basics: Rich McKain (ReelFX)
  Class 03- Advanced Body Mechanics: Steve Cunningham (ReelFX)
  Class 04- Intro to Acting: Jay Jackson (Renegade)
  Class 05- Advanced Acting: Nick Bruno (Blue Sky)
  Class 06- Polish and Portfolio: Sean Sexton (DreamWorks)
  
  Activities: Volunteer Peer Mentor
• 

  Freelance Illustrator, Animator, Motion Designer

  Whiteboard Animation Studio

  July 2014 - August 2014

  New York
• 

  Freelance Motion Designer

  Tribe Pictures

  June 2014 - June 2014
• 

  CG Generalist, Animator, Compositor

  Bunko Studios, Inc.

  March 2010 - October 2013

  New York

  Worked as a CG generalist, animator, and compositor on all four seasons of Warner Brother’s show ‘MAD’, which airs on Cartoon Network.
  - Collaborated with CG lead on creating and prepping 3D characters for animation in Maya.
  Including: modeling, UVing, rigging and applying mental core shaders; modeled and set up blend shapes for lip sync/facial animation; created character templates in OpenPipeline (file organization system) for animators with appropriate sIBL/HDRI lighting set up and render settings.
  - Animated 3D characters as well as organized and assigned shots/characters for animation to
  8 coworkers and 5 interns. Taught and answered technical questions from coworkers/interns regarding Maya and OpenPipeline workflow.
  - Rendered all approved animation with Maya’s mental ray and backburner. Organized rendered files for compositing.
  - Used After Effects to key and color correct green screen photos, 2D keyframe and puppet animation, rig and animate 2D photoshopped heads for facial animation and lip sync, composite 3D & 2D elements with final effects.
• 

  Student Volunteer

  ACM SIGGRAPH

  December 2008 - December 2008

  Student Volunteer at ACM SIGGRAPH ASIA 2008 in Singapore, Singapore
• 

  Design Intern

  Wine & Spirits Magazine

  May 2008 - August 2008

  Designed layout of pages for small articles in three issues of magazine. Photoshoped images and photographed bottles of wine that were published in magazine. Updated and wrote HTML code for Wine&Spirits; website to add monthly events, new photos, and featured articles. Called winemakers and various restaurants around the world to secure images for magazine.

• Video Editing Intern

  JumP Editorial

  May 2008 - August 2008

  Logged and loaded dailies footage onto computer and prepared it for editors and assistant editors. Found exact frame matches in cuts on higher quality footage and replaced old clips with new video. Selected specific types of clips from television shows and commercials for two montages. Participated in editing sessions of dailies, color correcting, and music mixing.
• 

  Modeling/Animation Intern

  Sonalysts, Inc.

  May 2007 - July 2007

  Created and designed characters and scenes for a few short animations. Learned how to manipulate special effects particles, create reflective surfaces, and design proper lighting of scenes. Completed various Maya and Photoshop tutorials.
• 

  3d character animator

  Nickelodeon

  June 2017 - February 1918

  US
• 

  Compositor

  Titmouse

  September 2015 - June 2017

  United States