ICE BLINK - Key Persons
Aaron Becker was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. His early influences include Phil Tippett's stop motion work and Joe Johnston's sketches. As a child, Aaron was fascinated more by the "art of" books than by the films themselves. He made his own animated films on a super 8 camera.
After graduating as valedictorian at Baltimore City College High School in 1992, he went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and Fine Art from Pomona College in Claremont, CA. He worked as a Graphic Designer for six years before deciding to further his studies. He went to the CCAC in San Francisco to study life drawing, then went on to the Art Center in Pasadena to study illustration. Aaron joined Doug Chiang and The Polar Express, therefore embarking on a career in the film industry.
Bill Mather is an award-winning Matte Artist, Illustrator, Set Designer and Art Instructor. He began his career at Matte World in 1987, creating miniature clouds and traditional matte paintings for the HBO film "By Dawns Early Light". This won the fledgling artist an Emmy for the Best Special Visual Effects on his first professional endeavor. In addition, he received an Academy Award Nomination in 1993 for his work on Batman Returns. Among others, Bill's matte and design work includes movies such as Forrest Gump, Jumanji, Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, and The Polar Express.
Bill has been a creative force contributing to a wide variety of projects, working under the umbrella of Matte World, Colossal Pictures, and Industrial Light and Magic, where he worked as a Conceptual Artist and Digital Matte Painter.
Bill was educated at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and continues his involvement with the institute as a Teacher of Figure Drawing. Check out www.matherart.com to view Bill's personal works of fine art.
Colin Fix graduated from San Joaquin Delta College with a degree in fine arts in 1997 and received a subsequent degree in graphic design with an emphasis in illustration and animation from San Jose State University in 2003. During his studies at SJSU Colin acquired an internship with Industrial Light + Magic's art department. After his successful completion of that internship Colin was immediately hired as a traditional animator at The Learning Company. In his spare time he designed game environments for Electronic Arts. He eventually returned to ILM as an assistant concept artist where he worked on various films including "Peter Pan", "Hulk", and "Terminator 3". Colin now specializes in concept art, illustration, and storyboards. His clients include: Wizards of the Coast, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Planet Moon Studios, Shabba Games, Konami, Irrational Games, Sequoia Capitol, and Weiden & Kennedy Advertising. His work has appeared in "Spectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art", the strategy card game "Hecatomb" and renowned art galleries throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Colin recently completed crucial character design work for EA's "James Bond 007: From Russia with Love". He is currently employed as a character designer at Ice Blink Studios and creating concepts for Robert Zemeckis' upcoming CG feature "Beowulf". He currently lives in Vallejo, California where he spends his free time hanging out with his wife and son, watching movies, drawing, eating Mexican food and playing bass.
Dermot Power began his career as an illustrator drawing Judge Dredd and Slaine for the British anthology comic 2000AD. He started working full time in the film industry in 1997 when he was asked to contribute concept designs for Hallmarks "Merlin" mini-series. He was asked to join the Star Wars concept design team in 1999 on Episode II Attack of the Clones. Since then he has worked on Harry Potter 2, 3 and 4, Batman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, V for Vendetta amongst others. He is currently working on Beowulf for Doug Chiang's Ice Blink Studio in San Francisco. Visit Dermot's website at www.dermotpower.com.
Job Titles:
- Marc Gabbana Erin Collins Butler Mark Sullivan Randy Gaul Matt Dougan
Doug Chiang studied film at the University of California, at Los Angeles, and industrial design at the Center of Creative Studies, College of Art and Design. Chiang got his start as a Stop Motion animator on the Pee Wee's Playhouse television series. He soon rose to become a Clio Award winning commercial director and designer for Rhythm and Hues, Digital Productions, and Robert Abel and Associates. In 1989, Chiang joined Industrial Light and Magic where he became the Creative Director in 1993. During this time, he worked as Visual Effects Art Director for films including Ghost, Back to the Future II, The Doors, Terminator 2, Death Becomes Her, Forrest Gump, Jumanji, and The Mask. He has earned both an Academy Award and a British Academy Award for Death Becomes Her and another British Academy Award for Forrest Gump.
