Pete Oswald

This article is about the production designer. For the playwright, see Peter Oswald.
Pete Oswald
Oswald in 2016
Born
Peter Jacob Oswald

(1980-07-08) July 8, 1980 (age 44)
Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
Alma materLoyola Marymount University
Known forProduction design
Notable workThe Garfield Movie
The Angry Birds Movie
ParaNorman
StyleAnimation
Stop motion
Book illustration
Painting
Websitewww.peteoswald.com

Pete Oswald (born July 8, 1980) is a #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator and production designer, best known for The Angry Birds Movie film series and ParaNorman. He is also known for his work as a children's book author and illustrator, and painter. Pete's work includes the #1 New York Times bestselling picture book, The Good Egg, and the #2 New York Times bestselling picture book, The Bad Seed, both part of the Food Group series written by Jory John.[1]

Early life and education

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Oswald was raised in Bountiful, Utah. His mother, also an artist, encouraged him to begin painting and drawing from an early age. He attended Judge Memorial High School, where he played baseball and basketball, in Salt Lake City, Utah.[2]

After graduating high school in 1999, he relocated to Los Angeles where he enrolled in Loyola Marymount University and earned a degree in animation arts. He then began working in Los Angeles in film and television animation.[2]

He cites his artistic influences as Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Gustav Klimt, Miroslav Šašek, Charles and Ray Eames, Mary Blair, Ronald Searle, and Al Hirschfeld.

Career

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Oswald is the illustrator of all books in Jory John's The Food Group series, including The Bad Seed, The Good Egg, The Cool Bean, The Couch Potato, The Smart Cookie, The Sour Grape, and The Big Cheese.[3] The Bad Seed was described by The New York Times as "kid-book humor at its best, both warmhearted and frisky — the kind that leaves adults, too, cracking up and grateful."[4] The bestselling duo also created That’s What Dinosaurs Do together. Oswald's authorial debut, Hike, was shortlisted for the CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal. He released his next book The Noise Inside Boys: A Story About Big Feelings in 2023, inspired by his own experiences raising his three sons.[5] Oswald also co-created the children's book Mingo the Flamingo.[6]

Oswald has served in production design and the art department on multiple animated family studio films and television shows. He is best known for his work on the 2016 film The Angry Birds Movie,[7][8] for which he transformed the characters, lighting, and set design from the popular mobile game into an animated feature film series over the course of four years.[9][10][11][12] He was noted for his work on The Angry Birds Movie in Vice's The Creator's Project, which stated: "Pete Oswald's fingerprints are all over the cutting edge of animated feature films, marked by a bright, colorful, slightly angular style."[13] In 2016, he appeared at Comic-Con in San Diego, California.[14] In 2019, Oswald returned to the franchise as production designer on The Angry Birds Movie 2.[15][16] He also served as production designer on 2024's The Garfield Movie. Oswald spent over four years on the project, taking inspiration from Jim Davis' Garfield comic strips of the 1980s in creating new CG versions of Davis' iconic characters.[17]

Oswald served as a visual artist on the popular animated films Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, ParaNorman,[18] Hotel Transylvania, and The Lego Ninjago Movie.[19]

He also paints with acrylics, in addition to his animation and illustration work, and debuted his painting series Pacific Abstract, inspired by the California coast, at a pop-up art gallery show at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California, in 2016.[20][21][22]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Position Note(s)
2008 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Character Designer
2009 The Story of Walls Director, Production Designer Nominated: Annie Award for "Best Animated Short" (2009)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Visual Development Artist
2012 ParaNorman Concept Artist Nominated: Annie Award for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production (2013)
Hotel Transylvania Character Designer
2013 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Visual Development Artist, Designer
2015 The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown! Background Painter
2016 The Angry Birds Movie Art Director, Production Designer
2019 The Angry Birds Movie 2 Production Designer
2024 The Garfield Movie Production Designer

Television

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Year Title Position Note(s)
2004 Johnny Bravo Production Assistant Episode: "It's a Magical Life/The Hunk at the End of This Cartoon"
2004-07 Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Character Designer, Animation Processor, Character Layout Artist, Special Poses 28 episodes
2010 Doubtsourcing Production Designer TV Mini-Series

Episode: "The Wall"

Nominated: Annie Award for Production Design in an Animated Television Production (2011)

The Ricky Gervais Show Additional Background Artist, Character Designer, Background Designer 7 episodes
2011 The Looney Tunes Show Background Painter Episode: "The Float"

