About Shomen
We produce outstanding content within realistic budgets and achievable time frames by inviting our clients into the amazing world of animation.
Work With The Best of the Best
Our remote-based studio allows us the flexibility to build a team specific to your needs with global top-tier talent who have contributed to the biggest blockbusters over the past ten years.
Founder | Animation Director
James Bennett
James Bennett Founded Shomen Productions to help companies visualize their brands through the beautiful medium of animation. An artist with more than two decades of Creative Industry experience with more than two dozen international projects on IMDB like Avatar, How To Train Your Dragon 2, The Hobbit, Godzilla, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and as the cinematic animation director on Game titles like Ghost Recon and For Honor. As an artist, he has worked at the most prestigious FX houses on the planet, like Weta Digital, ILM, Dreamworks Animation, MPC, and Netflix. He has experience building a business from the ground up as a creator and a co-founder of the network marketplace Zerply.com.
Superpower: He merges his empathy as a company owner and his practical know-how as an artist in Shomen Productions to inspire teams creatively, manage budgets and expectations, and deliver outstanding results collaboratively with his clients.
Production Manager | Producer
Angel Schauf
Worked at Dreamworks Animation for several years and has a strong understanding of the creative process. Her attention to detail and people management skills makes her an essential ingredient to Shomen Productions’ ongoing success.
Superpower: Angel is cool under pressure and knows how to bring a project to fruition.
Live Action Director | Producer
Anton Laines
Twenty years ago, Anton Laines jumped headfirst into the film industry, working with NFL Hall of Fame coach John Madden’s Production Company. For the next decade, Anton focused on commercial production, working with clients such as Clorox, Electronic Arts, and Bud Light, as well as some of the world’s top leading ad agencies. In 2013 Anton founded TWENTY-NINE BLACK PRODUCTIONS, a full-service production company where he’s helmed multiple national and global campaigns. Anton began directing in 2016, developing partnerships with other creative forces specializing in Scripted, Reality Series, and VFX.
Superpower: With a strong background in advertising and commercials, he knows how to manage teams and schedules to produce internal work with minimal turnaround.
Supervising Matte Painter | Look Development
Bryant Griffith
Bryant spent more than a decade at the esteemed VFX house ILM, spending 3 years at the Singapore studio as the head of the matte painting department. Even though Bryant has worked on everything from Star Wars to Star Trek, from Harry Potter to Iron Man, he still brings the same work ethic and enthusiasm to our Shomen Projects.
Superpower: Experience, experience, and experience.
Compositor
Nicholas Reynolds
Nick’s talent shines brightly for someone relatively new to the industry. With a dozen project listings in IMDB, like Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, 6 Underground, and the upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Nick is working at the highest level of VFX. He was Michael Bay’s in-house artist at Bay Films and is currently the in-house compositor at Mann Films with Michael Mann (Director of Heat & Last of the Mohicans).
Superpower: Rockstar compositor. Fast, reliable, and easy to work with.
Senior Motion Graphics Artist
Haik Katsikian
Haik has worked on motion graphics related to Major League Baseball, theme park rides, and most recently, Avatar: Way Of Water, 3D projections seen in Times Square. Haik is constantly pushing ideas to their limit, which is always inspiring.
Superpower: Motion Graphics phenom, fast, creative, great energy.
Modelling | Texturing | Generalist
David McMahon
We love working with Dave as he has the relaxed charm of a Californian surfer with the technical brain of a computer scientist (He graduated from the Center for Digital Imaging at Boston University). Dave is technical, professional, and very creative, having expanded his knowledge base over the past couple of years with Unreal Engine and Substance Painter in the areas of Layout and previs.
Superpower: Relaxed, reliable, talented.
Lead Lighting TD | Compositor
Francesco Giroldini
With more than a decade of experience in Visual Effects and 20 project listings on IMDB, Franceso is an elite artist at the height of his powers. He’s contributed to animated favorites like Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots & The Bad Guys at Dreamworks, and Strange World at Disney Animation.
Superpower: Attention to detail and high-level artistry.
Senior Animator
Mack Bo Ross
Mack is an animation machine, a creative force of nature, that can pump out complex animation on the first go. He has animated creatures on Game of Thrones and characters of all shapes and sizes on The Book of Life and Kings of Atlantis.
Superpower: Fast, reliable, and humble. Everything you want in a creative partner.
Illustrator | Concept Artist
Matt Doering
With more than a decade of illustration experience for Dreamworks and Disney animation, Matt is firing on all cylinders. He spent much of his time at Dreamworks and Disney doing TV production, which means he is fast, efficient, and able to deliver under very tight deadlines.
Superpower: Fast, reliable, dedicated, and talented.
Rigging
Jarom Brand
Jarom has worked in VFX as a Technical Artist and Digital Character Rigger for more than a decade, having helped create the creatures on the TV series The Strain and the fish-man in The Shape of Water, and rigged the digital chariots in the remake of Ben-Hur. Jarom is the go-to guy for anything related to character rigging.
Superpower: Super easy to work with, reliable, and experienced.
Senior Sound Engineer | Composer
Brett Tyrrell
Brett has provided sound design for over two decades for companies like BMW, Facebook, Salesforce, and Oracle. Brett has produced all the sound effects and composed a number of the scores for Shomen Productions.
Superpower: Creative, talented, fast, and reliable.