Chiang left ILM in 1995 to head up the Art Department as Design Director for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace and Episode II, Attack of the Clones. In 2002, he served as Production Designer for Robert Zemeckis' The Polar Express. His first book Robota was published by Chronicle Books in 2003 and he is currently developing the computer game based on the book with Sony Picture Imageworks. In 2004, Chiang formed Ice Blink Studios, a company dedicated to doing production design for film and other media.
As an independent filmmaker, Chiang has received numerous awards, including First Place in the FOCUS Awards for his film Mental Block. His short teaser film for Robota was awarded both the 'Prix Du Rendu' award at Imagina 2003 Film Festival and the 'Best Advertising/Promotional Film' in the 2003 Annecy Animation Festival.
Chiang's paintings have appeared nationwide in various publications as well as limited edition prints and posters and were featured in major national and worldwide exhibitions including the Brooklyn Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the San Diego Museum of Fine Art, the Fields Museum in Chicago, and the Kyoto and Tokyo National Museums among others.
In 2003, Chiang received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the prestigious Academy of Art College in San Francisco. Chiang lives in Northern California with his wife and three children.
Erin Collins Butler went to California State University, Chico, where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Design. Born and raised in San Rafael, CA Erin began her career in film without having to go far from home. She began working at Industrial Light and Magic, Commercial Productions in 1997. For the next five years, she continued to work at ILM and as a free-lancer on a number of feature films, commercials, industrials and music videos. She joined Doug and his team of artists on The Polar Express in 2002 and is happy to be a part of the Ice Blink Team.
Josh Viers studied Industrial Design at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning where he received his Bachelors of Science in Design Degree in 2001. He served as the student representative for the Industrial Designer's Society of America, and collaborated with school administrators to successfully improve students' working environments. He also participated in the school's cooperative work program gaining practical design experience in a variety of disciplines including toy, small consumer electronic and athletic shoe design.
His first professional design experience was with Hasbro Toy Group working on Batman and Transformer action figure lines. His designs for both properties were produced and released in 2000 nationwide. He later accepted a position as product designer at Zoé Design Associates in San Francisco. There he created a wide range of consumer electronics products for international markets. This was followed by a coop position at Adidas International in Portland where he created a futuristic football shoe that was featured in the print media including USA Today and The St. Petersburg Times for the 2001 Superbowl. Viers' first working experience in feature film was at Tippett Studio in the rotoscoping department. His gratifying experience at that studio convinced him to return to the Bay Area to continue his career in the film industry. After returning to Cincinnati, he finished his schooling and received his degree.
Upon graduation Viers moved to the San Francisco Bay Area fully intent on getting work in the film industry as a concept artist. At first he spent his days working at an art store in Berkeley and at night would do freelance design for various toy lines, consumer electronics, clothing illustrations and tv commercials for companies such as Hasbro and Complete Pandemonium. In 2002, Viers accepted an offer to work in the art department at Industrial Light & Magic. While at ILM, he worked on a variety of films including Sea Biscuit, Gangs of New York, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, The Hulk, Van Helsing, and Terminator 3. He then left ILM to work at Ice Blink Studios where he has created matte paintings for Doug Chiang's second Robota teaser and where he is now employed as a concept artist. He currently lives in San Francisco.
Job Titles:
- Illustrator and Concept Artist
Marc Gabbana is an illustrator and concept artist who works in the advertising, publishing and motion picture industries.
Marc studied architecture at Lawrence Institute of Technology (LIT) in Southfield, MI for a year before enrolling at the Center for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, MI. He graduated in 1990 and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in illustration. His school assignments always had a heavy emphasis on technical accuracy as well as imaginative subject matter, whether it was a 50 foot tall robot intercepting kids throwing snowballs or strange creatures lurking in the shadows. His freelance career began during his third year of school when he began to do projects for various local advertising agencies. By the time he graduated the following year, he had a full roster of clients. Early jobs required Marc to paint a lot of shiny cars for Detroit's ad agencies where he incorporated portions of his imaginative backgrounds at every opportunity. His client base soon reached beyond Detroit and included such companies as Nintendo, Scholastic and Hasbro, as well as Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics to name a few. There were also various magazines and renowned advertising agencies that commissioned Marc to create fantastic images for their publications and advertising campaigns. For the next few years between advertising jobs, Marc began to create an extensive body of work with an emphasis on architectural, vehicle, creature, character and environmental design - works that would reflect his own unique vision.
