LeSean Thomas (born 1975 in

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an American television animation producer, director,

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

comic book artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

character designer In visual arts, a model sheet, also known as a character board, character sheet, character study or simply a study, is a document used to help standardize the appearance, poses, and gestures of a character in arts such as animation, comics, and v ...

, and

storyboard artist A storyboard artist (sometimes called a story artist or visualizer) creates storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions. Work A storyboard artist visualizes stories and sketches frames of the story. Quick pencil drawings and marke ...

, based in

Meguro is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporate ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. His recent, notable projects include the TV series ''

Black Dynamite ''Black Dynamite'' is a 2009 American blaxploitation action comedy film starring Michael Jai White, Tommy Davidson, and Salli Richardson. The film was directed by Scott Sanders and co-written by White, Sanders, and Byron Minns, who also co-star ...

'' for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

, ''

The Legend of Korra ''The Legend of Korra'' (abbreviated as TLOK), also known as ''Avatar: The Legend of Korra'' or simply ''Korra'', is an American anime-influenced animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for Nickelode ...

'' for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

Aaron McGruder Aaron Vincent McGruder (born May 29, 1974) is an American writer, cartoonist, and producer best known for creating ''The Boondocks'', a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip and its animated TV series adaptation. Early life and education Aaron ...

's ''

The Boondocks Boondocks are remote, usually brushy areas. Boondocks may also refer to: * The Boondocks (band), an Estonian rock band * ''The Boondocks'' (comic strip), a comic strip by Aaron McGruder ** ''The Boondocks'' (2005 TV series), the television ser ...

'' for

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

, '' Children of Ether'' on

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

, and the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

anime original series ''

Cannon Busters ''Cannon Busters'' is an American fantasy comic book series by LeSean Thomas, launched in March 2005. An original net animation anime series by Satelight and Yumeta Company was released on Netflix on August 15, 2019. Publication history The fi ...

'' and ''

Yasuke Yasuke ( or ) was a man of African origin who served as a retainer and weapon-bearer to the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga. In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, Visitor of Missi ...

''.

Career

Thomas' contributions as supervising character designer and co-director on seasons 1 and 2 of

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

's animated series ''

'', helped propel the show to be nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...

for Outstanding Comedy Series and win the honorary

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

. His early production credits include character designer, layout and key animator on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

's web series ''

WhirlGirl ''WhirlGirl'' debuted in 1997 as an online sci-fi series about a reluctant superheroine battling an evil "mediatech" empire in 2077 Southern California. The title character—dubbed "a real revolutionary for a virtual age"—balanced freedom-fight ...

'', assistant animator for ''

Lizzie McGuire ''Lizzie McGuire'' is an American comedy television series created by Terri Minsky that premiered on Disney Channel on January 12, 2001. The series stars Hilary Duff as the titular character, who navigates the personal and social issues of her te ...

'' and storyboard artist for various shows such as ''

Kim Possible ''Kim Possible'' is an American animated action comedy-adventure television series created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle for Disney Channel. The title character is a teenage girl tasked with fighting crime on a regular basis while coping wi ...

'' on

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

, '' Ben 10: Alien Force'' for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

, ''

The Batman Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman or The Batman may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Characters * Batman (Terry McGinnis) * Batman (Thomas Wayne) * Batman (Earth-Two) * Batma ...

'', '' Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' and '' Green Lantern: First Flight'', as well as supervising character designer for '' Superman/Batman: Public Enemies'' for

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 1 ...

. LeSean landed his first production deal with the late George Jackson's UBO Network, where he created an animated online series called BattleSeed. Thomas wrote, produced and directed the series which was presented at the New York Anime Film Festival in 2000. He produced a BattleSeed original animated trailer which aired in theaters as a promotional trailer for the

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

. Thomas also provided production development for the action adventure movie ''

UltraViolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

''. Thomas is also a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artist, with work on such titles as ''Arkanium'', and ''

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' is an American media franchise created by the comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Leonardo, Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Miche ...

''. His books include sketch bible ''Nervous Breakdowns: The Art of LeSean Thomas'' Vol. 1. He has also released the artbook ''Midnight Marauder: The Art of LeSean Thomas Vol. 2'' and ''

'', a creator-owned

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

. In 2009, Thomas relocated to

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, at the request of Korean animation studio JM Animation to be hired in-house as part of the animation production staff. He was later hired as in-house storyboard/animation production artist at

Studio Mir Studio Mir Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean animation studio based in Seoul. Among other works, the studio animated most of the American TV series ''The Legend of Korra'', the fourth season of ''The Boondocks'', the Netflix series '' Voltron: Lege ...

for work on ''

'' for

. Soon after, Moi Animation studio looked to hire him as a producer and director on several other independent projects, marking him as the first American animator to be hired to work in-house as permanent, independent production staff for animation studios in South Korea. His exploits in the Korean animation industry were recorded and featured in a web-documentary he produced and directed called ''Seoul Sessions'', presented by filmmakers

Coodie & Chike Coodie Simmons (born January 18, 1971) and Chike Ozah (born April 6, 1978) are film directors, screenwriters, cinematographers, and producers. Coodie and Chike started directing together with their music video for Kanye West entitled "Through the ...

