LENNIE GRAVES
Los Angeles, California.
(747) 370-5194 • [email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennie-graves-0690a9363/ • https://www.LennieGravesAnimation.com
ANIMATOR
Emotional performances are what audiences connect to. Realizing this defines a mature animator. Helping developing animators navigate the mechanics and physics needed to reach a moving and entertaining performance strengthens the team. It is the simple things that make all the difference. They are also easiest to miss. Keeping it easy, fun, and yet effective is the approach to achieve speed and thrills.
___________________________________________________________________________________
• CG Animator / Hand-Drawn 2D Animation / Character Design / Previs / Layout / Matchmove
• Maya • Blender / Krita / After Effects / Photoshop / Screenwriting
• Team Leadership - Motivation / Consulting / Teaching / Training / Development
• Curriculum Development / Animation Workflow Charts / Process Improvement Workforce Planning
• Talent Management / Performance Management / Employee Engagement / Scheduling
• Project Management / Communication
___________________________________________________________________________________
MOUSETRAPPE STUDIO • Burbank, California • 6/2022 – 1/15/2023
Award-winning immersive design agency and media studio.
Senior Animator: CG animation for a famous theme park.
ETHOS • Los Angeles, California • 7/2021 – 7/2021
Visual effects studio.
Senior Animator: Cinematic commercial
Animated multiple biped and quadruped run cycles.
PSYOP • Los Angeles, California • 2/2021 – 2/2021
Visual effects studio.
Previs Artist: Game commercial
EIGHTVFX • Santa Monica, California • 5/2019 – 6/2019, 1/2019 – 1/2020
Visual effects studio.
Animator: Created a library of articulating mouth shapes and animated lip synchronization for
Carl's Jr. Commercial.
Achievements: • Animated lifelike basketball player having a dunk attempt smashed by another player.
• Animated CG mouths onto a live action pig.
MOUSETRAPPE STUDIO • Burbank, California • 8/2019 – 11/2019
Award-winning immersive design agency and media studio.
Animator: Developed CG animation for Disney World theme park.
Achievements: • Animated realistic animals for major projection project.
COSA VFX • North Hollywood, California • 10/2018 – 12/2018
Full service visual effects studio.
Animator: Utilized Matchmove to prepare animation for multiple television series. Achievements:
Achievements: • Learned to Matchmove • Animated vehicles.
L’ATELIER ANIMATION • Montreal, Quebec • 10/2016 – 2/2017
Boutique service house focused on delivering high-end animation projects.
Animation Director: Built animation team managing talent recruitment.
Achievements: • Directed comprehensive animation process for Robozuna TV series • Supervised
character and vehicles rigging • Animated walk cycles • Established facial and dialog expressions and
shape • Collaborated on preparation of early storyboard • Used previs to develop action sequences
• Managed preproduction for first run show. • Established animation production workflow, assets, and
processes. • Performed project script analysis to prepare animation props, characters, other assets, and
environment interactive lists. • Developed main characters and generic character’s library for access by
animators. • Hand-drew facial expressions and mouth shapes for CG modeling to create blend-shapes
with phonemes for automated dialog generating program. • Created main characters walk cycles for
library accessed by animators.
MPC • Montreal / Quebec, Canada • 2/2016 – 4/2016, 5/2016 – 7/2016
VFX House
Layout Artist / Previs Artist: Set up live action shots for animation and composition layout.
Achievements: • Developed first visual representations of shots for Blade Runner 2049. Achievements:
• Completed layout for X-Men: Apocalypse live action feature. Part of a six member
team developing animated proxy assets into shots for VFX Supervisor approval.
FRIMA STUDIO / VOLTA STUDIO • Quebec City, Canada • 1/2015 – 1/2016
Digital entertainment studio with a broad transmedia expertise.
Animation Director: Managed animation department for development of Lego's "bionicle" series.
Achievements: • Established animation department for a first-run series. • Developed team from scratch
assembling talent and coordinating production with other departments.
SINGING FROG • Montreal, Canada • 1/2014 – 12/2014
Animation Production Studio.
Senior Animator: for CG Feature “Snowtime.” (French: “La Guerre des Turque”)
MOKO STUDIO • Montreal, Canada • 11/2013 – 12/2013
VFX and Animation Studio
Animator: Animated both CG and 2D Commercials
MIKROS STUDIO • Montreal Canada • 09/2013 – 11/2013
Animation Studio
Senior Animator: Animated Feature: The Little Prince (CG Feature)
Achievements: • 2D animation integrated into Stop Motion environment.
IMAGE ENGINE • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 7/2013 – 9/2013
Visual effects and animation studio.
Animator: Animated characters for the live action feature R.I.P.D.
SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 9/2011 – 6/2013
VFX Production Studio.
Animator: Character animation for CG feature "Hotel Transylvania".
DUCK STUDIO • Santa Monica, California • 1/2010 – 12/2010
Commercial animation studio.
2D Animator: Character animation for 2D special.
Achievements: • Created 2D Character Animation for The Smurfs: "A Christmas Carol".
SONY IMAGEWORKS • Culver City, California • 9/2009 – 12/2009
VFX Production Studio. Rough
Layout Artist: Created character animation layouts for the Live Action Feature The Green Lantern.
Achievements: • Rough layout for high profile, live action feature.
LUCASFILM, SINGAPORE • Changi, Singapore • 8/2008 – 8/2009
VFX Production Studio.
Animation Supervisor: Supervised animation for The Clone Wars TV series.
Achievements: • Established new workflow processes splitting 34 animators into two teams to animate
two episodes concurrently • Spearheaded CG animation for high profile TV series.
LAGUNA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
Laguna Beach, California • 2007 Private college offering Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and Master of Fine Arts degree programs.
Animation Instructor: Taught Animation and Storyboarding.
Achievements: • Introduced fun and flexible approaches that introduced new students to animation that
prepared students for the industry, realistically. • Created the animation curriculum
• Based the classes’ curriculums on The 12 Principles of Animation. • Taught other
animation principles learned through years of industry experience.
RISING SUN STUDIO • Adelaide, Australia • 6/2006 – 8/2006
VFX House creating inspirational visual effects for major studios worldwide.
Animator: Provided CG character animation for the live-action feature, "Charlotte’s Web".
TOON CITY ANIMATION STUDIO • Manila, Philippines • 1/2004 – 6/2004
Animation production studio.
Animation Director: Prepared animation for Belgium CG feature.
Achievements: • Directed children's TV series "Firehouse".
ELECTRONIC ARTS • Los Angeles, California • 6/2001 – 12/2003
Gaming company.
Lead Animator: Developed animation for games.
Achievements: • Conceived “The Gate” program: A program intended to allow animators to animate at
varied rates and styles of compression true to what the players would through the game
engine. • Conceived a system of animation moves that would give characters animated
turns, anticipation, and follow-through in game-play. • Wrote scripts conceiving certain
levels for the game with events and dialog.
ELECTRONIC ARTS • Chertsey, England • 1/2000 – 5/2001
Game Production Studio.
Animation Director: Led animation department producing a multi-platform game.
Achievements: • Directed animation of the Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets,
the first Harry Potter game.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
Senior Animator, Mokko Studio, Montreal, Canada, Commercials in CG, 2D animation.
Senior Animator, Mikros Studio, The Little Prince (CG Feature)
Animator, Rhythm & Hues, Los Angeles, California The Garfield Movie (Live Action Feature)
Animator, Warner Bros. Feature Animation, Glendale, California The Iron Giant; Osmosis Jones; Cats Don’t
Dance; Quest for Camelot Animation Instructor, Acme Animation Online, Los Angeles, California
Overseas Supervisor, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Taipei, Taiwan, Two Stupid Dogs; Secret Squirrel (2D
TV Series) The Town that Santa Forgot (2D TV Special)
Overseas Animation Director, Hyperion Animation Studio, Taipei, Taiwan, Bebe’s Kids (2D Feature),
Animator, Hyperion Animation studio, Glendale, California, “Itsey Bitsey Spider;” “Wooly Bully” (2D Shorts)
Animator, The Walt Disney Company, Glendale, California, Beauty and the Beast (2D Feature), The Prince
and the Pauper (2D Featurette)
EDUCATION
THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, Manhattan, New York
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts. Major: Animation.
DHIMA, DH Institute of Media Arts Professional Training Program. Los Angeles, California
Certificate of Completion in Maya and Basic Rigging Modeling Course
AFFILIATIONS
MPSC Local 839
COMPUTER SKILLS
Maya, After Effects, Photoshop, Blender, Krita, Microsoft Office Suite
AWARDED PROJECTS AND RECOGNITIONS
• OSCAR Nomination: Beauty and the Beast. The first animated feature nominated for Best Picture.
• OSCAR Winner: Blade Runner 2049. Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects.
• EMMY Winner ” Garfield’s “Babes and Bullets”
• EMMY Nomination: “The Town Santa Forgot”
• ANNIE and BAFTA Winner: The Iron Giant
• BAFTA Winner: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets game
PUBLICATIONS / PRESENTATIONS
ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE: Complimented for leading Sawyer in Cats Don't Dance.
ONANIMATION Animation Website: https://onanimation.com/2014/10/30/lennie-k-graves-animation-reel/
Los Angeles, California.
