Instructor Bios

Beverly Bledsoe

Beverly Bledsoe is a Southern California artist who earned an MFA in Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy Art,1981, and a BFA in Printmaking and Sculpture from Cleveland Institute of Art,1979. She has taught Life Drawing and Drawing at Otis College of Art and Design since 1999. Ms. Bledsoe has taught Drawing, Painting and Printmaking at numerous colleges and Universities in Southern California and Texas. She has won various awards in Printmaking and received a cultural grant from the America Center in Helsinki, Finland. Ms. Bledsoe has had one person exhibitions in Los Angeles, Houston, Texas and Helsinki, Finland. She has been included in numerous national exhibitions.

Amy Bond

Amy Bond is a fashion designer, producer, and educator who holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fashion Design from Stephens College and Master of Fine Arts in Fashion Design from Academy of Art University. From wholesale manufacturing and product development to bridal, menswear, and red carpet couture, Bond has a wide range of design experience. Bond has been teaching fashion since 2002, and along with developing emerging designers in the classroom Bond appeared in the iconic Project Runway series as a Designer in Season 16, and is currently the Supervising Producer for the Next in Fashion series on NETFLIX.

Michael Bonitatis

As the founder of the global, virtual, international animation studio, ‘Animation Libation Studios’, Michael Bonitatis runs the animation studio with a pathway from education to employment. While producing animated short films he created the international independent animation channel on the Roku platform ‘Animation Libation.’ Additionally, Michael has collaborated with industry veterans from Disney, Dream Works, Sony, and Nickelodeon to develop multiple projects. Michael served as animation director for ‘Slope of the Curve’; an animated short featured on CNN money. Michael has been a professor of CG and traditional animation production for over a decade at local colleges including East and West Los Angeles College, The Art Institutes, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton and The Los Angeles Film School as well as on ASIFA’s Animation Educators Forum Steering Committee. Michael holds a M.F.A. for Animation & Visual Effects from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Most recently Michael created the ‘Student Animation Showcase’ in collaboration with ASIFA Hollywood to promote recently graduated student’s animation short films. Michael is the co-founder and festival director of ‘The World Animation Celebration’ partnered with Sony Pictures Animation and Animation Magazine.

Robert Dobbie

BFA in Illustration, Otis College of Art and Design. Mr. Dobbie is a freelance illustrator, who draws inspiration from painter Edward Hopper, Classic Disney, Film Noir and James Ellory. Clients include Hurley, American Airlines, Intel, Fox Family Channel, AFLAC, Snack King, and Murphy Design. Adjunct Professor, Communication Arts Department, Otis College of Art and Design.

Mark Farina

B.A. Degree, Florida State University, Art, Minor: Art History, two trimesters in Florence, Italy. Mark attended Florida State University on a partial golf scholarship until he became interested in art which became his main interest for the remainder of my college education. After graduating from college, he made a livelihood in both golf and commercial art. He moved to the Monterey Peninsula in the early 80’s and freelanced as a graphic designer and illustrator. During this period, he was also painting in watercolor and oil. Inspired by the spectacular scenery of the Monterey Peninsula he started painting en plein air (outside on location). This became a passion and eventually fine art painting became his full-time vocation. Mark’s interest in subject matter is not limited to just the landscape. He also paints still-life, architecture and figures.

Marjan Hormozi

MFA University College (Slade School), London; BFA University of North London. Ms. Hormozi studied at Chelsea School of Art, London. A distinguished figurative draftsman and painter, her exhibitions include Factory Place Gallery, Los Angeles and Newcastle Polytechnic Gallery, Newcastle Up-On-Tyne, G.B. She is a recipient of the Artist in Residence Award, North East London Polytechnic and the Cheltenham Fellowship, Cheltenham College of Art. She currently teaches in the undergraduate Foundation department.

Justin Kang

Justin graduated from the Architecture/Landscape/Interiors program at Otis College of Art and Design. Upon graduation, he attended and received his Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California (USC). His notable accomplishments are leading the design team for an architectural installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Shanghai, China, and his role as project manager for solar net-zero homes, an initiative known as "Solar Decathlon" under the direction of the US Department of Energy. He has also been a designer for an architectural research and development firm designing smart zero-energy building facade systems. Justin is an educator in higher education and high school teaching architecture + design along with digital fabrication and rapid prototyping. He also co-founded a private practice focusing on residential and commercial projects in addition to working with fine artists specializing in public works. He currently sits on the board for a non-profit organization where they help children worldwide break out of the cycle of poverty by providing them housing, education, meals, and healthcare. Currently the project focus is on Peru by providing permanent structures for housing and education.

