Mike began his drawing studies in the early 1980's at Brandes Art Institute, in Reseda, California. Several years later he began working in the animation industry, beginning with small studios including Morgan Interactive and Colossal Pictures in San Francisco, and Philips Interactive in Los Angeles.

His career in feature animation began at Walt Disney Feature Animation in 1994, where he worked on six feature films including Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Fantasia 2000, Tarzan, and Beauty and the Beast. He worked at Walt Disney Animation Australia, and in Valencia, Spain as a supervisor on the animated film El Cid: The Legend.

Mike's teaching career began while working at the Disney studio in Los Angeles, when he taught animation at the American Animation Institute, and at CalArts. In 2003 Mike taught life drawing to computer animators in Boulder, Colorado, and animal drawing at the Denver Zoo and San Diego Zoo, and in 2004 he became a faculty instructor at the Art Institutes of California, teaching life drawing, animation, sculpture for animation, and character design.

Since 2005 Mike has been a guest lecturer at many world class museums in Los Angeles, including The Getty Center Museum, The Getty Villa, The Huntington Library and Art Collections, and The Norton Simon Museum of Art, and Palazzo Strozzi in Florence.

In 2007 Mike moved to Florence, Italy to study classical painting. He has since continued his teaching here, at institutions such as New York University, Syracuse University, and Florence University of the Arts, and   privately, offering personalized instruction to guests of prestigious residences and hotels such as Palazzo Tornabuoni, Riva Lofts, The Hideaways Club, Helvetia and Bristol Hotel, and Borgo Santo Pietro.

In 2012 Mike moved to Montréal, Canada where he works full-time as Animation Director for top video game studio Square Enix/Eidos, and where he continues to offer his world-class private art instruction. 

To see Mike's portfolio click on the image above