Shawn P. Krause

Last updated
Shawn P. Krause
Alma mater University of Missouri (BFA) California Institute of the Arts
OccupationAnimator
Years active1994–present
Employer(s) Pixar Animation Studios (1994–present)
Spire Animation Studios (2020–2023)
Known for Up
Cars 2
Inside Out

Shawn P. Krause is an animator of Pixar Animation Studios and once a Creative Director of Animation and Story at Spire Animation Studios. [1]

Contents

Early life

Shawn P. Krause was born to Ron Krause, who was a previous manager of Krause Key & Lock, a prominent locksmith store in St. Louis that was established in 1947 by Shawn’s grandfather William, and it currently managed by Shawn’s older brother, Eric. The store itself also featured during the credits of the film, Inside Out, in which Shawn worked as a supervising animator. [2] [3] As a native of Mehlville [4] , he attended Mehlville School District, until 1987, he attended the University of Missouri and graduated with Bachelor's Degree of Fine Art with a Minor in Art History and Archaeology in 1992. [5] A year later, he attended the California Institute of the Arts where he created one of his student films, The Bicycle Thieves, his first year short film that caught the attention of Pete Docter, and it also made it into CalArts Producer's Show. [5] [6]

Career

After that, he was hired at Pixar in 1994 to worked on commercials such as storyboarded Chips Ahoy! commercials, co directed a Twizzlers commercial, and directed a commercial of Levi's. [7] After worked at commercials, he alongside fellow animator Bob Peterson get an offer which he eventually started worked as animator on the studio's first film, Toy Story and afterwards, worked on numerous Pixar projects. [7] His contributions including led the animation teams for three Pixar features such as, Up, Cars 2 and Inside Out . As one of supervising animators of Inside Out, he won on 14th VES Awards in a category of Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature for animating the feature's main character, Joy. [8] In 2016, he became a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. [9] In August 2020, he become Creative Director of Animation and Story at Spire Animation Studios and returned to Pixar in May 2023. [6] Aside from his career from Pixar, he also experienced volunteership in Verde Valley School, where he has been a guest instructor since June 2013, in which he led a week-long filmmaking class for select student’s end-of-year called 'Project Period' and became a member of Board of Trustees in January 2017. [6]

Filmography

Commercials

Feature films

Short films

TV series

Documentaries

Video games

Theme parks

References

  1. Amidi, Amid (2022-02-25). "Spire Recruits Pixar Veterans Ricky Nierva And Michal Makarewicz For Feature 'Trouble'". Cartoon Brew. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
  2. "Does anyone know why Krause Key is in the credits for the movie Inside Out? Not exactly a San Francisco company..." www.reddit.com. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  3. "About Us | St. Louis, MO | Krause Key & Lock". www.krausekey.com. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  4. Wilson, Calvin (2016-02-27). "Mehlville native finds joy as Pixar animator". STLtoday.com. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
  5. 1 2 3 MehlvilleSchools (2023-09-08). 2023 Mehlville School District Alumni Hall of Fame: Shawn Krause . Retrieved 2025-01-28 via YouTube.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Linkedin. Shawn Krause’s Linkedin Account. Retrieved 2025-01-28 - via Linkedin
  7. 1 2 3 4 The Animation Industry Podcast (2023-01-19). Animation Industry Podcast 120: What 26 Years At Pixar Taught Shawn Krause . Retrieved 2025-01-28 via YouTube.
  8. "14th Annual VES Awards - Visual Effects Society". 2019-03-11. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
  9. "NEW MEMBERS 2016: ACADEMY INVITES 683 TO MEMBERSHIP | Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences". www.oscars.org. 2019-03-12. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
  10. The Collective Animation Archive (2017-08-29). Tower Records – “Christmas Conga” {CD) (1995?) . Retrieved 2025-06-19 via YouTube.
  11. Disney New Zealand (2011-07-12). A Day In The Life of John Lasseter . Retrieved 2025-01-28 via YouTube.