Leading production and post house Optimus today announced that Optimus Design has promoted Luis Mayorga to Animation Director and Tyler Nelson to Creative Director. The well-deserved and hard earned promotions shed a light on the talent who helped lead Optimus Design through a uniquely challenging time.
“Over the past year, as clients looked for creative ways to get around the fact that new footage was very difficult to shoot, Optimus Design rose to the challenge, delivering animation and design work that was uninhibited and much easier to manage remotely,” said Optimus ECD Mike Ciacciarelli. “Animation Director is a new position that reflects Luis's extraordinary versatility as an artist and his emergence as a leader in all we do. He blends a fearless approach to problem-solving with a joy of discovery and is the hardest working artist I know. As an animator, leader and collaborator, Tyler consistently applies his design eye to help our clients stand out, no matter what the size of the project. He is an artist, leader and collaborator. His new title of Creative Director reflects how elemental his vision and his look are to what we do.”
Optimus Design Animation Director Luis Mayorga
Mayorga has been with Optimus for 15 years. In just the past couple of months, Luis animated illustrated characters for Allstate, animated packages of food for Jimmy Dean, and directed a social media spot for Tyson. He is the lead CGI artist who created a falling car engine for Allstate and all of the magical CGI effects for Glade Holiday 2020. He has previously directed stop-motion for McDonald's, Nutrigrain, and Sargento, as well as stop-motion recipe videos for Oscar Mayer.
Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, his family relocated to New Mexico for work when he was young. While in high school, he became a part of Working Classroom, a non-profit dedicated to the arts, where he developed his skills in mixed media, including mural painting. He then attended and graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a BFA in Video and Animation. During his last semester, he began an internship at Optimus, and the rest is history.
Commented Mayorga, “There is so much opportunity for Optimus Design to build on the growth and momentum of the past year. I am excited to bring my leadership, expertise and mentorship to this new role.”
See some of Mayorga’s recent work here.
Optimus Design Creative Director Tyler Nelson
A part of the Optimus family since 2011, Nelson most recently led the design on two visually complex and layered projects for the West Virginia Department of Health to show the devastating effects of opioid addiction and a hopeful future through recovery. He also defined the visual style for campaigns for Chicago Humanities Festival, Froedtert Hospital, Olive Garden, and Pedialyte, and was the on-set supervisor for a LiftMaster project that recreated the garage from “Ferris Bueller's Day Off.”
Nelson was introduced to animation and design early in his career as a camera operator in sports broadcasting, where he spent a lot of time crammed inside a production truck drinking coffee and filming tractor pulls. In most of these satellite trucks, there was a little bay with a Chyron graphics operator. The more he watched how those animations were made, the more interested he became. He quickly realized that he had found his true calling, and was lucky enough to land an internship with Optimus and learn from the industry’s best.
“I’ve been incredibly fortunate to call Optimus home for so many years and to be able to learn from truly gifted artists,” said Nelson. “In this new role, I’m grateful to continue creating awesome work with my friends and colleagues, and am excited to provide each of our artists with the creative latitude they deserve while ensuring our portfolio stays fresh and fun for years to come. I’m also looking forward to expanding our team further and exploring ways to collaborate with the roster of high-end talent we have here in Chicago.”
Check out a sample of Nelson’s work here.
About Optimus
Optimus is a leading production and post-production house located in Chicago. A true one stop shop, Optimus and its production arm One at Optimus offer a full suite of creative services, including production, editing, color correction, visual effects and design, audio mixing and finishing. For more information, please visit optimus.com, design.optimus.com and oneatoptimus.com. Connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Optimus161.
