DNEG has appointed industry guru Andrew Gordon as Head of Character Animation for its Feature Animation team, at the company’s headquarters in London.
Andrew joins Managing Director of Feature Animation Tom Jacomb, Animation Director Troy Saliba and VFX Supervisor Philippe Denis in leading DNEG’s rapidly-growing Feature Animation team, and helping to foster a culture of creativity and innovation.
With more than 20 years’ experience in feature animation at Pixar and Warner Bros., Andrew has an impressive credit list that includes many prestigious blockbuster animated franchises such as ‘Ratatouille’, ‘Monsters University’, ‘Toy Story’, ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Cars’ and ‘The Incredibles 1 & 2’.
Throughout his career, Andrew (pictured below) has received global recognition for bringing to life iconic characters such as Mike Wazowski – the green, one-eyed star of the hugely successful ‘Monsters, Inc.’ and ‘Monsters University’ films, for which he was Animator/Character Designer and Directing Animator, respectively – and Marlin in ‘Finding Nemo’, for which he won a VES Award for Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture.
Commenting on the appointment, Tom Jacomb, said:
“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Andrew to our Feature Animation team. His natural and inspirational leadership style, combined with his knowledge and creativity, particularly when it comes to creating characters that audiences really connect with, are invaluable assets that will strengthen our capabilities and play a crucial role in the future growth of the team.
“DNEG has a global reputation for helping storytellers capture audiences’ imaginations through our combination of industry leading technology and an internal philosophy focused on creativity, which has helped us to win four Oscars in the last five years. Now, we want to emulate this success for Feature Animation. Andrew is joining us at the perfect time, and alongside Troy and Philippe he will play a crucial role in elevating DNEG’s Feature Animation capabilities on the global stage.”
In his new role, Andrew will help to foster a culture of creativity that allows animators to thrive by actively promoting and encouraging the sharing of ideas and new ways of thinking.
Well known among industry peers for creating the secret ‘Lucky 7 Lounge’ at Pixar, a secret room accessible through a small hatch in his office frequented by the likes of Steve Jobs, he will focus on harnessing the team’s diverse experience and talents to develop a bespoke look and feel for each feature.
Talking about his appointment, Andrew Gordon said: “I am delighted to be joining such a dedicated and hardworking team, led by the amazing Tom Jacomb, at an exciting stage in its journey. Together we are creating a working environment where each film is not just treated as a task, but rather as a collaboration – a chance for everyone to input their individual creativity and character.
“I’m excited to be here in London, which is one of the most diverse capital cities in the world. I believe that London’s rich history provides the perfect environment for our team – a melting pot of creativity that lends itself perfectly to feature animation.“
Andrew will be delivering a masterclass entitled ‘Acting and Gesture in Animation’ at Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2019. https://www.annecy.org/home