Sasaki was doodling from a young age. Spending hours drawing with his grandfather, who was an architect and a constant source of encouragement. Knowing that he wanted to study animation, Sasaki applied to CalArts but did not get accepted. This, fortunately, lead him to attend Woodbury University, where he was surrounded by inspiring tutors and students.
He graduated in 2006 and joined the Jim Henson Studios, where he worked as a Character Designer for animated film trilogy Unstable Fables. He then moved on to Disney Television Animation, Blue Sky Studios, and LAIKA Entertainment. In 2009 he joined Pixar. As well as serving as a character designer, Sasaki was the production designer for the Pixar’s short film, Sanjay’s Super Team (2015)
In addition to his animation contributions, Sasaki’s illustrations have been featured in Gallery Nucleus, New York Times, and the Society of Illustrators yearly annual. He contributed a story to GHOST. Sasaki has also taught at the Animation Collaborative.
You can see more of Chris Sasaki’s work on his website, Instagram, Twitter. You can find out more about him in this video interview with Bobby Chiu and this interview with Randall Sly on the Character Design blog.
