Jonathan Symmonds
Co-Founder of SOPHORIA VFX Studios
Port Louis, MauritiusMy name is Jonathan Symmonds. I was born in Durban, South Africa, I moved to Zimbabwe in 1987 and went to college there until in 2001 when I decided it was time to use some of my skills and passion for animation and drawing in the media industry.
I moved to England in 2002 and put myself through university. I graduated from the “University of hertfordshire” and shortly after that i started working for an Oscar winning visual effects company called “Framestore” in central London.
When that contract ended I moved into Freelancing and worked with a company called “Passion Pictures” in central London. This was great fun, as I got to work on three commercials as a CG Generalist and then I was selected to work on the feature film “The Nutcracker.”
After “Nutcracker” ended I was called back to work on the 3rd series of “Primeval” at Framestore. Since then i have worked on some major tiles such as James Camerons’ “AVATAR”, “Where the Wild things Are” directed by Spike Jones, pre-visualisation on “Prince of Persia,” “Your Highness,” and “Nanny Mcphee.” I then decided i needed a change of scenery and went to work as the lead on a film called “Trollhunter,” in Norway.I brought my knowledge from previous experience in and changed and adapted a new rigging system to help benefit future animated projects. I also worked at a company called Qvisten Animation and worked on a film called “Kerten 2,” doing a lot of lipsync.
In my personal time, i enjoy playing my guitar and learning and writing new songs and i am also training to be a private pilot. I am also very lucky to have been able to go to the Bafta Awards in London.
I am now freelancing full-time.
I moved to England in 2002 and put myself through university. I graduated from the “University of hertfordshire” and shortly after that i started working for an Oscar winning visual effects company called “Framestore” in central London.
When that contract ended I moved into Freelancing and worked with a company called “Passion Pictures” in central London. This was great fun, as I got to work on three commercials as a CG Generalist and then I was selected to work on the feature film “The Nutcracker.”
After “Nutcracker” ended I was called back to work on the 3rd series of “Primeval” at Framestore. Since then i have worked on some major tiles such as James Camerons’ “AVATAR”, “Where the Wild things Are” directed by Spike Jones, pre-visualisation on “Prince of Persia,” “Your Highness,” and “Nanny Mcphee.” I then decided i needed a change of scenery and went to work as the lead on a film called “Trollhunter,” in Norway.I brought my knowledge from previous experience in and changed and adapted a new rigging system to help benefit future animated projects. I also worked at a company called Qvisten Animation and worked on a film called “Kerten 2,” doing a lot of lipsync.
In my personal time, i enjoy playing my guitar and learning and writing new songs and i am also training to be a private pilot. I am also very lucky to have been able to go to the Bafta Awards in London.
I am now freelancing full-time.
Work Experience
U6 Studio
Animation Supervisor/ Head of Animation
• Designing the layout and idea for the commercial with storyboards.
• Planning the shots, time management and project co-ordination.
• Supervising the animation and overall timing of the commercial.
• Setting up layout and cameras.
• Keyframed Animation.
• Planning the shots, time management and project co-ordination.
• Supervising the animation and overall timing of the commercial.
• Setting up layout and cameras.
• Keyframed Animation.
March 2014
- January 2019
Italy
Pixomondo
Lead Animator
Lead animator on the Game of Thrones
January 2015
- April 2015
Germany
PIXL Visn
Online Animation Instructor
Responsibilities
• I teach two classes remotely to Germany.
• Managing the course structure and overseeing the students are learning the principles of animation.
• Assigning and critiquing the students work.
• I teach two classes remotely to Germany.
• Managing the course structure and overseeing the students are learning the principles of animation.
• Assigning and critiquing the students work.
January 2012
- Present
Germany
Glassworks
Senior Animator, Freelance
Responsibilities
• Responsible for the animation of engine parts that were constrained to a motion captured BIPED.
• Animation completed in Softimage XSI and using XSI’s Ice Tree to animate the changing and “growing” engine pieces
• Working closely with the Director on a one-to-one basis correcting changes relative to client feedback.
• Responsible for the animation of engine parts that were constrained to a motion captured BIPED.
• Animation completed in Softimage XSI and using XSI’s Ice Tree to animate the changing and “growing” engine pieces
• Working closely with the Director on a one-to-one basis correcting changes relative to client feedback.
June 2012
- June 2012
London, United Kingdom
RJDM ANIMATION
Lead Animator
Responsibilities
• Creating cartoony 100% keyframed animation on relative Disney/Pixar characters including Nemo, Squirt, Peter Pan and other characters relative to Disney.
