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BIOGRAPHY
Briar Lee Mitchell
Illustrator/Writer
Briar Lee Mitchell, MA, CMI began as an illustrator in 1977 and has degrees from the University of Toledo ( Ohio, mcl BA in Art) and the University of California, San Francisco (Masters in Medical and Biological Illustration, scl).
During her graduate studies in San Francisco, Briar specialized in media production for film and video, with an emphasis on animation techniques. Upon completing her degree she worked as a producer for Continuing Medical Education via satellite in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins Hospital and produced each 30-60 minute show at the CMESat studios in Boston. Topics covered were Cardiology, OB/GYN, Surgery and Radiology.
In 1988, Briar moved toward freelancing full-time with her first client, Lucasfilm Ltd. She produced art, portraits, storyboards and animation for a project in conjunction with The Smithsonian titled "The Life and Times of Albert Einstein". The videodisc and a portrait she painted of Albert Einstein are still on display at The Smithsonian.
Working with film, video, animation and eventually digital art, Briar moved back to California in 1989 to Los Angeles where she continued to freelance for a wide variety of clients including Tom Selleck, Disney, GoodHousekeeping, AT&T, Yale Medical School, the Tuskegee Airmen and the FBI. Briar has also been on staff for Feature, TV and game production at Warner Bros., Disney and Vivendi-Universal (Quest for Camelot, Sylvester & Tweety, Pinky & The Brain among others).
Briar became a member of the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles in 1992 and served as its President for two years. Through her association with SILA, she became a member of the Air Force Art Program and traveled around the world on missions with the Air Force to document their work in paintings that were then inducted into the National Archives in Washington, DC. Her travels to date have taken her to Asia, the South Pacific, New Zealand and as far away as the South Pole. Her traveling companion to the pole was noted director/writer/producer James Cameron.
Currently, Briar runs Star Mountain Studios, a successful shareware gaming company working on projects with her partner Richard Sternberg. Briar and Richard produced an on-line (free) video game with Joe Perry of Aerosmith and are producing the feature length CGI animated film, Jake’s Shadow, an interactive graphic thriller titled Thursday and the animated short The King of Ink.
Briar is also a member of the faculty at the Art Institute of California, Los Angeles teaching animation and vfx techniques for TV, film and games.
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