Martin Kline

Martin A. Kline has done many things in the entertainment industry including Senior Visual Effects Art Director for Sony Pictures Imageworks as well as spending many years as a feature film production illustrator for special effects units and principal production, and as a first unit art director on Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump. Born in Brooklyn, NY, he studied at Otis Art Institute, in Los Angeles, where he was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship for the study of Fine Art Lithography at Tamarind Institute, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. At Walt Disney's theme park design group, WED Enterprises, he eventually rose to show designer, participating in EPCOT design and Fantasyland redevelopment. His interest in science fiction led him to work in motion picture special effects and he joined Apogee to work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Dune and Firefox, among others. Marty is a member of the Art Directors Guild and a charter member of the Visual Effects Society. Most recently, he was given the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illustrators branch of the Art Directors Guild.

Chan Koak

Chan Koak, BFA in Illustration/Fine Art, Otis College of Art and Design. Ms. Koak is an illustrator and graphic designer whose work has been exhibited in group shows. She has recently self-published her first illustrated children’s book. Ms. Koak is currently working as a graphic designer and illustrator for children's books and teaches in the Foundation department at Otis College of Art and Design.

Laura London

Laura London is an exhibiting fine artist based in Southern California working in the medium of photography and digital video. Her artwork has been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally. The work is also included in many collections both private and corporate. She is the recipient of two Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Grants, for which she created both a permanent and a temporary art installation. Press coverage of her work includes reviews and features in the LA Times, LA Weekly, Huffington Post, Time Out New York and Artillery Magazine as well as other publications. She currently teaches photography at Otis College of Art and Design. She has also taught at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena and many other visiting artist and guest lecture appointments. She received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts and her BFA from the University of Arizona. Her artwork has recently been shown at LSH Colab Gallery Annex and Chimento Contemporary Galleries in Los Angeles, California.

Eduardo Lucero

Since 1993, Eduardo Lucero has been producing fashion shows/events that feature his clothing line's vision. His shows are known for their strong visionary flair and ability to remain ahead of the status quo, incorporating a huge range of inspiration. As an innovator, he has been instrumental in building a fashion week in Los Angeles from when there was none. He was the one recruited by SMASHBOX Studios to help them in their first foray as a fashion show venue. And the same with IMG, and most recently Boxeight Productions and DTLAFW. Besides showing consistently during fashion week LA for almost twenty-five years, he has also exhibited in New York, Chicago, Miami, Washington D.C. and internationally in Hong Kong, Peru, and Mexico, where he has a mentorship program with young student designers and a commitment to help grow that nation's fashion profile.

Markus Maciel

Markus Maciel, BFA in Toy Design, Otis College of Art and Design. Currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of the Toy Design program at Otis College. Previously worked as the Director of New Brands Design at Razor. Mr. Maciel also worked at International Toy as Director of Product Development and Senior Engineer and Manager of the Digital Training Center at Mattel.

Susanne Manheimer

@smartdesign is the Santa Monica-based design office of Susanne Manheimer. For the previous vigorous and exuberant 20 years, Susanne has been recognized for her work by its elegance, sophisticated humor, style, and wit. Her knowledge, understanding and respect for innovative design, is incorporated in her invention of new design approachesSimplicity and directness of communication are the main elements of her style. Her work makes people smile, laugh, and…think. Today, she divides her time between running the studio, teaching, and lecturing to corporations and schools on the importance of The Democratization of Creativity™ as well as Conceptual Thinking and Problem Solving. Susanne graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA in design. Susanne, a native New Yorker, worked in "The City" as a Creative Director for Tiffany and Co. where she was awarded a Certificate of Distinction for Typography, Creative Director for Bloomingdales by Mail, Revlon, and also The Museum of Modern Art, to name a few. Disney called, and she moved to California to work for Disney + Co. as Creative Director for the Disney catalogue. Susanne has a history of success mentoring young designers, both in academic roles and as an industry leader. She has been described as a “needle in a haystack,” a conceptual designer who is creative yet has strong business acumen.

