Animation Program

Max Hulburt

Professor & Chair of Visual Arts

Max is a JPCatholic alumnus and was one of the first students of the school’s Animation and Game Development programs. He received his MFA in Animation and VFX from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Max worked for CBS Interactive - GameSpot.com, creating motion graphics and animations in addition to live video and graphics production at E3 and ComicCon. Max works as a 3D artist for 'Junior Giants Foodiecats,' a series of educational, animated short films for the San Francisco Giants youth program. He specializes in 3D modeling and texturing with additional skills in rigging, lighting, animation, and rendering.

Christopher Riley

Professor of Film

Christopher Riley is a screenwriter, director and author with a career stretching from his groundbreaking 1999 film After The Truth, a multiple-award-winning German-language courtroom thriller, through screenwriting assignments for Disney’s Touchstone Pictures, Sean Connery’s Fountainbridge Films, Paramount Pictures, Mandalay Television Pictures and the Fox television network, to his directorial debut on the award-winning 2022 short film No Time Off for Good Behavior and his feature directing debut, the 2024 family revenge comedy No Reception. He is the author of the classic screenwriting reference The Hollywood Standard and The Defining Moment: How Writers and Actors Build Characters. He has taught screenwriting at the graduate and undergraduate levels for more than 20 years.

Jacqueline Gold

Professor of Art

Jacqueline provides instruction in Life Drawing, Portrait Drawing and Painting and Anatomy in her San Diego studio and provides instruction with life drawing and anatomy to the in-house animators at Sony Online Entertainment. She has worked as an illustrator for a product manufacturing company whose clientele included such well-known motion-picture studios as Disney, Warner Brothers and Lucas Films. There she applied her talents to designing products related to such films as The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Pocahontas, Winnie the Pooh, and the Star Wars Trilogy.

Jacqueline received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration under the direction of Dick Oden at California State University Long Beach, and an MFA from the Laguna College of Art and Design.

George Castro

Adjunct Professor of Animation

George is a Lead Technical Animator at High Moon Studios, where he has worked since 2006 on franchises such as Destiny and Call of Duty. His career has spanned both the video game and animation industries. He began his career in 2003 working in pre-viz and character animation for Sony Cinematics Solutions Group. He worked for Omation Studios as a Character Finaler on the animated feature The Barnyard. He then returned to Sony (SCEA) before moving to High Moon Studios, where he has worked as a cinematic artist and animator. George seeks to create content with a positive message that can express God's will in his life and to share His message of hope and love for all.

Colin Brady

Visiting Professor of Animation

Colin is the Chief Creative Officer at AMGI Studios. He is a director, creative producer and animation supervisor who has worked at Pixar, Industrial Light and Magic, Imagi Studios, Rhythm and Hues, and Pixomondo. Colin graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in Character Animation. Colin has directed animation for Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ang Lee, John Lasseter and Martin Scorsese. Colin directed on such films as Everyone's Hero, Astro Boy, TMNT, and Toy Story 2. He supervised scenes for The Hunger Games, Hugo, Green Lantern and Spiderman. Married for over two decades, Colin draws much of his inspiration from his 7 children. Whether directing Pixar characters or furthering performance capture techniques, Colin’s passion is the fine-crafting of narrative, dialogue, humor and nonverbal acting that make good stories great through the art of animations.

Brian LaFrance

Adjunct Professor of Animation

Brian has been creating CG imagery for over 30 years in games, animation and live action visual effects. Currently working for Industrial Light and Magic, he has also worked for Atari, Blizzard, Disney, DreamWorks and others on projects including the Star Wars franchise, Stranger Things, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Trolls 2, Destiny 2, and many others. Starting his career focused on look development and lighting, he is now a generalist focusing on environment creation. Brian received a BA in Art from Thomas Edison State University. He lives near Temecula with his wife and five children.

Nate Sjogren

Adjunct Professor of Graphic Design

Nate is a Creative Director and Founder of Akimbo Studio. He has almost a decade of experience in branding, design and animation. He was a motion designer at Drive Studio, which is a design and production resource specializing in network branding, identity creation, show packages, promotion and new media outlets. During his time at Drive Studio, he has worked incredible projects such as FOX Sports Super Bowl LIV insert, Bleacher Report UEFA Champions League, 2018 FIFA World Cup, TNF on FOX and others.Nate holds a BS in Communications Media from John Paul the Great Catholic University.

Carlos Vázquez

Adjunct Professor of Visual Development

Born and raised in Guayama, Puerto Rico, Carlos M. Vázquez is a San Francisco-based graphic designer, illustrator and visual development artist with a focus on character design. He has held positions as Character Designer, Art Director, and Visual Development Artist for companies and clients such as Enemy Spawn, Big Grin Productions, mobile gaming company Playstudios, Salesforce, and Cartoon Network / Warner Bros. Animation (Animaniacs). He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the Escuela de Artes Plasticas in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and graduated in 2015 with a Master of Fine Arts in Animation and Concept Art from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

Tim Reckart

Adjunct Professor of Animation

Timothy Reckart is an Oscar-nominated writer and director. His animated short film Head Over Heels was nominated for an Academy Award in 2013, after premiering at the Cannes Film Festival and winning grand prizes at festivals around the world. In 2017, he directed The Star for Sony Pictures Animation, an animated retelling of the Nativity story from the point of view of the animals. Prior to directing, he worked as a stop motion animator, serving as a lead animator on Charlie Kaufman’s Oscar-nominated film Anomalisa and on Amazon’s multiple Emmy-winning preschool series Tumble Leaf. He holds a master’s degree in directing animation from the National Film & Television School of the UK, and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in history and literature. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Jamie Oliff

Adjunct Professor of 2D Animation

Jamie has been actively involved in the animation industry since 1984, when he graduated with honors from the classical animation program at Sheridan College, which served as a prestigious training ground for Disney animators. He worked in Canada on commercials, feature film, and TV until 1994 when he moved to Burbank, CA to work on the Walt Disney Feature Animation unit. His work there included The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Hercules, Mulan, The Emperor’s New Groove, and Fantasia 2000. He was selected from a group of animators to be trained on Maya and animated Mickey’s PhilharMagic, a 4d film attraction at Disney theme parks. In 2001 he left Disney to become a freelance animator, working for many of the top studios in Hollywood. His work includes National Treasure, Green Eggs and Ham, Mary Poppins Returns, and Kung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters. In 2024 his freelance work brought him back to Disney, animating Donald Duck for the "Hot Ones" YouTube series.