This is the portfolio and blog of me, Stephen Candell, L.A.- based character artist. I work in the animation industry as a character technical director. I am currently employed by Dreamworks Animation SKG. My main focuses are facial rigging, 3D character modeling and facial expression design. A one-sentence description of my profession is that I turn statues into puppets.

Background

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an animator. Like many children, I spent a large chunk of my childhood watching animated cartoons and reading comic books. I was fascinated with the characters and storylines. Out of admiration, I later began tracing the characters from my favorite TV shows, and eventually began drawing them free hand. Once my art was seen and well received by my peers in Elementary School, I began receiving requests for drawings from most of the other children. This really boosted my confidence and started me on a lifelong journey in the fine arts and animation.

I graduated from the University in Utah with a degree in the fine arts. There I studied color and design theory, drawing and painting, and sculpture. I was also introduced to Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Maya, and other tools that further empowered me as an digital artist.

Although the University of Utah provided me with a strong knowledge in the fine arts and in computer software, it was lacking in courses of animation. I was required to do a lot of self-learning and chose to follow many online tutorials to further my learning.

Many people ask me why I chose to be a Character Technical Director (or “Rigger”) as opposed to an actual animator. There are two answers: “Supply and demand.” and “I’m good at it.”. First off, computer animators require a large amount of digital assets such as models, rigs and textures before they can actually animate. Creating these many assets is difficult and daunting. This is why you do not see a lot of high-quality home-made computer animation. As I was growing as a 3D artist, my goal was at first to be an animator. To do this, I felt required to first study modeling and then rigging. I soon realized that I had a talent for creating character rigs. Due to an industry need for good character riggers, coupled with a over-saturation of jobless computer animators, my decision was simple. I have never regretted this decision. I am good at what I do, and I really enjoy it.