Carlos Felipe León, shading art director at Pixar Animation Studios will be at the University of Miami School of Communication on Feb. 27. León will be discussing his work on the animated movie Onward, as well as answering questions from students.
“We are so excited to host Mr. Leon for this special Pixar program. There’s no substitute for learning first-hand about how a film like Onward was designed and created. I know our students will learn a lot from his work as a visual storyteller and seeing examples from the film,” said Christina Lane, department chair for Cinema and Interactive Media.
Carlos Felipe León began at Pixar Animation Studios in August 2017. Since joining the studio full-time that summer, León has worked on Onward as a set designer and Soul as a key lighting designer. Onward is set to release on March 6, and Soul on June 19.
As a set designer, León helps design and guide the building process for the architecture and individual set pieces for the virtual worlds in which our characters live. As a lighting key designer, León oversees lighting and shot compositions to convey the mood and narrative evolution of the film best.
Raised in Bogotá, Colombia, León attended high school in Colombia and France, and went on to receive his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation and Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering.
Prior to Pixar, León worked as an art director, visual development artist, and color and lighting designer at various animation studios both in and outside of the United States. León currently resides in Richmond, CA.
León will be on campus on Feb. 27 at 9:30 a.m. at Shoma Hall, CIB 3053. This event is open to all UM students, faculty, and staff.
