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Emmy-Winning Animation and Games Professor Prepares Students for Success

State Fair of Texas

With 30 years of experience at top animation studios, Gardner runs his classes like an art director

By Javier Giribet-Vargas

Frederick Gardner has contributed to nearly every major animation studio for more than three decades, working on series and blockbuster projects in both 2D and 3D animation. He’s worked with MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Walt Disney Animation, Pixar, DreamWorks, The Jim Henson Company, Sony, Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros., Netflix, and Reel FX, among others.

As of Spring 2024, he’s been serving as an assistant professor of practice at the Bass School at UT Dallas.

Gardner, who also does freelance work as a production designer and art director, brings a real-world studio approach to his classes. He encourages students to create 50 to 60 drawings per semester to help them build an impressive portfolio during college.

Professor Gardner took students of his Life Drawing class to the Texas State Fair to draw livestock and people on the spot.

“I specifically teach my classes the way I supervise my artists on an art team. So I tell my students, ‘You’re the art team; I’m your art director,’ ” Gardner said. “I’m not giving them tests, I’m not giving them multiple-choice questions, I’m not giving them worksheets to fill out. The students are getting assignments like they would get from me if they were working for me at Reel FX.”

As a layout artist on the 1999 Warner Bros. animated sci-fi blockbuster The Iron Giant, he designed the film’s backgrounds and vehicles. His designs were not just visual elements, but their means to subtly craft a visual story that enriched the narrative. Throughout the production, his mission was to provide an essential secondary visual layer, complementing the acting and adding emotional depth.

“I was designing another bedroom in the house and wanted to make it the father’s, so I came up with the story that Hogarth’s dad died in the Korean War. So I put a picture of his father with his hand on an F-86 Sabre,” Gardner said. “It tells that little bit of the story that’s not in the script, and it’s not there unless you’re looking at the background.”

Gardner’s portfolio boasts two Primetime Emmys for outstanding individual achievement in animation: in 2005 for The Powerpuff Girls and in 2006 for The Life and Times of Juniper Lee. He was also among the crew that won Best Animated Series, working on one of early seasons of The Simpsons.

“I’m trying to teach my students that they’ve always got to be reinventing themselves and making themselves relevant to what is being done right now,” he said. “I’ve been doing it for 30 years.”

Gardner is also a U.S. military veteran who fought in Operation Enduring Freedom. He served in the U.S. Army and California Army National Guard as an Infantryman, Bomb Tech (EOD) and Parachute Rigger for eight years. After serving in the armed forces, Gardner earned an associate of science degree in Marine Technology at the College of Oceaneering in Wilmington, Calif., where he studied to become a deep-ocean diver and underwater welder.

At the Bass School at UT Dallas, Gardner is teaching classes such as Character Design (ANGM 3304), Life Drawing (ANGM 3321), Storyboarding (ANGM 4309), and Portfolio Building (ANGM 4379) this semester. He’s also taking his students to the Lightbox Animation Expo in Los Angeles, where they’ll have opportunities to network with studio executives, receive portfolio feedback, and explore entry-level jobs in the industry. 

“I’m preparing them for ‘the job,’ ” Gardner said. “One of my classes is literally how to start your own independent contractor business, create your portfolio, how to write your resume, how to make a business card to get it printed, how to print out your portfolios so that you have a book to show your clients.”

As an experienced animation professional, Gardner frequently held workshops for fellow animators and co-workers, sharing insights into his field. He brings those same industry techniques to the University’s Animation and Games program. One standout course is Life Drawing (ANGM 3321), where he takes students to various locations around Dallas-Fort Worth to draw people and scenes in real time.

One such outing involved a trip to forest near campus. “Just showing the students that there’s this massive forest where you could literally get under the canopy and not see the sky, and you’re just in trees is an amazing experience,” he said. “I take them to walk there and draw what they see on the spot, and whether the light changes or the wind moves something, they have to learn how to capture it and draw the next thing.”