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Michael Amos - Animator Resume
Personal Details:
Address: Melbourne, Australia
Email: michaelamosau@gmail.com
Married: 5 Years
Hobbies & Interests: Life Drawing, Photography, Basketball, Skiing, Formula 1 Racing
Professional Experience:
Studio Moshi, 2003 to 2010
Studio Owner/Director and Animator
I co-founded Studio Moshi with the desire to develop and tell my own stories with exciting new concepts and compelling characters, with the focus on developing an original animated TV series.
During the seven years of running the studio I brought this focus and drive within all parts of the business. Be it management and creative direction of up to 10 staff, setting up collaborations with the very best talent in internationally recognized writers and voice actors or sourcing funding through the Australian and State governments and developing partnerships with distributors and with local and international broadcasters like Cartoon Network.
Combined with creating original titles, I animated and directed a number of short films that were featured in or won awards at Annecy, Stuttgart, Ottawa and Hiroshima animation festivals.
Spin New Media, 2001 – 2003
Art Director and Illustrator
Whilst at Spin I worked as an Art Director and Illustrator on many projects from the original brief and cost estimate, as a Lead Creative in the design process through to the final testing and upload of the projects, including:
• “Microsoft XBOX Oddworld (Game web site),
• “M&M’s” (Award Winning Animated explorative web site),
• “Emperors New Groove” (Disney Web Site & Online Games)
• “Monsters, Inc” (Pixar Animated web site & Online Games)
• “Disney Web Site Home Page”
Walt Disney Consumer Products - Australia, 1999 to 2001
Character Artist and Style Guide Designer
Whilst at Disney Consumer Products I worked in the creative division as a Character Artist and Style Guide Designer on many beloved Disney characters including Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story 2, Mulan and Tarzan.
I developed original poses and expressions of classic Disney characters that had to not only be on model but also bring the character’s personality to life in unique and fun situations, along with developing colour styles and design samples for a range of exciting merchandise.
Achievements:
The following outlines my career achievements and awards:
Morning Star:
ABC Australia commissioned Indigenous Aboriginal Short Film
• Winner – Australian Effects and Animation Festival
• Annecy International Animated Film Festival – France
• Stuttgart International Festival of Animation and Film – Germany
• Seoul International Cartoon & Animation Festival – Korea
• Zagreb Animafest - Croatia
• Luciana Film Festival – Italy
• Animation Nation Festival - Singapore
• PLATFORM International Animation Festival – USA
• Ottawa International Film Festival - Canada
• Melbourne International Animation Festival – Australia
• Sydney International Film Festival – Australia
• Hiroshima Animation Festival – Japan
• Bimini Latina Animation Festival and Cartoons - Rome
Frog Story:
ABC Australia commissioned Indigenous Aboriginal Short Film
• Winner – Australian Effects and Animation Festival
Flight Test – Animated Short Film
Short film commissioned by Screen Australia (Federal Government Funding Agency) and Telstra Mobile.
• Sydney International Animation Festival - Australia
• Melbourne International Animation Festival – Australia
El Mariachi:
Original animated TV series concept I co-created and features Nancy Cartwright, voice of Bart Simpson.
• Winner – Asia Animation Super Pitch – Singapore
Articles:
I have been featured in the following articles in print and on TV:
• Animation Magazine
• Cynopsis Magazine
• Kidscreen Magazine
• Desktop Magazine
• Australian Effects and Animation Magazine
• The Age Newspaper
• Today Tonight (Prime Time News)
• C21 Media
• TV Tonight
Education and Skills:
Animation Mentor, 2010 to current
Most recently I graduated from studying at the online animation school; Animation Mentor.
My mentors included:
• Chris Chua – Pixar Animation Studios
• Chad Sellers – Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Drew Adams – DreamWorks Animation
• David Weatherly – DreamWorks Animation
• Victor Navone – Pixar Animation Studios
• Sean Sexton – DreamWorks Animation
Swinburne University, 1996 to 1998
Completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Design with a major in Multimedia Design / Animation.
Outside Mentors
Throughout my education and career I have continued to contact Character Designers and Animators that I admire. Gaining personal feedback from these artists has honed my skills immensely. This has included most recently Richard Fournier; Blue Sky Studios and Ron Pucherelli; PDI DreamWorks.
I was lucky enough to meet Disney legend and member of the famed Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnston when he came to Australia many years ago. I was just a kid, but we kept in touch and Ollie’s advice in animation and getting personality into my designs and poses was invaluable.
Computer Skills:
Proficient in the use of the following programmes:
• Maya 2010
• Adobe Photoshop CS5
• Adobe Illustrator CS5
• Sketchbook Pro
• Adobe Flash CS5
References:
Industry references available upon request.