Awards and nominations

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Year Nominee / work Award Result
2009 The Story of Walls Annie Award for Best Animated Short Nominated[23][24][25]
2011 Doubtsourcing Annie Award for Production Design in an Animated Television Production Nominated[26][27][28]
2013 ParaNorman Annie Award for Production Design in an Animated Feature Production Nominated[29][30][31]

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References

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  1. ^ "Pete Oswald". Pete Oswald. Archived from the original on 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  2. ^ a b "Pete Oswald". Lmulions.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  3. ^ John, Jory (2017-08-29). The Bad Seed. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062467768.
  4. ^ Russo, Maria (8 September 2017). "All Kinds of Outrageous Behavior in These New Picture Books". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2019-01-05. Retrieved 2019-01-04.
  5. ^ "2023 Gift Guides: 17 Picture Books That Make Great Gifts For Kids — And Adults". LAist. 2023-11-18. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  6. ^ Oswald, Pete; Thompson, Justin K. (2017-01-03). Mingo the Flamingo. HarperCollins. ISBN 9780062391988.
  7. ^ "'The Angry Birds Movie': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  8. ^ Sorensen, Jim (2016-06-01). Angry Birds: The Art of the Angry Birds Movie. IDW Publishing. ISBN 9781623029760.
  9. ^ "Hollywood North | Meet the artist behind The Angry Birds Movie". Vancouver Sun. 2016-05-28. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  10. ^ ScreenPrism. "Ask the Production Designer: Pete Oswald on The Angry Birds Movie | ScreenPrism". screenprism.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  11. ^ Quora (2016-05-05). "Directors of the Angry Birds Movie Reveal the Challenges of Turning a Game Into a Movie and Why These Birds Are So Angry". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2016-05-09. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  12. ^ Brown, Scott. "Hollywood North | Meet the artist behind The Angry Birds Movie". www.calgaryherald.com. Archived from the original on 2018-03-26. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  13. ^ "From 'Angry Birds' to 'Madagascar 2,' What's It Like to Production Design for Animation?". Creators. 2016-07-05. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  14. ^ "A Behind The Scenes Look At Comic Con 2016's Favorite Video Games |". metallife.com. 23 July 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  15. ^ "'Angry Birds Movie' Sequel Set for 2019 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  16. ^ "Angry Birds 2 Is Coming in 2019 with a New Creative Team". MovieWeb. 2017-05-22. Archived from the original on 2017-07-25. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  17. ^ Korpan, Andrew (2024-06-17). "Garfield Movie production designer reveals Hannah Waddingham's cut musical number". ClutchPoints. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  18. ^ Alger, Jed (2012-07-25). The Art and Making of ParaNorman. Chronicle Books. ISBN 9781452110929.
  19. ^ Jensen, Maren. "Person 2 Person: Pete Oswald, animator & illustrator". KUTV. Archived from the original on 2016-07-26. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  20. ^ "Pete Oswald to Debut Pacific Abstract at Bergamot Station: - Santa Monica Mirror". Santa Monica Mirror. 2016-11-03. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  21. ^ Light, Dan (2016-11-11). "Production Designer Pete Oswald Shares His Beautiful Paintings From Upcoming Pop-Up Gallery Show: "Pacific Abstract"". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  22. ^ "The Character of a Place". The Argonaut Newsweekly. 2016-11-10. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  23. ^ "Annie Awards". www.annieawards.org. Archived from the original on 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  24. ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-12-07). "2010 Annie Awards Noms for Animation". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  25. ^ "'How to Train Your Dragon' Dominates Annie Award Noms With 15". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  26. ^ "Annie Awards". www.annieawards.org. Archived from the original on 2017-09-15. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  27. ^ Finke, Nikki (2010-12-07). "2010 Annie Awards Noms for Animation". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  28. ^ "'How to Train Your Dragon' Dominates Annie Award Noms With 15". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  29. ^ "Annie Awards". www.annieawards.org. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  30. ^ Team, The Deadline (2012-12-03). "Annie Award Nominations Unveiled". Deadline. Archived from the original on 2016-02-03. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  31. ^ "Disney Leads Annie Award Best Picture Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2018-11-06. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  32. ^ King, Susan (2012-12-03). "'Brave,' 'Wreck-It Ralph' among nominees for the Annie Awards". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
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