's Creative Control TV, an online TV network that features coverage of talents in music, fashion and the arts. Thomas was later invited to speak at the 5th annual

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

, South Korea, where he spoke about his journey and the importance of "Successful Failures". In 2011, Thomas was tapped to work on ''

'' for Adult Swim. He served as creative producer and supervising director for Season 1 and supervising director in Season 2. In November 2014, Thomas successfully crowd-funded an animated TV series pilot called ''Cannon Busters: The Animated Series'', based on his creator-owned comic book of the same name, featuring production by Japanese anime studio

Satelight is a Japanese animation studio. Aside from several stand-alone projects, the studio is well known for producing the '' Aquarion'' and '' Symphogear'' franchises, as well as later installments of the ''Macross'' franchise. The company's Represen ...

. The project was successfully funded in December 2014 and was released to limited audiences July 8, 2016. In October, Thomas partnered with

for an exclusive deal to co-produce his original anime creation Children of Ether, released in 300 theaters, July 26 as part of Crunchyroll's Anime Movie Night event. It was released on-platform shortly afterwards. In August 2017, it was announced that ''Cannon Busters'' was acquired by streaming giant

to be co-produced by

and Japanese anime studio

Yumeta Company , known as from 2009 to 2017, is a Japanese animation studio formed in 1990. History Yumeta Company absorbed Hal Film Maker and changed its name to TYO Animations on July 1, 2009. On December 1, 2017, Memory Tech Holdings announced that they ...

as a 12-episode mini-series and was originally set for a March 2019 release. In July 2019, it was announced at

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...

that ''Cannon Busters'' was confirmed for a launch on the streaming service in August 2019. On November 8, 2018, Netflix announced ''

'', an anime original fantasy series created, directed and executive-produced by Thomas, which is inspired by the historical African samurai

who served

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

in the late 1500s, featuring Oscar-nominated actor Lakeith Stanfield (''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

'', ''

Get Out ''Get Out'' is a 2017 American psychological horror film written, co-produced, and directed by Jordan Peele in his directorial debut. It stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Lil Rel Howery, LaKeith Stanfield, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Land ...

'', ''

Sorry to Bother You ''Sorry to Bother You'' is a 2018 American surrealist black comedy film written and directed by Boots Riley, in his directorial debut. It stars Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Jermaine Fowler, Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, Patton Oswalt, Dav ...

'' and ''

Knives Out ''Knives Out'' is a 2019 American mystery film written, directed, and co-produced by Rian Johnson. It follows a master detective, Benoit Blanc, investigating the death of the patriarch of a wealthy, dysfunctional family. The film stars an ense ...

'') as the lead voice of Yasuke and served as an executive producer alongside Grammy Award-winning artist,

Flying Lotus Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, Disc jockey, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder. Flyi ...

, who produced the music as well and also served as an executive producer. Animation production was handled by Japanese animation house, ''

MAPPA is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Suginami, Tokyo. Founded in 2011 by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime works including ''Terror in Resonance'', ''Yuri!!! on Ice'', ''In This Corner of the Wo ...

''. ''

'' was released on April 29, 2021. On November 17, 2021, Netflix's ''

'' was nominated for Best Main Title in the Tv show/ Limited Series Category at The 12th Hollywood Music in Media Awards On January 19, 2022, Netflix's ''

'' was nominated for Outstanding Animated Series for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards. 5ref>

References

External links

* *
Netflix Cannon Busters Site

Press

Seoul Sessions web-docu on Creative Control TVFailing your way to success: LeSean Thomas at TEDxSinchon presentationForbes Cannon Busters ReviewCrunchyroll & LeSean Thomas Join Forces for Children of EtherChildren of Ether Forbes ArticleNetflix Acquires Cannon Busters series for 2018Netflix Acquires Cannon Busters, Saint Seya & more, Variety MagazineIGN Anime Club: Creating AnimeNetflix's 'Cannon busters' Adaptation Sets Release DateEW on Netflix's 'Yasuke' Anime 2021 Release AnnouncementTimeOut on Netflix's 'Yasuke' Anime April 29, 2021 Premiere Announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Lesean American animators American comics artists American comics writers American storyboard artists African-American television directors American television producers American animated film directors American animated film producers Living people 1975 births People from the Bronx American expatriates in Japan American television directors African-American television producers African-American film producers African-American film directors African-American comics creators American expatriates in South Korea 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people