Jason Dowd has been a professional freelance illustrator and fine artist for over thirty years. His clients include Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, UCI, Anheuser-Busch, and Chase Bank, among others. Most recently, he has completed sixty full color illustrations for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which will appear in 2025 for the 125th anniversary. In 2019, he received a commission from a UCI astrophysicist to illustrate the future
capabilities of the James Webb telescope. The digital diagram produced was needed as a visual presentation tool for NASA, to show how deep into space the telescope would actually see. Jason graduated with distinction from Art Center College of Design in 1990, majoring in Illustration. In 2006, he and his family moved from the Midwest to
Orange County, CA. In 2007, former LCAD President Jonathan Burke hired Jason as an Adjunct Faculty at LCAD, where he has been teaching talented and inspired students for fifteen years.
John F. Malta is the Chair of the undergraduate Illustration Department where he teaches courses at all levels. Johns professional practice as an artist explores the convergence of illustration, comic art, installation, and design. For over a decade he has operated a professional studio working with clients such as The New York Times, Magic the Gathering: Secret Lair, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Honda, Beyond the Streets, Adult Swim, Netflix, Dr. Martens, The Museum of Arts & Design, Blink-182, Premier Guitar, Garbage Pail Kids, Complex, and Sports Illustrated for Kids.
Johns studio practice employs a multitude of art-making techniques to execute, editorial campaigns, motion-based advertising work, comic books, picture books, zines, gallery exhibitions, and large-scale installations.
John holds an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts and a BFA in Illustration from the Columbus College of Art & Design. His work has been awarded, featured, and recognized by The Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, Juxtapoz Magazine, Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Xeric Foundation, and AIGA Eye on Design. He is perpetually drawing and developing narrative projects that seek to blur the barriers between our reality and the digital space.
Mark Pacella has been drawing for the communication arts since the age of 9. Working in publishing as an Editorial illustrator for clients such as The New York Times, The National Law Journal, Notre Dame Magazine etc, he eventually went on to work at Heavy Metal magazine/Marvel comics/DC and Image comics etc.
Tired of shoveling snow, he eventually relocated to sunny California where he worked in animation for a short time for Hanna Barberra etc. before embarking on his storyboard career for commercials and film, where he currently enjoys a rich diversity of material to apply himself in the service of helping to tell cool stories.
Christopher Ramsey is currently based in Orange County. He works with both Illustration and Fine Art techniques in his professional work. Christopher is passionate about figurative and landscape works and uses these elements in his paintings and illustration. His recent works include a Second Place award for the Tustin Plein-air Competition in October 2023.
Jamie Stark is a design and branding consultant. A native New Yorker, Jamie, holds a BA from Fordham University and studied fine art at The Art Students League of NY. Jamie worked at a number of design studios and advertising agencies in NYC. Ultimately, he founded his own firm with offices in NYC and NJ with several employees that provided design and branding to a number of Fortune 500 clients. In 2013, in search of a better lifestyle, he came to California and set up as an individual practitioner. Along with teaching at LCAD, Jamie maintains a design practice creating packaging, branding, and design for a variety of clients in different industries. He also currently consults with several LA-based advertising agencies designing key art and title treatments for the entertainment industry. He has worked on projects for Warner Bros, Disney, HBO, Lionsgate, Netflix, Amazon, and AMC. He has won design awards for his work from Graphis, Graphic Design USA, Adobe, AIGA, Logo Lounge, and others. Jamie has a deep and abiding love of typography that he brings to every project and most particularly to the classes he teaches at LCAD.
Mark Zoeller is a veteran entertainment industry artist who has a long affiliation with film and television, being awarded two Emmy Awards in Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Storyboarding. Hes worked for all the major studios, Warner Bros., Disney, DreamWorks SKG, Fox, Marvel, and Technicolor to name a few. During his time at LCAD, Mark has taught a spectrum of classes including storyboarding, visual storytelling, background layout design, character design, Photoshop and advanced Photoshop and figure drawing. Other classes he has taught at other universities include animation pre-production, storyboarding, illustration, and drawing. When not teaching, Mark lives and works in the heart of Hollywood.