Great news to all aspiring designers, animators, digital/traditional artists and the like! Because our very own Armand Serrano (Animation Environment Designer & Visual Development Artist who worked on Big Hero 6) excitingly announced that the Icon Manila Entertainment Design Conference will return in September 2016!
Held at College of St. Benilde last June 26 and 27, Icon Manila 2015 was a success! We were able to witness inspiring talks from talented and experienced speakers in the design and animation industry on Day 2.
The first speaker Ben Mauro talked about concept design and digital sculpture for film, plus gave some handy advice for struggling freelancers. Ben has Weta Workshop under his belt which includes contribution to film and video games like The Hobbit Trilogy and Elysium! As a freelancer himself, he's also worked for clients including Boston Dynamics, Treyarch, Universal Pictures, and Sony Pictures Animation.
Charles Lee, a game cinematic concept artist, shared some good tips and stories about his experience working for Blizzard Entertianment, Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment and Obsidian! His game clients includeWorld Of Warcraft, Starcraft 2: Void of Legacy, Overwatch, Medal of Honor and God of War!
Animation production designer and art director Noelle Triaureau was also part of the amazing lineup of speakers and taught everyone about the power and significance of color in design! She's actually working on an untitled Smurfs movie scheduled for theatrical release in the summer of 2016! Currently, she's part of the creative team at Sony Pictures Animation and a member of Sony Imageworks!
John Nevarez, an animation environment and character designer, has an extensive and versatile background in the industry! He has worked for Pixar Animation Studio and Disney Toon Studio, and has worked on projects such as Monsters University, Cars 2, Astro Boy, Kim Possible and more!
Ending the conference was our very own Armand Serrano who graduated from University of Sto. Tomas with a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering! Aside from his current post at Walt Disney Animation Studio, he has worked at Sony Pictures Animation, Marvel Production, and Hanna-Barbera Production. He explained the different stages of design and animation which he experienced on one of his biggest projects, Big Hero 6!
The heart of Icon Manila is actually a mission to give back! All of the speakers are volunteers and the entire profit goes back to humanitarian and medical missions in the country.
We all can't wait for Icon Manila 2016 where we can expect another incredible lineup of speakers to inspire us and ignite our creativity and artistry! We were able to get a MYXclusive one-on-one with Armand Serrano and Noelle Triaureau after the event! Check it out in the video below!
How excited are you for Icon Manila 2016? Share your thoughts in the comments section!