Template:Nihongo (born November 6, 1974) is a Japanese animator and illustrator living in San Francisco, California. He is a former art director of Pixar.
Biography
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, he is married to Template:Nihongo, a jewelry artist and the niece of acclaimed anime director Hayao Miyazaki.[1] He co-directed The Dam Keeper which was nominated for the Oscar for short animated film.[2]
Filmography
- Ice Age (2002) (Matte Painting/Color Stylist Art)
- Robots (2005) (Lead Color Key Artist/Additional Design)
- Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (Lead Color Design)
- Toy Story 3 (2010) (Color and Lighting Art Director)
- Cars 2 (2011) (Sushi Chef, Additional Voices)
- Cars 2: The Video Game (2011) (Sushi Chef)
- Monsters University (2013) (Lighting Design and Character Shading Art Director)
- The Dam Keeper (2014) (Co-director)
- Moom (2016) (Co-director)
- Oni: Thunder God's Tale (2022) (Creator/Showrunner)
Books
Dice has appeared in both volumes of Blue Sky Studios Out of Picture anthology, contributing the stories "Noche Y Dia" in Volume 1[3] and "The Dream of Kyosuke" in Volume 2.[4]
The Dam Keeper has been developed volume graphic novel published by First Second Books:[5]
Special projects
In 2008, Dice (along with Ronnie del Carmen. Enrico Casarosa and Yukino Pang) initiated the Totoro Forest Project, a fundraising exhibition/auction to support the non-profit Totoro Forest Foundation.[9] This initiative also produced a corresponding art book reprinting the various pieces contributed and included the likes of James Jean, Charles Vess, Iain McCaig and William Joyce among others.[10]
He is also overseeing Sketchtravel (with Gerald Guerlais) which purpose is passing a real sketchbook "from one artist's hand to another like an Olympic torch in an artistic relay through 12 countries over 4 and half years", and the end result auctioned off to benefit the various chosen charities that the participating artists choose.[11]