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Doug Sweetland is an American animator and filmmaker. He directed the short film Presto (2008) and the feature film Storks (2016). [2] Career. In 1994, Sweetland joined Pixar. His first assignment was as an animator on Toy Story. He continued as animator on A Bug's Life, [3] and Toy Story 2.
- Animator, filmmaker
- State College, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- 1994–present
Doug Sweetland is an American animator/director who helped define Pixar animation on early hits like "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", "Monsters, Inc.", "Finding Nemo", and "Cars". He is a back-to-back Annie Award winner and his Pixar short, "Presto", was nominated for an Annie and an Oscar.
- Animation Department, Director, Actor
- 2 min
- Overview
- Filmography
- References
Doug Sweetland (born 1974 at State College, Pennsylvania) is an American animator/director. He grew up watching Disney films and classic Saturday morning cartoons. As a child, Doug drew cartoons for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts for several years. After graduating high school in 1992, Doug opted to attend California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and pursue his lifelong love and passion for animation.
In 1994, he decided to leave school in his final year to join Pixar. His first assignment was as an animator on Toy Story. He continued as animator on A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2. He was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation for Toy Story 2. Doug continued to build an incredible reputation as one of the best animators in the business. He was awarded back-to-back Annie Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Character Animation for Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo. Doug took on the lead animator role for Bud Luckey's Oscar-nominated Boundin' short and worked as an animator and storyboard artist on the Oscar-winning The Incredibles. Sweetland followed this up by stepping into the supervising animator role on John Lasseter's Cars.
In 2007, Doug pitched a short film about a sympathetic magician who gets "dumped" by his rabbit. This eventually evolved to a more slapstick film (and a throwback to Warner Bros. classic Looney Tunes). Teddy Newton was brought on board to design the characters; it emerged as Sweetland's directorial debut. Presto was very well received by audiences and critics alike when it preceded WALL•E in theaters. It was honored in 2008 with an Academy Award nomination in the Best Animated Short Film category. It was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2008.
On September 24, 2010, it was reported that Sweetland left Pixar and had been hired by Sony Pictures Animation to direct a computer-animated film adaptation of The Familiars novel series.; that project has been cancelled. Then, in 2013, it was reported Sweetland had moved to the Warner Animation Group to co-direct their upcoming film Storks. In April 2015, Warner Bros. announced that the film, which Sweetland co-directed with Stoller, would be released on September 23, 2016..
•Toy Story (1995): animator
•A Bug's Life (1998): animator
•Toy Story 2 (1999): animator
•Monsters, Inc. (2001): directing animator
•Finding Nemo (2003): animator
•Boundin' (2003): supervising animator
Mini Bio. Doug Sweetland is an American animator/director who helped define Pixar animation on early hits like "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", "Monsters, Inc.", "Finding Nemo", and "Cars". He is a back-to-back Annie Award winner and his Pixar short, "Presto", was nominated for an Annie and an Oscar.
Nov 19, 2008 · At the Egyptian Theater in the heart of Hollywood, Pixar Animation’s Doug Sweetland gave a fascinating and fun talk about the evolution of his short “Presto.” The short was announced on March 9, 2007…but wasn’t approved until Sept. 27, after having been pitched 10 times with a total of 3,000 storyboards.
The short is a gag-filled homage to classic cartoons such as Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes, as well as the work of Tex Avery. Presto was written and directed by veteran Pixar animator Doug Sweetland, in his directorial debut with the story written by Ted Mathot, Valerie Lapointe and Justin Wright.
"Presto" is a blend of old and new: a classic cartoon's arch style in a gorgeous Pixar environment. Using cartoon logic and a quick-paced story within a real-time narrative, director Doug Sweetland worked with master animation designers Harley Jessup and Teddy Newton to bring an old cartoon tradition to life with brand-new Pixar characters.
