ICON MANILA is back in full swing this year with its usual high caliber guest artists from the animation, film and game industries. Four top industry professionals are joining the event organizer, Armand Serrano, as speakers.
Zac Retz is a visual development artist for animated feature films and an accomplished painter. He specializes in environment designs, story moment paintings, prop designs, color scripts, paint lighting keys, and more. Zac worked at Sony Pictures Animation, Alcon Entertainment, and currently working at Disney Animation Studios. His film credits include Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
Mike Azevedo is a world renowned freelance Illustrator and concept artist from Osasco-São Paulo, Brazil. He has worked with clients such as Valve, Riot Games, Blizzard Entertainment, Tencent Games, Guerrilla Games, and VOLTA. He is now working as an art director and CEO of Mar Studio. He also teaches at ICS School in São Paulo.
Bobby Pontillas is currently an art director at Taiko Studios and co-director (with Andrew Chesworth) of their first Academy-award nominated short film, One Small Step (which will be shown at the event). In his varied career, he has worked as an animator and character designer at such studios as Disney Animation, Blue Sky & Arena Net. His film credits include Frozen, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, and Tangled TV series.
Finnian MacManus is a senior concept designer working in the film and game industries. Based out of Los Angeles, he has recently contributed to titles such as Jungle Cruise, The Lion King, Avatar Sequels, Rogue One and the award winning game, God of War. Always trying to find ways to experiment, Finnian now uses a combination of VR sculpting, photoshop painting and 3D rendering to create most of his fantastic designs.
Event organizer, Armand Serrano, is visual development artist and production designer for animated movies and games. Also based in Los Angeles, he is currently working at Marvel Studios and art directing for the Portland-based, The Bible Project Studios. Armand’s credits include Zootopia, Big Hero 6, Animal Crackers, Mulan, Lilo And Stitch, Hotel Transylvania, League of Legends and World of Warcraft.
In partnership with the De Lasalle – College of Saint Benilde, The Animation Council of the Philippines, and Wacom Southwest Asia, ICON MANILA 2019 will be held on September 20-21 at the Samsung Hall, right at the heart of the beautiful Bonifacio Global City in Metro Manila, Philippines. This is a non-profit event. All proceeds go to humanitarian missions that the event support in and out of the country. This event is sponsored by the United States Embassy in Manila, ABS-CBN Network, Adobo Magazine, SM Aura, and the Sofitel of Manila.
For registration and all other info, go to www.iconmanila.com.
