We’re over-the-moon excited to have world-renowned visual artist, Luis Grané, helping us bring the wacky, wild world of Alice in Wonderland to magnificent life (starting with the super-cool logo above) for our world premiere ballet April 28-30 and May 5-7.
Artistic Director Patricia Barker in our costume shop reviewing the latest round of Luis Grané’s “Alice in Wonderland” character sketches.
Born in Argentina, Luis Grané studied medicine and worked in a human anatomy laboratory at Buenos Aires University before studying Fine Arts and Graphic Design. Following his true passion, Luis moved first to London where he worked in advertising for almost 4 years, and then to Mexico, where he worked in visual arts and advertising, and became strongly influenced by Mesoamerican Art.Luis then moved to Toronto, where he won the Dick Friesen/Zlatko Grigic Award for Excellence in Animation at Sheridan College in 1996, and was recruited by DreamWorks Animation SKG. This meant relocating to Los Angeles, where he has since worked as an animator, visual effects artist, and character designer for DreamWorks, Pixar, Disney, Laika, Sony Pictures, Aardman, and Warner Brothers.His credits include films as diverse as The Prince of Egypt, Spirit, Spiderman 2 (Academy Award Winner for Best Visual Effects), The Matrix, The Aviator, Ratatouille (Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Feature), Hotel Transylvania, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Boxtrolls, and he collaborated with numerous renowned directors like Sam Raimi and Richard Linklater.
While pursuing his creative career in Hollywood, Luis also attended Peter Liashkov’s painting workshops for two years and studied painting with Bonita Helmer at the Otis College of Art.
Luis’ original work as an independent artist has been featured in group exhibits at the Pozzi Gallery in Buenos Aires, the Cartoon Museum in London, and the Enisen Gallery in Los Angeles, and worldwide as part of the Sketchtravel Book art project. His work was also selected as the cover of the Totoro Forest Project book, an artistic venture that gathered prominent artists from around the world to save a forest in Japan.
Luis Grané currently works in his studio in the Arts District in Downtown Los Angeles and recently published his first solo book entitled “Sad Stories” – in the United States.
Check out his Tumblr, website, Instagram, and Facebook.
