Contact • Resume • Demo Reel


Stephen Anthony Candell • stephencandell@gmail.com

OBJECTIVE
position as a Senior Character Rigger

SUMMARY
8 years of experience in film production specializing in computer animation.
Recently managed team of 10 in artistic and technical capacities.
Strong focus on preproduction as key element of efficient production.

WORK EXPERIENCE
Dreamworks Animation SKG, Glendale, CA
6/09-present
Senior Character Rigger - "Puss In Boots"
 
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City, CA
9/05-5/09
Senior Technical Animator - Face Rigging Team Lead
"Surf's Up: A True Story" Hero Face Rigs: Cody Maverick, The Geek, Chicken Joe, Rory Nubbins, Glen Maverick and Reggie Belefonte
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" Hero Face Rigs: Flint Lockwood, Calvin, Baby Brent and Steve “the monkey”
"Time Burton’s Alice in Wonderland" Hero Face Rigs: March Hair, Caterpillar
   
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City, CA
9/04-8/05
Intermediate Technical Animator - "Monster House" Hero Face Rigs: Chowder, Jenny, Officer Landers, Pizza Dude
   
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City, CA
9/03-8/04
Associate Technical Animator - "The Polar Express" Constructed numerous vehicle and prop rigs. Created animation tools and procedures.
   
Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City, CA
5/03-8/03
Intern - Selected as an intern for the Digital Character Group through the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences; named one of the top ten internship programs of any kind in the U.S. Completed Imageworks' character-setup training program.
   
The Waterford Institute, Sandy, UT
5/02-04/03
Character Setup Artist – Specialized in character face and body rigs. Created character and environment models. Adapted 2D character designs to 3D.

RESPONSIBILITES
-- Lead teams to create fast and flexible facial rigs
-- Designed and maintained facial model topologies conducive to the desired character deformation requirements
-- Served as chief architect of the facial animation control key-framing interface.
-- Worked closely with animators to provide interactive, expressive, animator-friendly character face rigs
-- Designed “Character Rig Templates” that allowed riggers to re-use the deformations and rig features of similar characters
-- Wrote script based (MEL) build procedures that served as the executable blueprints for all character face rigs
-- Wrote script based (MEL) procedures which provided riggers the ability to dynamically “record to disk” their in-scene rig alterations for future use
 
SPECIALITIES
MEL/PYTHON Script-Based Face & Body Rigging
Character Modeling
Team Motivation and Effective Communication
Goal setting, Project Planning and Problem Solving
Creative and Technical Skills
 
EDUCATION
University of Utah
BFA in University Studies
Emphasis in Character Animation, May 2003
GPA 3.8
 
PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES
MEL
PYTHON
 

Demo Reel and References Available Upon Request