About
My name is Michael and I graduated and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Animation with a concentration in Traditional Animation in May 2021 from the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago.
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I was born and raised on the near Northwest side of Chicago and now residing in Los Angeles, California. I am a first generation Latino American of Ecuadorian and Puerto Rican decent inspired by my own culture and many others around the world. I love to travel and I'm equally inspired by the places I've been to and would love to visit.
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After 10 years of experience in the banking industry I decided to go back to school in 2018 to finish my degree. During the time I spent in banking, I had the opportunity to begin my career as a teller and eventually worked my way to an account supervisor in one of our many back office call centers across the country.
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My return to the classroom provided me the opportunity to work on a collaborative independent animated short with a team in Mexico City. I simultaneously worked with my classmates at Columbia College Chicago on our senior production studio film "Distant Sun" as one of the clean up and lead layout artists. I enjoyed collaborating with other talented individuals and working on projects that the whole team was passionate about.
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In the fall of 2019 I studied with Columbia College Chicago in Los Angeles while attending their Semester in LA program, where I was offered my first production internship with Bang Zoom! Studios.
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Since graduating in May 2021, I accepted my second internship with DreamWorks Television Animation as a Production Assistant Intern on the wildly popular children's pre-school show, Gabby's Dollhouse. I interned during Spring of 2022. After finishing a successful internship I was offered and asked to stay on as a Production Assistant for the show.
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Two and a half years later I wrapped up working on Gabby's Dollhouse as we created more ameow-zing episodes and enjoyed my time with teammates that had as much love and passion for animation as I do. This helped and kept me motivated to look towards the future and eventually moving to further my goals and work on the art and design side of the industry.
I hope to create animated films and tv shows that will reach all kinds of people. I love learning and believe that I can always learn something from everyone that I meet and every place I visit.
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Armed with skills and experience I’m currently looking for exciting challenges to pursue in the animation industry. Whether it is production management in both television and feature, background / layout design, concept art, clean up, animation, storyboarding or character design, I’m confident that I can take on any project with personality, fun, precision, and professionalism.
Experience
Animation
Working on educational, professional and personal projects I have been able to create animated shorts with unique characters and effects all while successfully showing the principles of animation.
Concept Art
Coming up with ideas for the look of the film is my absolute favorite thing to do in the animation production pipeline. To be able to draw the very first sketches and then for the artwork to be used as a reference point for animators, background/layout and character designers further down the line is an absolute joy.​
Character Design
Creating and designing unique and memorable characters is something that I enjoy. The main reason I enjoy character design is that I am able to put my own design spin on a character that either I created or helped create.
Background / Layout Design
Being able to take the storyboards and from there create an environment that will be able to also be part of a story and to also add to it, is such a unique way to contribute to a film. I have had experience being a lead layout artist during out senior animation production film.
Clean-Up
Creating the final drawings you see in a finished film is another joy of mine. I enjoy working together on a team of artists and use the key drawings and animation charts from the original animators and being able to start what beings to be the final touches of a film together.