• Leading a team of 16+ animators both in-house and remote using 3DS Max.
• Responsible for the overall performance of the animation to an extremely high end standard.
• Ensuring the Lip-Sync shots worked and the audio changes were applied upon changes to the relative audio tweaks and corrections.
• Making sure the animation allowed for squash and stretch and referenced correctly by filming one another acting out the shots needed to maximize realism in weight blended with a cartoony approach to the animation style.
• Reviewing the animation in Dailies and delivering and supervising changes.
• Creating cartoony 100% keyframed animation on relative Disney/Pixar characters including Nemo, Squirt, Peter Pan and other characters relative to Disney.
• Leading a team of 16+ animators both in-house and remote using 3DS Max.
• Responsible for the overall performance of the animation to an extremely high end standard.
• Ensuring the Lip-Sync shots worked and the audio changes were applied upon changes to the relative audio tweaks and corrections.
• Making sure the animation allowed for squash and stretch and referenced correctly by filming one another acting out the shots needed to maximize realism in weight blended with a cartoony approach to the animation style.
• Reviewing the animation in Dailies and delivering and supervising changes.
June 2011
-
Northampton, United Kingdom
MAINFRAME
Senior Animator
Photo-realistic LIP-SYNC animation on Mo Cap female Bipeds using Autodesk Maya.
Being the only animator on the project and animating realistic facial characters interacting with themselves.
The final project would be projected into a hologram format so we used a 3D approach to the animation making sure all camera’s worked relative to the lip-sync shapes.
A lot of static animation, subtle yet full of thought and expression was needed with little lip-sync in some stages.
Being the only animator on the project and animating realistic facial characters interacting with themselves.
The final project would be projected into a hologram format so we used a 3D approach to the animation making sure all camera’s worked relative to the lip-sync shapes.
A lot of static animation, subtle yet full of thought and expression was needed with little lip-sync in some stages.
August 2011
- November 2011
London, United Kingdom
Pixomondo
Lead Animator
Responsibilities
• Ensuring the animation was realistic with reference to underwater shark movements.
• Creating Real-Time animation on Set with Director John Stockwell at Pinewood Studios for some of the re-shoots needed to complete the film.
• Ensuring the animation Pipeline worked sufficiently enough to allow for quick changes to any shot as required by the clients and Director.
• Designing and laying out the Pre-Vis needed for the shoots on set to help with production flow and to manage the budget monitored by Warner Brothers.
• Working closely on set with underwater photographer Michael Valentine with different camera Lens tests in 3D (Pre-Vis) to ensure on-set shoots went smoothly.
• Ensuring the animation was realistic with reference to underwater shark movements.
• Creating Real-Time animation on Set with Director John Stockwell at Pinewood Studios for some of the re-shoots needed to complete the film.
• Ensuring the animation Pipeline worked sufficiently enough to allow for quick changes to any shot as required by the clients and Director.
• Designing and laying out the Pre-Vis needed for the shoots on set to help with production flow and to manage the budget monitored by Warner Brothers.
• Working closely on set with underwater photographer Michael Valentine with different camera Lens tests in 3D (Pre-Vis) to ensure on-set shoots went smoothly.
November 2010
- May 2010
London, United Kingdom
QVISTEN ANIMATION & STORM STUDIOS
Lead Animator
Responsibilities
• Designing the Rigs for the trolls working closely with Jimmy Johansson (rigger).
• Testing out the rigs and creating morph shapes for the trolls
• Leading a Team of 3 other animators, we completed some realistic weight intensive animation under the close supervision of the Director.
• Working closely with a motion capture actor and the Director to ensure the performance required was worth using motion capture for some shots.
• Lip-Sync and subtle animation on the Knerten 2 film in the local dialect of Norweigen.
• Designing the Rigs for the trolls working closely with Jimmy Johansson (rigger).
• Testing out the rigs and creating morph shapes for the trolls
• Leading a Team of 3 other animators, we completed some realistic weight intensive animation under the close supervision of the Director.
• Working closely with a motion capture actor and the Director to ensure the performance required was worth using motion capture for some shots.
• Lip-Sync and subtle animation on the Knerten 2 film in the local dialect of Norweigen.
November 2009
- August 2010
Oslo, Norway
Framestore
Senior Animator
Responsibilities
All pipeline work was done in Shotgun.
• Animating realistic top-end animation for Clients and Directors including James Cameron, Spike Jonze David Gordon Green, ITV
• High end realistic Lip-Sync on motion captured characters for Where the Wild Things Are
• Intensive and perfect animation for James Cameron on Avatar (Scorpion Planes- Amp-Suits) and making sure the soaped characters worked accordingly per shot through the pipeline. Ensuring animation looked good through two camera’s for the 3D.
