Visual effects supervisor, inferno artist and designer Aron Baxter has left his post with Nice Shoes to join sister facility Guava. The move is the first step in a new expansion effort at Guava. The studio expects to make significant additions to its creative staff and technical resources early in 2005. With Baxter moving to Guava, Nice Shoes has promoted inferno artist John Shea from a nighttime position to days.
Baxters diverse skills and experience in commercials, broadcast media and film make him an ideal fit for Guava as it seeks to grow and broaden its client base, according to Richard Cormier, the studios md. We are building a team of artists with strong conceptual, artistic and technical skills, Cormier said. We want talent who can really engage with our clients and work with them creatively from the conceptual phase of their projects through final post.
Baxter joined Nice Shoes in 2003 and has focused on design, shot supervision and effects production for commercials. His credits include spots for Xbox (McCann-Erickson, New York), Kodak (Ogilvy & Mather, New York) Audi (McKinney & Silver, Raleigh), Smirnoff (J. Walter Thompson, New York) and Splenda (Alchemy, New York).
My goal in joining Nice Shoes was to establish a visual effects presence there. Now, having done that, I was eager to accept the challenge presented by Guava, Baxter said. Ill be part of a tight, focused, collaborative team of artists with varying backgrounds and strengths. Its an environment that will allow me to apply my array of visual effects skills and to tackle demanding, multi-dimensional projects from start to finish.
Prior to joining Nice Shoes, Baxter spent five years as a senior effects artist, effects supervisor and designer at Condor Post Production, London. His credits there included Sony, Philips, HBO, BBC, Volkswagen and Lexus. From 1992 to 1997, he was a visual effects compositor for Londons Moving Picture Co. and worked on spots for clients that included Coca-Cola, Castrol, Gillette and VH1, and films such as GoldenEye and The Borrowers.
After studying graphic design at Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, London, Baxter began his career with Warner Bros. as a model-maker on the feature film Batman. He later studied graphic design and animation at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, England.
Shea has been on staff at Nice Shoes since 1998. After starting in shipping, he took part in the facilitys in-house training program and became a visual effects assistant. In 2001, he was promoted to night Inferno artist and since then has become an expert in HD, effects and finishing. He has performed effects work for numerous theatrical and TV commercials, including spots for Coca-Cola (Berlin Cameron/Red Cell, New York), Motorola (Ogilvy & Mather, New York) Sony (Young & Rubicam, New York), LOreal (McCann Erickson, Mexico) and Canon (Grey Worldwide, New York). He also worked on the award-winning Dreams campaign for Sony and Young & Rubicam, New York.
John is a natural choice to join our day team, said Nice Shoes mds Kristen Kupjian and Biz Lynskey. Working nights has enabled him to develop into an accomplished artist. His experience in HD is especially valuable and becoming more so every day.
As a day artist, Shea will have more opportunities to interact directly with his clients. I am thrilled by this move, he said. Over the years, Ive grown with this company and am looking forward to contributing to its future and strengthening its vfx team.
New York visual effects studio Guava (www.guavanyc.com) was established for creative artists and producers to make striking images using the most effective means. The creative environment in New York's Chelsea District fosters experimental thinking, exploration and open collaboration between artists and clients. And Guava's involvement at the earliest stages of a project ensures solutions are stunning and practical.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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