Gina Lawes

Adjunct Professor
Entertainment Design

Biography

Gina Lawes is a Los Angeles-based artist with animation and visual effects production experience spanning more than 29 years. The keystone of Gina’s artistic approach is visual storytelling through motion, color, lighting, and composition. An artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios, her creative leadership roles include Director of Cinematography and lighting for Zootopia+ and Lighting Supervisor for films Zootopia, Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2, Strange World, and theme park attractions, Mickey’s PhilharMagic additional Coco scenes, and Zootopia: Hot Pursuit. Notable key and lead artist contributions to animated films from Disney and Dreamworks Animation include Frozen, Frozen 2, Moana, Moana 2, Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, How To Train Your Dragon, and Rise of the Guardians. Notable visual effects senior artist film contributions include Armageddon, 102 Dalmatians, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Stuart Little 2. In 2018, she was nominated for Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature by the Visual Effects Society for Ralph Breaks the Internet; Social Media District. Gina graduated with a Master's in Fine Arts from the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and a Master of Science from the University of Denver and holds undergraduate degrees in Fine Arts and Mass Communications from the University of South Florida. Gina has been teaching at ArtCenter College of Design since 2019.

Classes

• ECPT-152-03: Lighting Fundamentals