Rex Grignon

Last updated
Rex Grignon
BornJune 11, 1962
OccupationCo-founder
EmployerNimble Collective

Rex Grignon (born June 11, 1962) is a Canadian-American animation director and entrepreneur. Grignon received his animation training at Sheridan College [1] where he graduated in 1984. He then earned his bachelor's degree in 1985 from New York Institute of Technology. He worked in Europe for two years as a staff animator and Art Director in Frankfurt and Paris, mostly working on early 3D commercials and broadcast graphics. Grignon moved to the U.S. in 1988 where he worked for Pacific Data Images as a Senior Animator and co-founded PDI's Character Animation Group with Tim Johnson.

Contents

After founding the Character Animation Group, he worked for two years with Jim Henson and Frank Oz at the Jim Henson Company as lead animator. Grignon briefly left PDI to work at Pixar as an animator on Toy Story. After PDI was bought by DreamWorks Animation, Grignon worked as the Head of Character Animation on such films as Antz , Shrek , Madagascar, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa , [2] and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted . [3]

In 2006 Grignon was accepted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencesthe Oscars—for his contributions to the field of animation.

He was awarded the first ever Distinguished Alumnus Award, Animation from Sheridan College in 2007 and won the 2013 Premier's Award for Creative Arts and Design. [4]

Grignon was the lead designer of Premo, the animation software developed at DreamWorks Animation. In 2018 Premo won a Technical Achievement Award [5] from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Grignon is currently the CEO of Nimble Collective, which he co-founded in 2014 with DreamWorks alumni Jason Schleifer, Bruce Wilson and Scott LaFleur.

Filmography

YearTitleCredits
1989 The Jim Henson Hour (TV series)animator
1991 Muppet*Vision 3-D (short)lead animator
The Last Halloween (TV short)lead animator
1994 Angels in the Outfield animator
1995 Toy Story anmator
1998 Antz supervising animator
2000 CyberWorld (short)chief animator
2001 Shrek additional supervising animator
Shrek in the Swamp Karaoke Dance Party (video short)supervising animator
2003 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas CG character animator
2005 Madagascar head of character animation
The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper (short)head of character animation
2008 Kung Fu Panda additional animation
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa head of character animation
2012 Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted head of character animation
2014Rocky and Bullwinkle (short)supervising animator
2017Coin Operated (short)animation supervisor

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References

  1. "Rex Grignon | Alumni Profiles | Alumni | Sheridan College". www.sheridancollege.ca. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  2. Beck, Jerry (c. 2008). The art of Madagascar. Stiller, Ben. San Rafael, Calif.: Insight Editions. pp. 17, 158–159. ISBN   978-1933784700. OCLC   298975545.
  3. Robertson, Barbara (2012). The art of Madagascar 3, Europe's most wanted. DreamWorks Animation. San Rafael, Calif.: Insight Editions. pp. 111, 159. ISBN   9781608870752. OCLC   791852013.
  4. "Sheridan Alumnus Rex Grignon Wins Award for Outstanding College Graduates". www.sheridancollege.ca. Retrieved 2017-09-08.
  5. "10 Scientific and Technical Achievements to be Honored with Academy Awards". 4 January 2018.