Heather is a senior matte painter with over 19 years of experience in the visual effects and animation industry. Her work encompasses live-action blockbusters, animated feature films, theme park projections, national advertising campaigns, cutting-edge VR, and concept work. She has worked at top studios including Walt Disney Animation, Netflix Animation, Powerhouse VFX, Blur Studios, Weta Digital, Matte World Digital, The Orphanage, Rhythm & Hues and more.
Notable leadership positions include VFX Digital Supervisor on the stop motion animated feature “Wendell & Wild” and Matte Department Supervisor at Rhythm & Hues. In these roles Heather is able to cross the divide between artists and technicians in order to build and adapt workflows to meet new demands. She has also been a consultant for multiple studios helping to set up their DMP workflow and pipeline.
Heather has contributed work to Academy Award winning films three times for Animated Feature and three times for Visual Effects. Past projects have been recognized by The Annie Awards, VFX Society Awards, National ADDY Awards, numerous international film festivals, and her graduate film was screened at SIGGRAPH. Heather received an MFA from Academy of Art University, and a BFA from East Tennessee State University.
Heather was mentored and inspired early in her career by the legendary matte painters who made the leap from traditional painting to digital. She has focused on mentoring the new generation of artists to take the next leap and embrace cutting edge 3D matte painting techniques.