As a seasoned artist in the CG and traditional animation world, Tia brings artistic strengths and collaborative team-building to create beautiful imagery.
Currently Tia is working as a Visual Development artist at Walt Disney Animation, and is on a project in its early development.
Tia joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1993 as a Digital Painter during the production of the studio’s first feature film, Toy Story. She has subsequently held the Shader Art Director role on five other films, including Pixar’s "Monster’s Inc.", "A Bugs Life", “Brave", and others. As a Texture Art Director at Pixar, Tia was responsible for specifying the color and texture of every object modeled for a film.
As the Manager of Art & Film Education at Pixar University, the educational branch of Pixar, Tia helped to foster the continuing education of Pixar employees; teaching art classes and offering writing, film, and a wide variety of related classes to its 1200 employees.
Tia has also contributed to Disney/Pixar Publishing as well as various Disney Theme Parks.
Prior to Pixar, Tia was a background painter at Disney Feature Animation from 1980 to 1994, where she worked on a variety of acclaimed animated films including "The Little Mermaid", “Aladdin", and "Beauty and the Beast", “Tron", and others. Her paintings for films have been in exhibits around the world: MoMA, Japan, England, and beautiful Oakland, California, among other exotic locations.
When she’s not at work, Tia spends her time painting watercolors- doing her best to keep computers as far away as possible. She is a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society and California Watercolor Association.
Tia is a graduate of Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and currently resides in Moraga, California with her artist husband Paul, dog ZaZa, and kitten Miso, their holy terror.