(747) 370-5194 • [email protected]
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennie-graves-0690a9363/ • https://www.LennieGravesAnimation.com
ANIMATOR
Emotional performances are what audiences connect to. Realizing this defines a mature animator. Helping developing animators navigate the mechanics and physics needed to reach a moving and entertaining performance strengthens the team. It is the simple things that make all the difference. They are also easiest to miss. Keeping it easy, fun, and yet effective is the approach to achieve speed and thrills.
___________________________________________________________________________________
• CG Animator / Hand-Drawn 2D Animation / Character Design / Previs / Layout / Matchmove
• Maya • Blender / Krita / After Effects / Photoshop / Screenwriting
• Team Leadership - Motivation / Consulting / Teaching / Training / Development
• Curriculum Development / Animation Workflow Charts / Process Improvement Workforce Planning
• Talent Management / Performance Management / Employee Engagement / Scheduling
• Project Management / Communication
___________________________________________________________________________________
MOUSETRAPPE STUDIO • Burbank, California • 6/2022 – 1/15/2023
Award-winning immersive design agency and media studio.
Senior Animator: CG animation for a famous theme park.
ETHOS • Los Angeles, California • 7/2021 – 7/2021
Visual effects studio.
Senior Animator: Cinematic commercial
Animated multiple biped and quadruped run cycles.
PSYOP • Los Angeles, California • 2/2021 – 2/2021
Visual effects studio.
Previs Artist: Game commercial
EIGHTVFX • Santa Monica, California • 5/2019 – 6/2019, 1/2019 – 1/2020
Visual effects studio.
Animator: Created a library of articulating mouth shapes and animated lip synchronization for
Carl's Jr. Commercial.
Achievements: • Animated lifelike basketball player having a dunk attempt smashed by another player.
• Animated CG mouths onto a live action pig.
MOUSETRAPPE STUDIO • Burbank, California • 8/2019 – 11/2019
Award-winning immersive design agency and media studio.
Animator: Developed CG animation for Disney World theme park.
Achievements: • Animated realistic animals for major projection project.
COSA VFX • North Hollywood, California • 10/2018 – 12/2018
Full service visual effects studio.
Animator: Utilized Matchmove to prepare animation for multiple television series. Achievements:
Achievements: • Learned to Matchmove • Animated vehicles.
L’ATELIER ANIMATION • Montreal, Quebec • 10/2016 – 2/2017
Boutique service house focused on delivering high-end animation projects.
Animation Director: Built animation team managing talent recruitment.
Achievements: • Directed comprehensive animation process for Robozuna TV series • Supervised
character and vehicles rigging • Animated walk cycles • Established facial and dialog expressions and
shape • Collaborated on preparation of early storyboard • Used previs to develop action sequences
• Managed preproduction for first run show. • Established animation production workflow, assets, and
processes. • Performed project script analysis to prepare animation props, characters, other assets, and
environment interactive lists. • Developed main characters and generic character’s library for access by
animators. • Hand-drew facial expressions and mouth shapes for CG modeling to create blend-shapes
with phonemes for automated dialog generating program. • Created main characters walk cycles for
library accessed by animators.
MPC • Montreal / Quebec, Canada • 2/2016 – 4/2016, 5/2016 – 7/2016
VFX House
Layout Artist / Previs Artist: Set up live action shots for animation and composition layout.
Achievements: • Developed first visual representations of shots for Blade Runner 2049. Achievements:
• Completed layout for X-Men: Apocalypse live action feature. Part of a six member
team developing animated proxy assets into shots for VFX Supervisor approval.
FRIMA STUDIO / VOLTA STUDIO • Quebec City, Canada • 1/2015 – 1/2016
Digital entertainment studio with a broad transmedia expertise.
Animation Director: Managed animation department for development of Lego's "bionicle" series.
Achievements: • Established animation department for a first-run series. • Developed team from scratch
assembling talent and coordinating production with other departments.
SINGING FROG • Montreal, Canada • 1/2014 – 12/2014
Animation Production Studio.
Senior Animator: for CG Feature “Snowtime.” (French: “La Guerre des Turque”)
MOKO STUDIO • Montreal, Canada • 11/2013 – 12/2013
VFX and Animation Studio
Animator: Animated both CG and 2D Commercials
MIKROS STUDIO • Montreal Canada • 09/2013 – 11/2013
Animation Studio
Senior Animator: Animated Feature: The Little Prince (CG Feature)
Achievements: • 2D animation integrated into Stop Motion environment.
IMAGE ENGINE • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 7/2013 – 9/2013
Visual effects and animation studio.
Animator: Animated characters for the live action feature R.I.P.D.
