All artists are tired of persuading their nearest and dearest to look sad…look glad…look mad…madder…no, even madder…okay, hold it. For those artists (and their long-suffering friends), here is the best book ever. Facial Expressions includes more than 2,500 photographs of 50 faces—men and women of a variety of ages, shapes, sizes, and ethnicities—each demonstrating a wide range of emotions and shown from multiple angles. Who can use this book? Oh, only every artist on the planet, including art students, illustrators, fine artists, animators, storyboarders, and comic book artists. But wait, there’s more! Additional photos focus on people wearing hats and couples kissing, while illustrations show skull anatomy and facial musculature. Still not enough? How about a one-of-a-kind series of photos of lips pronouncing the phonemes used in human speech? Animators will swoon—and artists will show a range of facial expressions from happy to happiest to ecstatic.
I have worked in the entertainment industry for 20 years and have been a professional artist for over 25 years. My background includes live action and animation production, print, writing and teaching.
I currently own three companies located in Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World, one of his clients. Animatics & Storyboards, Inc., is a company which provides storyboards, illustrations, cartoons and comic book illustration to the entertainment and print industries. We are now the largest storyboard supplier in the Southern United States having provided support on over 2,000 productions, ranging from feature films to television series, live action, animation, commercials, industrials, books, magazines, newspapers and more. Our clients include Disney, Universal, Viacom, Sony, HBO, Nickelodeon, Steven Speilberg, Fox, USA Networks, ABC, AT&T, Yamaha, NASA, The American Cancer Society and many, many others.
I also co-founded www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com with my producer wife, Jeanne. We help people to develop, package and pitch their TV concepts.
My other company is A&S Animation, Inc., an animation consultation, development and production house. We specialize in character animation. A&S Animation, Inc. has produced animated shorts which have won over 40 international awards. We also animated Disney s iconic character, Tinker Bell, for the hugely successful Disney Cruise Line.
The series of animated shorts, Timmy s Lessons In Nature, which I developed (along with Travis Blaise and Jeanne Simon), directed and produced, recently won Grand Prize in Nickelodeon s and Animation Magazine s first-ever Nicktoons Film Festival.
I am also the author of three entertainment industry texts. Producing Independent 2D Character Animation showcases every step of production of an independent hand-drawn animation. This book features the production of one of our popular Timmy s Lessons In Nature shorts. The text also contains research necessary for any animator and includes invaluable interviews with industry greats.
My text Storyboards: Motion In Art, is used around the world to train storyboard artists.
Facial Expressions is a photo reference guide for artists of all disciplines.
Each month you may also see my articles in Animation Magazine and on Animation World Network (www.AWN.com).
Prior to storyboarding and producing animation, I was an art director in live-action film and TV in Los Angeles, CA and Orlando, FL. While in Los Angeles, I designed many feature films, music videos and commercials. I then became the second art director at the new Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, FL in 1989.
I have also done Second Unit directing for Nickelodeon and on Steven Speilberg s seaQuest DSV as well as working as a Special Effects Supervisor for NBC and Fox networks.
I teach at the Digital Animation and Visual Effects School (www.DAVEschool.com) located at Universal Studios, and previously at the University of Central Florida. I currently lecture around the world at major conferences, conventions and schools.
