Animation

Department Chair Animation

Eric Walls

Eric Walls has had a career in animation for over 30 years, with an extensive and versatile background in both traditional hand-drawn and CG animation for animated & live-action film and theme park attractions. His animation has been featured in many projects for Disney, DreamWorks, and Warner Brothers, including The Lion King, The Prince of…

Adjunct Faculty

Jerry Beck

Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer and author of more than 15 books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney, was instrumental in launching Animation Magazine, co-founded Cartoon Brew and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. He has curated cartoons for DVD and blu-ray compilations…

Adjunct Faculty

Rachel Bibb

Rachel Bibb has 30 years of experience in the animation industry, primarily working for Walt Disney Animation studios in Florida and Burbank. Her first credit was the original Lion King as a cleanup inbetweener. She worked up the ranks on Pocahontas, Tarzan, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch and Brother Bear, culminating with supervising her first princess,…

Adjunct Faculty

Rebecca Carmickle

Beckett Mikel is a traditional 2D animation Laguna College of Art and Design alum and has returned to the school to teach animation. With much of her previous work focusing on illustration through providing work for charities, band posters, logos, and the like, since graduating college, she has utilized the teachings to shift her work…

Adjunct Faculty

Xavier Coton

I was born in France, and it is where I started my career as a traditional animator. I moved to California in 2000 and transitioned to 3D animation. I have been animating in the game and vfx industry for various studios such as Playstation, MPC, Framestore, Blur Studio and Weta Fx. My style ranges from…

Adjunct Faculty

David Mucci Fassett

Mucci Fassett has worked in the animation industry for 30 years as Director, storyboard artist, and as a visual development artist. MucciÕs sensibilities tend toward humor mixed with meaningful emotional storytelling and gravitas. With his vast experience and artistic virtue, Mucci will lead storytellers and artists into creating stylish and visually compelling worlds. Students will…

Adjunct Faculty

Casey Follen

Adjunct Faculty

Kimberly Mendiola

Kim Diaz is a veteran talent leader with 20+ years of experience recruiting creative and technical talent across animation, VFX, games, and sound. She has held key recruiting leadership roles at Pixar Animation Studios, Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound and 2K Games, contributing to iconic franchises including Star Wars, Indiana Jones, The Avengers,…

Adjunct Faculty

Ana Meraz Perales

Ana Meraz graduated from LCAD with a BFA in Animation and has a versatile 7+ years' experience in cutting edge industry standard softwares for 2D and 3D animation. She has experience tutoring students at LCAD about the animation pipelines and softwares and has a high standard for her teaching methods. Her motto is "I am…

Adjunct Faculty

Henry Sato

Henry Sato is a veteran 3D Character Animator with over 30 years of experience bringing animated characters to life on the big screen. HeÕs worked at top studios including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Sony Pictures Imageworks, contributing to beloved CG features like Wreck-It Ralph, Open Season, and SurfÕs Up. In addition to fully animated…

Adjunct Faculty

David Bittorf

Dave Bittorf has a BA degree from the University of Wisconsin, 17 years as a CG instructor with Platt College in San Diego, and an additional 3 years teaching for the Art Institute and the Digital Media Academy. In 2010 Dave was awarded "Teacher of the Year" and in 2012 he won a world-wide competition…

Adjunct Faculty

John Dubiel

John Dubiel is a graduate of The California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in Character Animation and extensive studies in the School of Theater, having previously studied Film and Animation at the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts). He has several years of Animation Industry experience and has worked at…

Adjunct Faculty

Richard Ewing

Focusing on caricature and editorial Illustration Richard Ewing has been illustrating professionally since 1987. His black & white work is done in ink using a range of tools from various quill pens to brush; his color art is Acrylic, or Acrylic and Brush & Ink and various other media. His clients include: The Los Angeles…

Adjunct Faculty

Rick Farmiloe

Rick Farmiloe has been animating childhoods for over 30 years, and is best known for breathing hilarity into iconic Disney sidekicks Scuttle, Lefou, and Abu in the beloved Academy Award winning films The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. During his 11 years at Disney, he animated on seven features and one short,…

Adjunct Faculty

Peter Ferk

Peter Ferk is a 37 year veteran of the animation industry having worked with Disney, Discovery, Warner Bros. Film Roman, Universal, and Sony among others. Peter's career started with studies at the Ontario College of Fine Art in Toronto and Florence, Italy. His beginnings as a layout artist in Canada for "Teddy Ruxpin", Nightingale and…

Adjunct Faculty

James Fujii

Born in Gardena, California, James Fujii attended Santa Barbara City College majoring in Biology. During his time in college, James Fujii found his passion for Animation and decided to change majors. He attended CalArts and graduated from the Character Animation Program in 1983 with a BFA degree. In 1984, Fujii started his first union job…

Adjunct Faculty

Leigh Rens

Industry Veteran 3D Animator - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0719799

Adjunct Faculty

Tim Szabo

Tim is an art director, visual development artist, and background designer with over 25 years of experience in the animation industry. He received a BA in Studio Art from St. Olaf College and also attended the Kansas City Art Institute. Tim started out as a traditional animator in Minneapolis before moving to Los Angeles in…

Adjunct Faculty

Joe Weatherly

Adjunct Faculty

Leonard Lee

Leonard Lee is a Los Angeles based Character Designer in the animation industry for more than 8 years, working with studios like Sony Pictures Animation, WB Animation, Nickelodeon and more. While instructing character design and animation teams on shows like ‘Tiny Toons: Looniversity’, Leonard found a love of sharing his passion for a classic, tried…

Adjunct Faculty

Jack Hillin

Jack Hillin is a Visual Development Artist with recent roles as Lead Character Designer and Lead Colorist at Warner Bros. Discovery. His recent contributions include work on animated projects Get Jiro and Watchmen Part 1 & 2. Jack earned a degree in Illustration with a focus on Entertainment from ArtCenter College of Design, graduating in…