SONY PICTURES IMAGEWORKS • Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada • 9/2011 – 6/2013
VFX Production Studio.
Animator: Character animation for CG feature "Hotel Transylvania".
DUCK STUDIO • Santa Monica, California • 1/2010 – 12/2010
Commercial animation studio.
2D Animator: Character animation for 2D special.
Achievements: • Created 2D Character Animation for The Smurfs: "A Christmas Carol".
SONY IMAGEWORKS • Culver City, California • 9/2009 – 12/2009
VFX Production Studio. Rough
Layout Artist: Created character animation layouts for the Live Action Feature The Green Lantern.
Achievements: • Rough layout for high profile, live action feature.
LUCASFILM, SINGAPORE • Changi, Singapore • 8/2008 – 8/2009
VFX Production Studio.
Animation Supervisor: Supervised animation for The Clone Wars TV series.
Achievements: • Established new workflow processes splitting 34 animators into two teams to animate
two episodes concurrently • Spearheaded CG animation for high profile TV series.
LAGUNA COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
Laguna Beach, California • 2007 Private college offering Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees and Master of Fine Arts degree programs.
Animation Instructor: Taught Animation and Storyboarding.
Achievements: • Introduced fun and flexible approaches that introduced new students to animation that
prepared students for the industry, realistically. • Created the animation curriculum
• Based the classes’ curriculums on The 12 Principles of Animation. • Taught other
animation principles learned through years of industry experience.
RISING SUN STUDIO • Adelaide, Australia • 6/2006 – 8/2006
VFX House creating inspirational visual effects for major studios worldwide.
Animator: Provided CG character animation for the live-action feature, "Charlotte’s Web".
TOON CITY ANIMATION STUDIO • Manila, Philippines • 1/2004 – 6/2004
Animation production studio.
Animation Director: Prepared animation for Belgium CG feature.
Achievements: • Directed children's TV series "Firehouse".
ELECTRONIC ARTS • Los Angeles, California • 6/2001 – 12/2003
Gaming company.
Lead Animator: Developed animation for games.
Achievements: • Conceived “The Gate” program: A program intended to allow animators to animate at
varied rates and styles of compression true to what the players would through the game
engine. • Conceived a system of animation moves that would give characters animated
turns, anticipation, and follow-through in game-play. • Wrote scripts conceiving certain
levels for the game with events and dialog.
ELECTRONIC ARTS • Chertsey, England • 1/2000 – 5/2001
Game Production Studio.
Animation Director: Led animation department producing a multi-platform game.
Achievements: • Directed animation of the Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets,
the first Harry Potter game.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
Senior Animator, Mokko Studio, Montreal, Canada, Commercials in CG, 2D animation.
Senior Animator, Mikros Studio, The Little Prince (CG Feature)
Animator, Rhythm & Hues, Los Angeles, California The Garfield Movie (Live Action Feature)
Animator, Warner Bros. Feature Animation, Glendale, California The Iron Giant; Osmosis Jones; Cats Don’t
Dance; Quest for Camelot Animation Instructor, Acme Animation Online, Los Angeles, California
Overseas Supervisor, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Taipei, Taiwan, Two Stupid Dogs; Secret Squirrel (2D
TV Series) The Town that Santa Forgot (2D TV Special)
Overseas Animation Director, Hyperion Animation Studio, Taipei, Taiwan, Bebe’s Kids (2D Feature),
Animator, Hyperion Animation studio, Glendale, California, “Itsey Bitsey Spider;” “Wooly Bully” (2D Shorts)
Animator, The Walt Disney Company, Glendale, California, Beauty and the Beast (2D Feature), The Prince
and the Pauper (2D Featurette)
EDUCATION
THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, Manhattan, New York
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Media Arts. Major: Animation.
DHIMA, DH Institute of Media Arts Professional Training Program. Los Angeles, California
Certificate of Completion in Maya and Basic Rigging Modeling Course
AFFILIATIONS
MPSC Local 839
COMPUTER SKILLS
Maya, After Effects, Photoshop, Blender, Krita, Microsoft Office Suite
AWARDED PROJECTS AND RECOGNITIONS
• OSCAR Nomination: Beauty and the Beast. The first animated feature nominated for Best Picture.
• OSCAR Winner: Blade Runner 2049. Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects.
• EMMY Winner ” Garfield’s “Babes and Bullets”
• EMMY Nomination: “The Town Santa Forgot”
• ANNIE and BAFTA Winner: The Iron Giant
• BAFTA Winner: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets game
PUBLICATIONS / PRESENTATIONS
ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE: Complimented for leading Sawyer in Cats Don't Dance.
ONANIMATION Animation Website: https://onanimation.com/2014/10/30/lennie-k-graves-animation-reel/