• Working closely with a team of animators to design and act out the action scenes in Your Highness along with Pre-Visualizing the animation and fight scenes in the film for the director prior to shooting. We also edited a lot of the action sequences together for the director.
• Lip-Sync and subtle animation on the Knerten 2 film in the local dialect of Norweigen.
Project : Primeval 2 & 3
• Responsible for animating realistic dinosaurs and pre-historic characters for the TV series Primeval.
• Animating quadrupeds, flying insects, underwater creatures, mammoths, raptors, tigers, scorpions and lizards each with their own unique behaviour and movement weights.
• Working with Junior animators and interns setting up scenes and introductory walk-through of the projects.
• Designed the lay-out for the cover of the DVD
I actually won an award for the work I did on this show and was presented by the ITV Primeval Directors.
All pipeline work was done in Shotgun.
• Animating realistic top-end animation for Clients and Directors including James Cameron, Spike Jonze David Gordon Green, ITV
• High end realistic Lip-Sync on motion captured characters for Where the Wild Things Are
• Intensive and perfect animation for James Cameron on Avatar (Scorpion Planes- Amp-Suits) and making sure the soaped characters worked accordingly per shot through the pipeline. Ensuring animation looked good through two camera’s for the 3D.
• Working closely with a team of animators to design and act out the action scenes in Your Highness along with Pre-Visualizing the animation and fight scenes in the film for the director prior to shooting. We also edited a lot of the action sequences together for the director.
• Lip-Sync and subtle animation on the Knerten 2 film in the local dialect of Norweigen.
Project : Primeval 2 & 3
• Responsible for animating realistic dinosaurs and pre-historic characters for the TV series Primeval.
• Animating quadrupeds, flying insects, underwater creatures, mammoths, raptors, tigers, scorpions and lizards each with their own unique behaviour and movement weights.
• Working with Junior animators and interns setting up scenes and introductory walk-through of the projects.
• Designed the lay-out for the cover of the DVD
I actually won an award for the work I did on this show and was presented by the ITV Primeval Directors.
November 2008
- September 2009
London, United Kingdom
Passion Pictures
Animator
Responsibilities
• Working closely with the director on the film The Nutcracker doing 100% key framed animation in Softimage XSI
• Lip-Sync animation for the film and collaborating with the other animators to ensure shots continuity.
• Working on several commercials, animating, modelling and texturing in Sotimage XSI
• Handling heavy scenes on the BBC iPlayer commercial by developing a string of constraints to help with the animation pipeline flow for other animators.
• Working closely with the director on the film The Nutcracker doing 100% key framed animation in Softimage XSI
• Lip-Sync animation for the film and collaborating with the other animators to ensure shots continuity.
• Working on several commercials, animating, modelling and texturing in Sotimage XSI
• Handling heavy scenes on the BBC iPlayer commercial by developing a string of constraints to help with the animation pipeline flow for other animators.
February 2008
- August 2008
London, United Kingdom
Pipedreams3d
Senior Animator
Responsibilities
• Created key framed and Mo Cap animation for TV commercials and advertising.
• Responsible for the testing of animation rigs and key framed facial expressions relative to Morph Targets that I adjusted.
• Both Keyframed and Mocap animations, cleaning and creating my own Mo Cap using the motion
• Capture suit and adding secondary animation to further enhance the capture.
• Keyframe LipSync animation using 3DS Studio Max at an average of 7-9 seconds a day.
• Working closely with the animation supervisor and developing the rig design to help with future projects
• Created key framed and Mo Cap animation for TV commercials and advertising.
• Responsible for the testing of animation rigs and key framed facial expressions relative to Morph Targets that I adjusted.
• Both Keyframed and Mocap animations, cleaning and creating my own Mo Cap using the motion
• Capture suit and adding secondary animation to further enhance the capture.
• Keyframe LipSync animation using 3DS Studio Max at an average of 7-9 seconds a day.
• Working closely with the animation supervisor and developing the rig design to help with future projects
-
London, United Kingdom
Education
University Of Hertfordshire
3D Digital Modelling and Animation
January 2003
- January 2005
Hatfield, United Kingdom
Languages
Italian (Conversational),
English (Native),
Skills
Adobe Photoshop,
After Effects,
Autodesk Max,
Autodesk Maya,
Boujou,
Cinema 4D,
Houdini,
Illustrator,
Softimage XSI,