Owner of Artmonkeys Studios, letterer, publication designer, cartoonist and animator!
Greater Los Angeles Area
- Current
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- Freelance Letterer at Marvel Entertainment
- Owner at Artmonkeys Studios
- Letterer at DC Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, others
- Past
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- Design Director/Asst. Art Director/Lead Letterer at CGE / CrossGen Entertainment
- Storyboard Artist at Sony/Adelaide Productions
- Lead Letterer/Team Captain at Comicraft
- Production Artist/Letterer at Malibu Comics
- Education
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- Animation Mentor
- Art Institute of Tampa
- DHIMA (Digital Hollywood - Institute of Media Arts
- California State University-Stanislaus
- Recommended
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16 people have recommended David - Connections
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452
connections
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Websites
David Lanphear’s Summary
I'm an art director and graphic designer with signficant experience in daily delivery of print production and graphic communication. These are vital roles to your company's internal and external message, so please add my skills and experience to your team. You'll rely on my unique imagination, seasoned graphic communication experience, and my playful sense of humor; plus my mastery of toolsets Adobe Creative Suite, Font Lab Suite, Maya, storyboarding, polished illustration and audience-capturing delivery, all tempered by my passion to get your projects done right and on-time, even when there are multiple target dates. With me, you'll find the adage is true: You want something done, give it to a busy person. As a director, I recognize that the team comes first, so it's important to drop unnecessary tasks, delay time-wasting grinds, delegate auxiliary work to accomplished teammates, and finish the critical ASAP.
I have a 23-year career strongly rooted in elemental storytelling, ranging through newspaper illustration, award-winning editorial cartooning, comic book illustration, industry-praised comic book production, award-winning digital lettering, best-selling font creation, storyboard art, art directing, and recently, freelance production arts, and talent coordination for many media outlets. I continue to seek situations to employ and improve my storytelling and illustration crafts, and to evangelize on sequential art's power and eloquence.
David Lanphear’s Specialties:
Art direction, design, talent coordination, technical print production, pre-press troubleshooting, expert vector illustration, expert hand-lettering skills, expert font manipulation, expert font creation, expert knowledge of software Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe InDesign, Font Lab Studio, Macromedia Fontographer.
David Lanphear’s Experience
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Freelance Letterer
Marvel Entertainment
(Public Company; 201-500 employees; MVL; Motion Pictures and Film industry)
December 2004 — Present (4 years 8 months)
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Owner
Artmonkeys Studios
(Motion Pictures and Film industry)
September 2003 — Present (5 years 11 months)
For press or web:
•freelance talent assembly and coordination
•art direction
•publication design & production
•illustration
•logo design
•typography design
•pre-press publication assembly & pre-flighting
•Clients including Marvel Entertainment, Disney Publishing, DC Comics, WildStorm/CMX, Dark Horse Comics, Image Comics, Viz/Shojo International, Metron Press/ABS, Zondervan, and many other studios and publishers. -
Letterer
DC Comics, Marvel, Dark Horse, Image, others
(Public Company; Publishing industry)
1991 — Present (18 years)
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Design Director/Asst. Art Director/Lead Letterer
CGE / CrossGen Entertainment
(Publishing industry)
December 1999 — June 2004 (4 years 7 months)
Responsibilities included supervising and creating digital production art for story and editorial content for monthly periodicals; design and creation of promotional, advertising, and internal collateral material with Production Department; coordinating production schedules of book teams for pre-press delivery; internal pre-proofing of all editorial material with rotating proofing team; coordinated the print production conversion for Comics on the Web with IT/programming team; developed customized fonts; developed logo designs; supervised Lettering and Design Departments; consistently recognized in the comic industry for excellence.
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Storyboard Artist
Sony/Adelaide Productions
(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Animation industry)
January 1999 — September 1999 (9 months)
freelanced for studios -- highlights included Sony Studios on PBS' Dragon Tales under supervision of director Tim Eldred; freelanced for Hallmark Studios on Maxine's Christmas Carol; various live action PSA projects.
