Framestore has hired three new creatives for its Chicago office: Danny DelPurgatorio as creative director, Krysten Richardson as Flame artist, and Jordan Carroll as CG lead/supervisor. The company’s Chicago shop, which opened in May 2017, has grown rapidly in its first year and a half, more than doubling the number of employees.
DelPurgatorio, a longstanding member of the Chicago creative community, brings to Framestore a range of experience. He originally moved to Chicago in 2009 as creative director for Vitamin Pictures. With a background in Illustration, DelPurgatorio began his career as a creative director at Reel FX in Dallas. His role saw him leading and directing both commercial and entertainment projects, including the 2008 short film Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter for Warner Brothers, Paramount, and DC Comics, a tie-in to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen adaptation, and produced by Snyder himself. Additionally, DelPurgatorio has worked with global brands such as Nike, Nintendo, and Northface, as a director and creative director as well as designer, animator, and compositor.
His experience in motion pictures and commercial work makes DelPurgatorio a strong addition to the Chicago office, where he will be helping grow the team’s design capabilities across advertising, entertainment, and immersive, in addition to leading a variety of projects in each discipline.
Meanwhile Richardson has been a frequent collaborator with Framestore’s Los Angeles and Chicago teams, making her appointment a natural fit. Her portfolio includes brands such as Nike, Apple, Toyota, Sony, Gatorade, and Doritos, and she has worked as a freelance Flame artist at The Mill and Method, among other boutique VFX shops. She is also the founder of a global group for female Flame artists called “Ladies of Logik.” At Framestore, Richardson will supervise shoots and lead projects, while also working directly with clients to help fulfill their creative goals.
Carroll joins Framestore from The Mill Chicago, where he worked as a lead CG artist over a variety of projects and clients, including Disney, GMC, and Chevrolet. Trained in VFX at Savannah College of Art and Design, Carroll began his career at Firstborn in NYC, before moving to Chicago. At Framestore he will work across a range of pitches and projects, both supervising shoots and working directly on individual jobs, while also continuing to grow the office’s CG department.
Krystina Wilson, managing director, Framestore Chicago, is enthused over the three new hires, sharing, “I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Jordan and Krysten at different points in my career and have always been impressed with Danny’s reputation – his passion for pushing the work, for mentoring artists, and his natural leadership abilities–ever since I entered this market nearly seven years ago.”
