Thierry DiDonna

Thierry DiDonna

Character Animator / 20 yrs

San Francisco, CA

Hire Me

Animator

Henry (2018)

Character Animator

Dear Angelica (2017)

Animator

Pearl (2016)

Animator

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014)

Free Birds (2013)

Epic (2013)

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Hotel Transylvania (2012)

Brisk Iced Tea - Star Wars Ad (2012)

Brisk Iced Tea - Star Wars Ad (2012)

The Green Hornet: Wheels of Justice (2011)

Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

Ice Age 2: The Meltdown (2006)

Additional Animation

Happy Feet (2006)

Jurrasic Park: The Game (15)

Hailan Rising

Sims 2

Work History

  • Senior AR/VR Experience Prototyper/Designer

    Facebook

    July 2017 - Present
    San Francisco Bay Area, CA

    Design and lead implementation of experiences and prototypes exploring social and product potentiality of cutting-edge VR research. Directed mocap shoots and character animation production as well as creating art assets and art directing outsource asset production. Gameplay programming of prototypes in Unity C#

  • Character Animator/VR Prototyper

    Oculus Story Studio

    March 2016 - June 2017

    Wolves in the Walls (Emmy Winner) & Dear Angelica. Preproduction development and prototyping focused on narrative animation’s relationship to level design and an AI companion. Initiated concept / led ‘Luminous’, a development prototype.

  • Character Animator / Character Modeler on Allumette (a VR Narrative St

    Penrose Studios

    November 2015 - March 2016
    San Francisco, California, US

  • Character Animator on 'Pearl,' Academy Award Nominated Animated Short

    Google, Inc.

    August 2015 - October 2015
    US

  • Character Animator/Narrative Designer

    Oculus Story Studio

    May 2015 - August 2015
    San Francisco, CA

    ‘Henry’, Emmy Award winning VR short film. Designed animation and narrative elements.

  • Character Animator - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

    Industrial Light & Magic

    January 2014 - May 2014

  • Character Animator

    Pixar

    September 2013 - September 2013

    Briefly held contract position before production was unexpectedly halted.

  • Character Animator - Free Birds

    Reel FX

    January 2013 - August 2013
    Remotely from Alameda, CA

    Character Animator on Reel FX's upcoming animated feature Directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who) with voices by Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1621039/
    https://www.cartoonbrew.com/feature-film/turkeys-gets-greenlight-at-reel-fx-72378.html

  • Character Animator - Epic

    Blue Sky Studios

    October 2012 - January 2013
    Greenwich, CT

    Contract Character Animator on Blue Sky's upcoming animated feature film
    Directed by Blue Sky founding member, Chris Wedge (Ice Age), with voices by Jason Sudeikis, Amanda Seyfried and Christoph Waltz

    Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4qKWzVo3OA

  • Character Animator - Hotel Transylvania

    Sony Pictures Imageworks

    January 2012 - June 2012
    Culver City, CA

    Character Animator on Animated Feature Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, with voices by Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez and Steve Buscemi

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837562/

  • Lead Character Animator - Star Wars Brisk Commercial

    Mekanism\Aatma

    October 2011 - November 2011
    San Francisco, CA

    See the commercial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwabxgoSGZY I did the first two shots in addition to leading the animation team and supervising the modeling and rigging of the facial setups

  • Animation Supervisor

    Mixamo

    January 2010 - October 2011
    San Francisco, CA

    Review and critique character animation department‘s production of keyframe and motion capture animation. Manage team of animators and technical directors. Act as Animation Director/Director or Art Director on contract animation projects. Foster relationships with partners such as Autodesk.

    Projects have included:

    Animation Supervisor: Telltale Games- Jurassic Park (Nov. 2011 release date)
    Animation Director: Bjork - Crystalline iPad Game (Fall 2011 Xbox release)
    Director: Gamer's First – Hailan Rising Game Cinematic
    Animation Supervisor: Coca-Cola Promotional Campaign

  • Course Director

    Ex'pression College

    January 2007 - April 2010
    Emeryville, CA

    CG Character Animation Professor. Classes included: Animation 2 - focused on
    keyframe character animation using Maya software and traditional animation principles. Motion Studies - geared
    towards mocap animation using the College’s Vicon studio, Vicon Blade software and
    Motionbuilder. Lead the design and construction of the college's Vicon mocap studio.

  • Character Animator - Happy Feet

    Animal Logic

    April 2006 - September 2006
    Sydney, Australia

    Character Animator for Academy Award winning animated feature (Best Animated Feature Category)

  • Character Animator - Ice Age 2

    Blue Sky Studios

    September 2005 - January 2006
    White Plains, NY

    Character Animator on this follow up to the Academy Award nominated
    animated feature, Ice Age.

  • Character Animator

    Palma VFX

    August 2005 - September 2005
    San Francisco, CA

    Character Animator on two contract projects: A series of interstitial segments produced by for the Current TV cable network and on-line interactive advertisements for Microsoft showcasing new music and entertainment features of Windows XP.

  • Character Animator - The Sims 2

    Electronic Arts

    March 2005 - August 2005
    Redwood Shores, CA

    Character Animator for social interactions on the ‘best selling PC game of all time.’ Additionally wrote and storyboarded gags for cinematics.

  • MFA Student

    Academy of Art University

    2001 - 2004

  • Multimedia Animator

    Capacitor

    March 2001 - January 2002
    San Francisco, CA

    Designed and animated After Effects based multimedia components for live stage performances of internationally touring performance art group. Praised by The New York Times as “Ingenious… a galaxy of magic tricks and
    dancing.” Touring extensively nationally and internationally in 2003/2004.

  • Character Animator / Character Modeler on Allumette (a VR Narrative St

    Penrose Studios

    January 2001 - January 2001
    San Francisco, California, US
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Education

  • Academy of Art University

    2001 - 2004