Animation Grading
Background:
John Daro grew up with animation as the family business, and he knew from a young age that he wanted to follow in their footsteps. He used to be ashamed but is now proud to be a nepo baby. His father worked on some of the most popular cartoons of his childhood Saturday mornings, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, ThunderCats, and Heathcliff. John spent many hours at the kitchen table watching him time out dope sheets and choose the correct mouth phoneme for each line of dialogue. These early experiences sparked his interest in color, and he eventually went on to a summer job at his father’s studio, working on the first digital paint system.
Experience:
Later in his career, John worked as a colorist on various animated projects, including The Sea Beast, Rock Dog, The Boxtrolls, and Smallfoot. He is passionate about using color to bring characters and stories to life, and he is always looking for new ways to push the boundaries of animation and what can be accomplished in the final grade.
Skills:
Color theory
Digital painting
Compositing
Layout
Shader coding
Accomplishments:
Projects nominated for an Annie Award and Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film (2023)
Projects nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Feature Film (2018)
Projects nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film (2015)
Member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)
Member of the Visual Effects Society (VES)