The Artist’s Journey: Becoming an Industry Professional - Alumni Panel @ Gnomon's Open House
Time
Sun, Feb 26, 2023
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM PT
Location/Platform
Gnomon Campus
Lenovo Stage
1015 North Cahuenga Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Join us on Sunday, February 26th as we welcome a stellar alumni panel to the Gnomon stage!
We are excited to present "The Artist's Journey: Becoming an Industry Professional" with Gnomon alums Marcella Brown, Jesse McAlister, and Dean Sanchez. During this panel, attendees will hear about the opportunities and lessons our alumni gained during their education and beyond. They will discuss their artistic journey, the Gnomon student experience, and how they navigated their way to their current industry roles.
Our panel features distinguished alumni who have achieved success in the industry in a variety of disciplines including VFX, Character Art, and Game Environments. Their career pathways have brought them to several leading studios including Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Weta, and more. (All three also recently worked on the highly acclaimed Avatar: The Way of Water!)
This event is a great opportunity for aspiring artists to hear directly from those who have become successful working professionals and are eager to share their advice. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to ask questions at the end of our panel. We can’t wait to see you on campus!
Free parking will be available with validation.
Speakers
Dean Sanchez
Environment Artist
Dean is a 3D Modeler/Texture Environment artist, with a focus on real-time virtual production for entertainment. He graduated from Gnomon in 2015 and has been working in the entertainment industry building full-scale environments, props, and other 3D assets from concept to real-time engines for film and TV. Recent examples are Avatar: The Way of Water and its future sequels, as well as other unannounced future films and TV shows.
Marcella Brown
FX Artist
Born in Toledo and raised in Columbus, OH Marcella graduated high school and joined the army soon after in 2004. She spent 5.5 years in the army then retired in 2010 and moved to Atlanta GA. Marcella studied Game Art and started her career after graduating college in 2013 with a Bachelor's in Fine Art.
Marcella worked for a couple of years in Atlanta as an environment artist then moved to Los Angeles to study at Gnomon in 2015. Since graduating from Gnomon in 2017, she went on to work at MPC Film and ScanlineVFX in Montreal. After living through 4 winters, she had enough and moved back to Los Angeles to work at Disney Animation then onto Weta, and currently Pixar Animation. Marcella has 10 projects she’s worked on so far including Avatar: The Way of Water and Elemental, Pixar’s next feature film. She is excited to have been blessed to do so much and can’t wait to share more with her family and her culture in the years to come.
Jesse McAlister
Creature & Character Lead
Jesse McAlister started Gnomon in 2015 and completed the BFA program in 2018. He has since created concepts and designs for TV and film projects such as Future Man, Midnight Texas, and MIB: International. After recently finishing work on Avatar: The Way of Water as a Lead Character and Creature Artist, he has continued working for Disney’s Lightstorm Entertainment on the upcoming Avatar sequels.
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About Gnomon
Learn more about Gnomon’s academic options, campus life, and the variety of support services available to students.
Interested in a campus tour or speaking with an Admissions Advisor about becoming a student? Contact us here!