Joe Micallef

Joe Micallef (who goes by Cogspa, which stands for Cognitive Space) runs a video production studio in Torrance, has a background in CG animation and is the author of "Beginning Design for 3D Printing". He received an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California (USC) film school in 2008. In addition to teaching at Otis Extension,  he teaches design, web development, and animation at Pasadena City College. Joe has recently released several new NFT collections featuring whimsical hand-drawn characters, 3D renderings, and generative art. He is skilled in Houdini, Zbrush, Blender, Maya, Photoshop, and Procreate. His artistic work combines AI generative art, analog art, interactivity, music, and electronics in various ways. In his spare time, he builds synthesizers. youtube.com/c/joemicallef 

Robert Nichols

MFA, Painting, Laguna College of Art and Design; BA, Art History, Univ of California at Santa Cruz. Internationally exhibited painter: Faculty of Fine Arts Lisbon, B Minus Studios, Q Art Salon, Idyllwild Arts Gallery.

Walter Santucci

Walter Santucci, BS, Broadcasting and Film, Boston University, is an animator, puppeteer and filmmaker who has created work for and with such comic luminaries as Monty Python’s Graham Chapman and Margaret Cho. He recently produced animation and puppet segments for Attention Deficit Theater for the CW Network (starring Jaime King and produced by Sarah Michelle Gellar). For over ten years Walter has taught animation at various colleges and universities.

JT Steiny

BFA, Otis College of Art and Design. Freelance Illustrator, painter, comic artist, cartoonist and book illustrator. Clients include Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Smart Money, Forbes, American Airlines, Rolling Stone, Hollywood Reporter, LA Weekly, Sony Records, Virgin Records, Rhino Records, Warner Bros Records, Capitol Records, UCLA, St. Martin's Press, Rock the Vote, Jim Henson Prods, Saban Entertainment, Klasky Csupo. Assistant Professor; Illustration, Otis College of Art and Design.

Mayuka Thais Nagasawa

Mayuka Thais, BFA, Otis College of Art and Design. A contemporary artist, Miss Mayuka is a bilingual multi-cultural artist, edutainer and art educator who specializes in teaching International School and multi-national students. She has led songwriting classes for at-risk youths involved in San Fernando Valley's NPO Youth Speak Collective Program. At the age of ten, she won her first Art Award from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. A published Art Educator, she is the recipient of Eco Arts Awards for her songs and music videos on animal conservation and ecology.

Norland Téllez

Norland Téllez was born in Managua, Nicaragu¨a in the early seventies, growing up in an artistic family that managed to survive the turmoil of a civil war that ended in 1979. As a consequence of the volatile situation that followed, his family was forced to migrate to the United States in search of a better life, free from the threat of war and economic hardship. Making good on his artistic promise after his arrival, Norland went on to attend CalArts on a full scholarship. Soon after, he joined the Walt Disney Studios in Florida during the production of Beauty and the Beast (1992) as one of the youngest animation trainees the studio had ever had. From then on, he has enjoyed a fruitful career in the animation industry, working in feature films as well as television, including a series of independent projects. While working as an animation professional, having graduated from CalArts, Norland continued to pursue his education further. Already flourishing as a teacher in the fields of animation and conceptual design, including story development, he became interested in philosophy and psychoanalysis around the study of world mythologies. In keeping with this pursuit, in the early 2000s, Norland embarked on a graduate study of mythology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. This intensive research and multidisciplinary approach allowed him to focus my dissertation on the Popol Vuh, the Sacred Book of the Quiche-Maya, which he is also currently translating and illustrating for a new up-coming edition, where he reintroduces the famed “Book of the Counsel” as the Wisdom of the Peoples. Norlandtellez.com

Daniel Toney

Daniel Paige Toney is a designer, illustrator, and fashion historian. With a BFA in both graphic design and Illustration & Painting, as well as a MFA in Fashion Design; Daniel approaches the design process from a multidisciplinary approach. Daniel has worked for numerous designers and stylists in the LA area, the most notable including Michael Costello and B. Akerlund. Daniel has had the opportunity to sketch and design for internationally recognized fashion houses, including Dolce & Gabbana, Balmain, and Manish Arora. At Otis College of Art and Design, Daniel has taught Fashion illustration, Fashion Design, Digital Design for Fashion, as well as Studio & Construction for Fashion in the Summer of Art program. Daniel will also be teaching History of Costume this fall. In addition to his design work, Daniel is an award winning fashion illustrator with his high concentrated fashion watercolor illustrations found on the walls of LA ateliers as well as in digital fashion publications. Instagram: @danielpaigestudio

Scott Zaragoza

BFA Studies in Painting and Drawing, Otis College of Art and Design. Mr. Zaragoza has been in solo exhibitions at the Salon Gallery, London, U.K. and group shows in both the U.K and Los Angeles including George Billis Gallery. His work has been included in the prestigious Gilbert B. Silverman and was recently featured in Flaunt Magazine Nov, 2014 issue. Lecturer, Otis College of Art and Design.