Process: Characters
Louis Henry Mitchell
Creative Director of Character Design, Sesame Workshop
Jessica Hische
Lettering Artist & New York Times Bestselling Author
Annie Atkins
Graphic Designer for Film
Our first of three very special evening events in the Giant Screen at Millennium Point – ‘Process: Characters’ – kicks off with an eclectic line-up of three fantastic speakers.
Jessica Hische is an American lettering artist, illustrator, author, and type designer. She was one of the first of a new generation of letterers and the present-day flourishing of the lettering arts can in part be traced back to her emergence.
Annie Atkins is a Welsh graphic designer and prop maker for film and television. She is known for her graphic design work in The Grand Budapest Hotel and has gone on to work with director Wes Anderson on Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch.
Louis Henry Mitchell is the Creative Director of Character Design of Sesame Workshop. He started working on Sesame Street in 1992. He designed Julia, the first Sesame Street character diagnosed with autism, both as an illustrated book character as well as translating the design to a Muppet.
Talks
Vernacular Spectacular – Annie Atkins
How I stopped designing like a designer and stepped in to the shoes of a 19th century sign-painter, in a hurry, in the rain.
Join Annie Atkins, renowned graphic artist for films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel and Indiana Jones, on this whirlwind tour through the highs and lows of designing in character.
THINK BIG! – Louis Henry Mitchell
How I got to Sesame Street… and beyond
Crafting the Life You Want – Jessica Hische
Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and “avid internetter” who has been in a position of prominence in the design industry for nearly two decades. During that time, so much has changed. Finding your place in this world as an artist and maker has become more complex. Technologies are ever evolving. Platforms and what they ask of us are constantly shifting. The internet offered us an incredible opportunity for connection but it feels harder and harder to find your people, especially because it’s not always clear who is showing up as their authentic selves and who is “building a brand”. In this talk, Jessica will walk through ways she’s navigated all of these changes while trying to stay true to herself—from client work & kids books, to opening two brick and mortar stores. She’ll talk about promoting your work without commodifying every part of yourself, the power of embracing local community, and how to align new technologies with your values to live the creative life you want.
Speakers
Louis Henry Mitchell
Creative Director of Character Design, Sesame Workshop
As Creative Director of Character Design, Louis Henry Mitchell directs and oversees most aspects of character art for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street. From designing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons and floats to directing Sesame Street Muppet photo shoots, Mitchell has been at Sesame Workshop, full-time, since 2020. Prior to that, Mitchell freelanced for the organization beginning in 1992.
Mitchell designed the character Julia, the first Sesame Street character on the autism spectrum. Julia was first designed exclusively as an illustrated character for an autism outreach book and then Mitchell expanded his design and art directed the Jim Henson Company in building the actual Muppet, and her family, for the show. He continues to be the exclusive Sesame Street Muppet designer along with his other duties as creative director of character design. Most recently, Mitchell designed the two new African-American Muppets, Wesley and his Muppet father, Elijah, for Sesame Workshop’s Racial Justice initiative and Ji-Young for the “Coming Together” initiative against anti-Asian violence.
Jessica Hische
Lettering Artist & New York Times Bestselling Author
Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and “avid internetter” who has been in a position of prominence in the design industry for nearly two decades, collaborating with amazing clients—creating custom lettering artwork for established brands, classic books, postage stamps, and so much more.
Annie Atkins
Graphic Designer for Film
Annie Atkins is the world’s leading voice in film graphic design, having created graphic props and set pieces for multiple Oscar-nominated-and-winning movies such as Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and French Dispatch, Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and West Side Story, and the map for the latest Indiana Jones movie, The Dial of Destiny. Her book, Fake Love Letters, Forged Telegrams, and Prison Escape Maps, was published by Phaidon and drew critical acclaim as a look behind-the-curtain of film design, winning accolades from Jeff Goldblum (“Annie makes the unreal seem hyperreal, and the real more supremely alive and utterly magical…”), The Observer (“a love letter to the magic of movie-making”), and Esquire (“a riveting, behind-the-scenes look into the ultra-detailed process of creating passports, street signs, tea stains, and hundreds of other on-screen ephemera”).
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