The Road to Avengers: Endgame with Marvel Studios
With the release of Avengers: Endgame, Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has come to a close—what better time to take a look back at the MCU so far? On May 16th, join the artists of Marvel Studios’ Visual Development team at the Gnomon School of VFX for a deep dive into the character designs behind the films leading up to Avengers: Endgame.
Led by Ryan Meinerding, Vice President of Visual Development & Creative Director, Marvel Studios’ Visual Development team is responsible for designing the characters, costumes, props, and the overall visual look of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In addition to Ryan, Marvel Studios’ Director of Visual Development Andy Park; Co-Founder & Former-Co Head of Visual Development Charlie Wen; Senior Visual Development Artists Jackson Sze, Anthony Francisco, Rodney Fuentebella; and Visual Development Illustrator Phil Saunders will be joining us on stage for an evening of art and anecdotes as the team discusses their contributions to the films and their time at the studio.
This event will not be livestreamed and seating is limited, so be sure to RSVP and arrive in good time to secure a place in line.
Guest Speakers
Ryan Meinerding – Vice President of Visual Development & Creative Director
Ryan Meinerding has been active as a concept artist/illustrator in film since 2005. He was hired at Marvel Studios for Iron Man, and–after leaving briefly to do concept work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Watchmen–has been full-time since. While working on Iron Man 2, Ryan contributed the design for the new Iron Man armor in the comic-book series Invincible Iron Man. He served as visual development co-supervisor on Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, and Avengers and Head of Visual Development on Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. He is currently working on future Marvel Studios projects.
Andy Park – Director of Visual Development
Andy Park began his career as a comic book artist illustrating titles such as Tomb Raider, Excalibur, and Uncanny X-Men for Marvel, DC, and Image Comics. After a decade in the comic book industry, he made the switch to work as a concept artist in video games and was one of the lead artists designing worlds and fantastical characters and creatures for the God of War franchise. Andy joined the Visual Development Department at Marvel Studios in 2010 as Visual Development Concept Artist, designing characters and keyframe illustrations for The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and many more. After leading the team as Visual Development Supervisor through many of the MCU Phase 3 movies, he now helps lead the department as Director of Visual Development. He has recently completed work on Captain Marvel and is currently on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Andy is one of many incredible artists that has taught classes at Gnomon.
Anthony Francisco – Senior Visual Development Artist
Anthony Francisco worked on multiple film and game projects before moving into movie concept art for VFX houses such as Stan Winston Studios, Rick Baker, ADI, Harlow FX, and Illusion Industries. Anthony created art for Superman Returns, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Men in Black II, Spider-Man, The Passion of the Christ, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and The Chronicles of Riddick, among others. He worked as a concept artist at NCsoft Santa Monica on Guild Wars and Tabula Rasa, and at Offset Software as Lead Concept Artist. In 2010, he worked at Rhythm and Hues on The Hunger Games, R.I.P.D., and Seventh Son, and is currently based in Burbank where he works on the Visual Development team at Marvel Studios. He still illustrates for Magic: The Gathering and has also previously taught classes at Gnomon.
Jackson Sze – Senior Visual Development Artist
Jackson Sze has worked in advertising, video games, television, and film for top studios including Lucasfilm Animation and Sony Computer Entertainment of America. He is a founding member of the BATTLEMiLK series of art books and is currently a Senior Visual Development Artist at Marvel Studios. His credits include Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Little Prince, Marvel’s Avengers movies, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 & Vol. 2, Ant-Man, Dr. Strange, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Ant-Man & The Wasp, and Captain Marvel.
Rodney Fuentebella – Senior Visual Development Artist
Rodney Fuentebella was born in the Philippines and raised in San Francisco. He has worked on projects for Electronic Arts, Atari, Rhythm and Hues, DreamWorks Animation, WIRED magazine, as well as various other entertainment and commercial projects. In film, he worked as a concept artist at Rhythm and Hues before joining the Visual Development team at Marvel Studios. Rodney has created key art illustrations and character designs for Captain America: The First Avenger, Marvel’s The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and upcoming MCU films and projects.
Phil Saunders – Visual Development Illustrator
Phil Saunders has been contributing character, vehicle, environment, and prop designs to feature films from nearly every major studio since 2001. His involvement with Marvel Studios began with the first Iron Man film, and has continued through almost every Marvel production that has featured the popular character. For the decade prior to his work in film, he was the creative director for computer game developer Presto Studios, an automotive designer for Nissan Design International, and a freelance designer of location-based entertainment.
