Nicholas Harvey

Howdy!

 

My name is Nicholas Harvey, but feel free to call me Nick. I am a character rigger, motion capture technician and developer with an insatiable passion for animation. I have been working in the industry around 4 years and currently in the Visual Effects Department at LAIKA! 

 

I graduated with a Bachelors of Science of Visualization from Texas A&M University in 2017. During my time in school, I originally wanted to become an animator, but in my pursuit of the trade I found a passion for making rigs. For a semester, I attended the ATEC program at the University of Texas at Dallas where I gained my fundamentals in rigging and motion capture animation. On top of everything else, I was an officer in TAMU ACM SIGGRAPH for 3 years, where I brought guest speakers to talk and learned how to network with students and industry professionals. 

 

As a character rigger it is my goal to help solve technical challenges, so that animators can strut their stuff. It always makes me incredibly excited to see my rigs come to life, especially when it comes to a huge production. While working at Halon Entertainment, I learned a lot working in PreViz and trailers for games, film and television. I even got my first film credit for Disney's remake of Pinocchio! I love critique and understanding what animators want to make their lives easier. Automation has become a huge part of my workflow and I’ve really come to enjoy learning PyMel to speed up my rigging process. Currently, I am gaining experience working on my first ever animated feature film, WildWood! It's been a blast and I can't wait for everyone to see it.

 

Outside of work, I am typically hanging out with friends, watching new films and tv, adventuring in California, doing impressions or working on projects to expand my rigging knowledge. The amazing thing about California is that there are so many places that relate to animation, so you can definitely find me in an animation cel shop or gallery. Also, I love helping students get into the industry. It’s hard enough to get into animation, so giving them the tools to succeed is the best remedy!

 

Feel free to look around my website! Below are pics of some of my adventures in animation.

 

Happy Rigging!

-Nick Harvey