Doug Sweetland is an American animator and filmmaker. As a child, Sweetland drew cartoons for the

Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, officially abbreviated as CPFA, is held each summer in State College, Pennsylvania and on the main ( University Park) campus of Pennsylvania State University. Penn State students and locals commonly ...

for several years. After graduating high school in 1992, he opted to attend

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

and pursue his lifelong love and passion for animation. In 1994, he decided to leave school in his final year to join

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

. His first assignment was as an animator on ''

Toy Story ''Toy Story'' is a 1995 American computer-animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The first installment in the '' Toy Story ...

''. He continued as animator on ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' is a 1998 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. It was the second feature-length film produced by Pixar. Directed by John Lasseter and co-directed by Andrew Stant ...

'' and ''

Toy Story 2 ''Toy Story 2'' is a 1999 American computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The second installment in the ''Toy Story'' franchise and the sequel to '' Toy Story'' (1995), it was directed by John ...

''. He was nominated for an Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Character Animation for the film. Sweetland continued to build a 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''. He took on the lead animator role for

Bud Luckey William Everett Luckey (July 28, 1934 – February 24, 2018) was an American animator, artist, cartoonist, composer, illustrator, musician, singer and voice actor. He worked at the animation studio Pixar, where he worked as a character designer ...

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-nominated ''

Boundin' ''Boundin'' is a 2003 American computer-animated short film, which was shown in theaters before the feature-length superhero film ''The Incredibles''. The short is a musically narrated story about a dancing sheep, who loses his confidence after bei ...

'' and worked as an animator and storyboard artist on the Oscar-winning ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah ...

''. Sweetland followed this up by stepping into the supervising animator role on

John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios ...

's ''

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, people in ...

''. In 2007, Sweetland 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. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

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 ''WALL-E'' (stylized with an interpunct as ''WALL·E'') is a 2008 American computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed and co-written by Andrew Stanton, pro ...

'' in theaters. It was honored in 2008 with an Academy Award nomination in the

Best Animated Short Film The Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film is an award given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) as part of the annual Academy Awards, or Oscars, since the 5th Academy Awards (with different names), covering the year ...

category. It was included in the Animation Show of Shows in 2008. After finishing ''Presto'', Sweetland then left Pixar in 2009. On September 24, 2010, it was reported that Sweetland had been hired by

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and founded on May 9, 2002. The studio's films are distributed worldwide by So ...

to direct a computer-animated film adaptation of '' The Familiars'' novel series; that project has been cancelled. In January 2013, it was reported that Warner Bros. was developing the computer-animated feature film ''

Storks Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family called Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons an ...

'' under their newly created

Warner Animation Group The Warner Animation Group (WAG) is an American animation studio serving as the computer-animated feature film label of Warner Bros.' theatrical film production and distribution division, Warner Bros. Pictures. Established on January 7, 2013, ...

banner, conceived and written by

Nicholas Stoller Nicholas Stoller (born March 19, 1976) is a British-American filmmaker. He is known mainly for directing the 2008 comedy '' Forgetting Sarah Marshall'', its 2010 spin-off/sequel, ''Get Him to the Greek'', '' The Five-Year Engagement'', '' Neighbo ...

, with Sweetland set to direct. In April 2015, Warner Bros. announced that the film, which Sweetland co-directed with Stoller, would be released on September 23, 2016.

Filmography

*''

'' (1995) (animator) *''

'' (1998) (animator) *''

'' (1999) (animator) *'' Monsters, Inc.'' (2001) (directing animator) *'' Finding Nemo'' (2003) (animator) *''

'' (2003) (lead animator; short film) *''

'' (2004) (animator, storyboard artist) *''

'' (2006) (supervising animator) *'' Presto'' (2008) (director, writer; short film) *''

'' (2016) (director) *''Pigeon Toady's Guide to Your New Baby'' (2016) (director; short film)

References

External links

* Living people Animators from Pennsylvania American film directors American storyboard artists American animated film directors Annie Award winners California Institute of the Arts alumni Pixar people 1974 births {{US-animator-stub