Soon, Hollywood discovered Marc. His first experience on the movie Spawn, opened a new arena in which Motion Picture Development offered him the opportunity to see his designs come to life on the big screen. Marc fulfilled a lifelong dream by becoming a Star Wars concept artist for both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones directed by George Lucas. His other film credits include Jimmy Neutron - Boy Genius, 8 Mile, Hellboy and IMAX's first all CG 3D movie Cyberworld where he worked as the Production Designer. He also worked as illustrator and concept designer on the Wachowski brothers' sequels Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions which was immediately followed by The Polar Express directed by Robert Zemeckis with Doug Chiang's design team.
His most recent endeavor is as concept artist on Monster House, directed by Gil Kenan and Steven Spielberg's upcoming motion picture War of the Worlds.
Matt Dougan has worked in a variety of roles over the last 12 years as a CG artist.
He started his career in 1992 as the Graphics Director at WSAW-TV in Wausau, Wisconsin. He was hired to create the region's first ever Computer Graphics Department and transition the company from analog video graphics to a digital facility.
He was noted for creating the first :30 second all CG spot in the region. As Graphics Director, he was awarded local and national Addy and Telly awards, and was regarded as one of the leading pioneers in CGI imagery in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.
Matt left the Midwest in 1994 and went to California to pursue film work. He accepted a job at Light Matters/Pixel Envy in Pacific Palisades, and worked on various films including "The Nutty Professor", "Jingle All The Way" and "Volcano". He lit, comped, and textured during this time.
Matthew Ward began his work in the visual arts working at the Academy Award winning visual effects house, Industrial Light & Magic, where he contributed work on such films as The Mummy, Star Wars Episode I, and Wild Wild West. Since then, Ward has worked on numerous visual effects and animation films including Titan A.E., Behind Enemy Lines, Impostor, Star Wars Episode II, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Natural Selection, The Polar Express, Ladykillers, Catwoman, and Superman V. Ward's diversity in filmmaking has helped him play numerous roles in each film he has worked on, including concept illustrations and designs, pre-visual animation & cinematography, and final character animation. As an independent director and filmmaker, Ward has been featured in several international film festivals and has been an Addy nominee for two of his commercials.
Lending Ice Blink Studios his skills in pre-visual animation, Ward is focused on working with talented directors on films that tell unique stories involving heavy special effects. His attention outside of the day job is driven toward directing small projects that produce creative, innovative, thought-provoking short films and music videos for diverse audiences.
Job Titles:
- Founders of the Orphanage
Brian Flora has been working as a Matte painter and concept artist for fifteen years. His work can be seen in films such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Batman Returns, The Matrix Reloaded, Matrix Revolutions, and Star Wars Episode One. As a Matte Painter, Brian has produced a body of work that is among the most memorable in the industry.
Brian was born in Walnut Creek, and was raised in the San Francisco Bay area. He earned a bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1990. He began his professional career in 1988 as an assistant Matte artist at Industrial Light and Magic. During the next five years, Brian developed and refined his traditional matte painting skills working as a freelancer for the acclaimed artists Michael Pangrazio at Matte World and Mark Sullivan at Compound Eye. In 1995 he made the transition to digital painting while working at Rocket Science, a video game company based in San Francisco. In 1996 Brian returned to Industrial Light and Magic, quickly rose to the position of senior matte artist, and created some of the most iconic imagery seen in Star Wars Episode One.
In August 2000 Brian left ILM to collaborate with Jonathan Rothbart, Stuart Maschwitz, and Scott Stewart, founders of the Orphanage - a visual effects and film studio. There he created, managed and supervised a world class matte painting department for work on Hellboy.
Brian Flora joined the Ice Blink team for Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, after previously working with the group on The Polar Express. Brian's strength lies in his ability to add dramatic mood to an image, while at the same time creating photo realistic imagery.
Pam has been producing web sites since 1995 when she landed a position at HotWired in San Francisco as Production Director. She moved on to Lucasfilm where she produced the Star Wars web site for the launch of Episode I The Phantom Menance. It was at Skywalker Ranch that Pam met Doug Chiang and after leaving Lucasfilm, Pam led a team of flash designers in building the Robota web site. Pam currently works as a project manager at VolunteerMatch, a nonprofit in San Francisco. Pam attended UW-Madison where she studied journalism and history.