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Lead Letterer/Team Captain
Comicraft
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Graphic Design industry)
May 1994 — February 1999 (4 years 10 months)
Responsibilities included lettering monthly periodicals for Marvel, DC, Image Central, WildStorm, Todd McFarlane Productions, Extreme, Awesome!, Chaos, and many other leading publishers; coordinated teams to tackle projects in seamless style; supervised up to 13 employees in visual style, timeliness, and overall coordination with each publisher's editorial pipeline; consistently recognized in the industry for excellence. Simultaneously hand-lettered projects for Chaos! Comics, Malibu Comics, Claypool Comics, and Techno Comics. References include Brian Pulido, Mark Paniccia (now at Marvel), and Richard Howell.
Developed fonts that are currently available by searching "Dave Lanphear" at www.myfonts.com. -
Production Artist/Letterer
Malibu Comics
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Publishing industry)
May 1993 — May 1994 (1 year 1 month)
Responsibilities included hand-lettering monthly periodicals, assistant art direction of jr. graphic designers in Art Department, coordinated materials in Editorial pipeline to Art Department, provided spot illustrations for Ultraverse storyline Bible, inked two Robotech series freelance. Worked under Editors Mark Paniccia (now at Marvel) and Hank Kanalz (now at Wildstorm), and Art Department Head Tim Eldred.
David Lanphear’s Education
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Animation Mentor
Vocational Certification - Character Animation , Character Animation , 2008 — 2009
Mentors:
Paul Allen, Lead Animator at Terminal Impact (Ghostbusters Video Game)
Bryan Engram, Animation Supervisor at ReelFX (KFP: Tales of the Furious Five, Open Season 2) -
Art Institute of Tampa
BFA , Media Arts & Animation , 2007 — 2008
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DHIMA (Digital Hollywood - Institute of Media Arts
Completion , Storyboard Production , 1998 — 1999
- Activities and Societies:
- Training under expert Storyboard Artist Steve Worthington in full range of storyboard pipelines and processes
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California State University-Stanislaus
Associate of Fine Arts , Fine Arts , 1985 — 1987
Additional Information
David Lanphear’s Websites:
David Lanphear’s Interests:
graphic design, font design, lettering, sequential art, comic books, graphic novels, comic strips, history of comic strips in American media, cartoons, cartoonists, editorial cartooning, satire, farce, vector art, iconography, media icons, international comic book arts, manga, manwha, Tintin, Pogo, Asterix, Peanuts, Calvin & Hobbes, Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson, Hergé, René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo, Daan Jippes, Carl Barks, Walt Kelly, Giorgio Cavazzano
David Lanphear’s Groups:
2008/2009 SIGGRAPH Member
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ENTREPRENEURS-GET FUNDED -
ACM SIGGRAPH -
Animation, Media & Entertainment -
thinkLA -
Mobile Marketing & Advertising -
SCBWI -
Disney -
GRAPHICS PROFESSIONALS -
Digital Artist Outsourcing Group (InArtists) -
Art Institute of Colorado, Media Arts & Animation -
Lettering & Design Society -
Hooray for Hollyworld! -
Animation Army -
Professional Cartoonist Network -
'TOONGODS -
SONY -
Comic Book Business for Creators and Creations -
Graphic Designers Professional Group -
FEDERAL BIZ Network - Government Stimulus Teaming Jobs PMI Consulting Funding Sales Opportunities -
Deal Flow Network™ -
Comic-Con International Conference and Community -
Animation Mentor Students -
Band of Entrepreneurs -
Level Up! Opportunities for games people. -
KERNSPIRACY: A Place for Designers to Share Secrets -
c1search -
Institute for Comics Studies -
Social Entertainment Professionals
David Lanphear’s Honors:
1st place - Editorial Cartooning - California Press Assocation
1st place - Editorial Cartooning - Northern California Cartoonist & Humorist Association
3rd place - Editorial Cartooning - California Intercollegiate Press Association
Numerous nominations and awards since 1994 for comic book lettering from Wizard Fan Awards, Comic Buyers Guide Fan Awards, Silver Bullet Online, and many more
David Lanphear’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- career opportunities
- consulting offers
- new ventures
- job inquiries
- expertise requests
- business deals
- reference requests
- getting back in touch
