Faculty Bio

Patrick Smith Assistant Arts Professor Tisch Asia

Biography

Patrick Smith has written, produced, animated, and directed five award winning films in the last decade. After graduating from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Smith made his directorial debut for the Emmy nominated MTV series "Down-Town", continuing on to direct the popular animated series "Daria." His most recent independent short film "Puppet" premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival and has garnered over 25 international festival awards. Patrick is also the mind behind multiple television commercials, including the iconic Zoloft "Blob", which won him "Best of 2003" by Art Forum Magazine. Smiths' legendary reputation as an animation director has led to major commercial contracts with Disney, MTV Networks, Nickelodeon, Visa, Burger King, Coca Cola and many other clients world-wide. Well known for his bizarre, morphing traditional style, his work has extended beyond film. His unauthorized Public Installations that cover sign posts in New York City have earned the artist accolades outside the world of animation, becoming a fixture in the world of Street Art. His work is currently represented internationally by CVZ Contemporary Gallery in New York City. Smith is a fellow with the New York Foundation of the Arts, and a curator for multiple international film and animation festivals. He is currently animating his next independent short film while he teaches with the graduate animation program at Tisch School of the Arts Asia, in Singapore.

Short Statement:
Hand Drawn Animation has gone through a shift within the medium itself. Now dominated by digital input devices, Hand Drawn Animation has become a less rigid art form, opening itself up to a new unexplored world of production methods, styles, and exhibition choices. The classical principles of animation and the drawn form, put forth by the masters of the medium, have become even more vital to the curriculum as we bring the medium into new arenas beyond simply entertainment. I teach the classical techniques of drawing in motion, gaining insight to observe and record the world in motion that exists around us all.