Celebrating Black Animators, Digital Artists and Game Devs
Written by: Ryan Helterhoff (MAMC ‘23)
Starting out as an assistant with Walt Disney Pictures, Toliver worked on “The Mighty Ducks” film series. After working as a Production Executive on Chicken Little and Meet the Robinsons, Toliver later joined 20th Century Fox Animation, where she spent 10 years before heading to Sony Pictures Animation in 2017. 5 years into her role as Senior VP of Creative Development, Toliver moved again, becoming VP of Animated Film for Netflix in 2022. She also collaborated on the animated short film “Hair Love”, which won her and her collaborator an Oscar in 2020 for Best Animated Short Film. She was the first Black woman to win in that category.
Peter Ramsey, one of the most successful animators in the industry, began his career in Hollywood as a storyboard artist and production illustrator. He then moved to DreamWorks, where he worked on “Shrek the Third”. “Rise of the Guardians,” his first big-budget animated feature, was released in 2012. Since then, he’s co-directed the Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” and worked on a number of big-budget animated films. He will also be directing episodes of “Ahsoka” and “Mandalorian Season 3” for Disney Plus.
The first Black animator to work at Disney on a long-term basis, Floyd Norman was hired by the company in 1957 to work as an inbetweener on “Sleeping Beauty”. After returning from service in Korea, Norman returned to Disney to work on “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” and “The Sword in the Stone”. He was then brought on to help write the story for “The Jungle Book”. He left Disney after Walt’s death, and started his own animation studio, Vignette Films Inc., which created some of the first animated films focusing on Black history. Norman worked with Disney throughout the years, working as a story artist on Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. He’s the author of several books on animation, and was the last scripter for the Mickey Mouse comic strip before it was discontinued.
Frank Abney graduated from the Art Institute of San Francisco in 2008 and has gone on to work on films such as “Frozen,” “Big Hero 6,” “Coco,” “Soul,” “Incredibles 2,” and others. He also directed his own animation film for Netflix titled “Black Man, Black Man”, and is currently at work on “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”.
Muriel Tramis was the first Black woman game designer, hired by Coktel Vision, a French video game company in 1986, where she worked on a number of successful titles. The hit “Gobliiins” series, which sold over 1.5 million copies, was one of the most successful. After leaving the company in 2003, she founded Avantilles, a platform that specializes in real-time 3D web applications.
Gordon Bellamy, an experienced industry veteran, has been one of gaming’s most influential leaders, primarily in the realm of sports video games. With a BA in Engineering from Harvard University, Bellamy held key development roles with EA, Activision, and THQ, and was a major driving force behind the Madden NFL franchise’s success. He was named EA’s Rookie of the Year for his work on Madden NFL ’95, the first video game to feature Black athletes.
Handel Eugene, a Florida native, graduated from Full Sail University in 2012 with a degree in Motion Graphics. After moving to Los Angeles, he spent the next few years working for We Are Royale, a creative design firm that works with brands such as Nike, Apple, and Disney. Eugene continued his career as an animator for Facebook and Apple in 2017, before moving on to pursue other creative goals through agency work and freelance.
