Doug Chiang studied film at the University of California, at Los Angeles, and industrial design at the Center of Creative Studies, College of Art and Design. Chiang got his start as a Stop Motion animator on the Pee
Wee's Playhouse television series. He soon rose to become a Clio Award winning commercial Director and Designer for Rhythm and Hues, Digital Productions, and Robert Abel and Associates. In 1989, Chiang joined Industrial Light and Magic where he became the Creative Director in 1993. During this time, he worked as Visual Effects Art Director for films including Ghost, The
Doors, Terminator 2, Death Becomes Her, Forrest
Gump, Jumanji, and The Mask. He has earned both an Academy Award and a British Academy Award for Death
Becomes Her and another British Academy Award for Forrest Gump.
Chiang left ILM in 1995 to serve as Design Director for Lucasfilm LTD on Star
Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack
of the Clones. In 2002, he served as Production Designer for Robert Zemeckis’ The
Polar Express. Currently, Chiang is Production Designer for Zemeckis’ next
film Beowulf to be released in 2007. In addition, he also served as Art Director
for Monster House and Concept Designer for Steven Spielberg’s War
of the Worlds.
Chiang’s first book, Robota, was published by Chronicle Books in 2003. He is currently in production on the computer game based on the book with Sony Pictures Imageworks. In 2004, Chiang formed Ice Blink Studios, a company comprised of 18 artists dedicated to entertainment design for films and new media.
As an independent filmmaker and Director, Chiang has received numerous awards, including First Place in the FOCUS Awards for his film Mental
Block. His short teaser film for Robota was awarded both the ‘Prix Du Rendu’ award at Imagina 2003 Film Festival and the ‘Best Advertising/Promotional Film’ in the 2003 Annecy Animation Festival.
Chiang's paintings have been featured in major national and worldwide exhibitions including the Brooklyn Museum, the Houston Museum of Fine Art, the San Diego Museum of Fine Art, the Fields Museum in Chicago, and the Kyoto and Tokyo National Museums among others.
In 2003, Chiang received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Chiang lives in Northern California with his wife and three children.
|
Chronology
|
| 1962 |
|
Born February
16 in Taipei,Taiwan, the second of three children. |
| 1968 |
|
Emigrated
to the United States. Lived in Dearborn, Michigan. |
| 1972 |
|
Moved to
Westland, Michigan - a suburb of Detroit. |
| 1974 |
|
Made first
film in Junior High School using pixelation - animating people. |
| 1975
|
|
Started making
short films in a basement studio. Made over a dozen three minute animated
shorts between
1975-77. |
| 1976 |
|
Produced
a 4 minute short film called Gladiator. Won Grand Prize in
the Michigan Student Film Festival. Met John Prusak who became his
film mentor. |
| 1977 |
|
Saw Star Wars and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad. Realized
that he wanted to become a stop motion animator. |
| 1978 |
|
Made a ten
minute science fiction film modeled after Star Wars. The film
was awarded First Place in the Michigan Student Film Festival. |
| 1979 |
|
Hospitalized
for complications after a routine abdominal surgery. Spent the next
six months in intensive care and over the next year underwent a total
of eight more abdominal surgeries. |
| 1981 |
|
Graduated
from John Glenn High School with honors. |
| 1982 |
|
Studied
Industrial Design at Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and
Design in Detroit. |
| 1982 |
|
Worked as
a Teaching Assistant for a film production class at the William D.
Ford Vocational / Technical Center in Michigan. |
| 1982 |
|
Moved to
California and attended the University of California at Los Angeles
(UCLA). Majored in Film Production. |
| 1982 |
|
Worked for
the UCLA Daily Bruin newspaper as an illustrator. |
| 1984 |
|
Became Art
Director for the UCLA Daily Bruin. |
| 1985 |
|
Produced
Mental Block, a five minute animated film. The film was awarded
First Prize in the FOCUS film competition and won a Nissan Sentra
automobile. |
| 1985 |
|
Took first
professional freelance job doing storyboard work for industrial films.
|
| 1986 |
|
Was hired
as Director / Designer for Digital Productions, a Los Angeles based
computer graphics company. Directed and designed the opening logo
for the premiere of the Oprah Winfrey Show. |
| 1987 |
|
After digital
Productions closed down, he freelanced and worked as the stop motion
animator for the second season of Pee Wee's Playhouse. |
| 1987 |
|
Joined Rhythm
and Hues as Director / Designer. Directed several computer graphic
commercials. |
| 1989 |
|
Left Rhythm
and Hues to work as a concept designer for Universal Pictures on Back
to the Future 2. |
| 1989 |
|
Accepted
a position as Visual Effects Art Director at Industrial Light and
Magic (ILM) and moved to Northern California. |
| 1993 |
|
Won an Academy
Award and a British Academy Award for Death Becomes Her. |
| 1993 |
|
Started
conceptualizing Robota: Reign of Machines. |
| 1993 |
|
Became Creative
Director for ILM. |
| 1993 |
|
Commissioned
by Oceanic, a scuba equipment manufacturer, to paint his first Limited
Edition Print. |
| 1994 |
|
Won a Clio
Award for Best Set Design for a Malaysian Airlines commercial. |
| 1994 |
|
Got married.
|
| 1995 |
|
Joined Star
Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace as Design Director.
|
| 1995 |
|
Won another
British Academy Award for Forrest Gump. |
| 1996 |
|
Birth of
first son, Jake. |
| 1999 |
|
Star
Wars Episode 1 is released. |
| 1999 |
|
Birth of
second son, Ryan. |
| 1999 |
|
Started
work on Star Wars Episode II. |
| 1999 |
|
Named "100
of the Most Influential Asian Americans of the Decade" by A.Magazine:
Inside Asian America |
| 2000 |
|
Visual Keynote
Speaker for the Games Developers Conference. |
| 2000 |
|
Doug Chiang
Studio is formed. |
| 2000 |
|
www.dchiang.com
website is launched. |
