Scott Roberts

Scott Roberts is the co-founder and chair of the DePaul Animation program. He is an artist, animator, cartoonist, sculptor, designer, screenwriter, educator, etc., etc... He received his M.A. and M.F.A. from the Art Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where his faculty mentor was Michelle Grabner. His current research focuses on hand-drawn animation, visual development, and the potential of generative AI tools for empowering animators and filmmakers. In 2023 he created one of the first courses in the country devoted to exploring generative AI art tools for animation, film, and theater. Scott joined DePaul in the fall of 2005 as the university's first-ever full-time animation instructor. That same quarter he became the founding chair of the Animation program, which he has chaired or co-chaired ever since. In 2006 he was joined by Josh Jones, and together they created the first Animation degree program, which began as a concentration within the Digital Cinema BS degree. Along with a talented and amazing group of colleagues, one of the largest full-time Animation faculties in the US, they established DePaul's Animation program as one of the top in the country, consistently ranked in the top 20, currently #16 in the US. Approximately 400 students are enrolled in the Animation MFA, MA, BFA, BA, and the BS in Computer Science + Animation degrees, and our alumni have found success at film, TV, and game studios including Nickelodeon, Disney, Netflix, Dreamworks, Bioware, Pixar, and many, many others. The Animation program is part of the School of Cinematic Arts, ranked by the Hollywood Reporter as the #14 best film school in the US. Along with Alex Seropian, co-founder of Bungie Software, Patrick Curry, and Joe Linhoff, he co-founded the DePaul Game Elites, a multi-disciplinary game development team. Scott was the art advisor for the Independent Games Festival Student Showcase winning games Devil's Tuning Fork and Octodad. The student team that developed Octodad went on to form Young Horses, which has released the hit games Octodad: Dadliest Catch and Bugsnax. Scott is also the Director of the DePaul Game, Cinema, and Animation Summer Academy, a week-long intensive program for high school students, which he founded in 2008. Over 130 students a year are taught by full-time DePaul faculty in film production, hand-drawn animation, 3D modeling and animation, screenwriting, and game design. Scott's sculptures, video installations, animations, and comics have been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago, and screenings in Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Animation Festival. He also has over ten years of professional experience in television art direction, post-production, animation, 3D game art, illustration, and web development. Before joining DePaul, he was the production designer for future-DePaul-colleague Dan Klein's independent feature film 'Making Revolution,' the first starring role for two-time Academy Award winning actor Mahershala Ali. He contributed the chapter "Surrealist Storytelling: Artistic Experimentation and Spontaneity through Improvisation" to The Field Guide to Graphic Literature, edited by Kelcey Ervick and Tom Hart, published by The Rose Metal Press. A selection of his animation, comics, sculpture, and video installation work can be viewed on his website at http://ubutopia.com and Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/scottroberts/videos