animationsupervisor,laurentrossi Details
Laurent Rossi is currently an Animation Supervisor working on an upcoming, undisclosed animated feature film. His career spans 18 years, during which time he has worked on many feature films across 2D, 3D, and Stop Motion mediums, garnering four Oscar nominations: The Illusionist, Despicable Me 2, Missing Link, and Nimona.
A graduate of Gobelins, l'école de l'image, with work selected at festivals such as Annecy, Siggraph, Stuttgart, and many more, his passion for animation and strong work ethic have made him a key contributor to every team he has been a part of.
Among his areas of expertise, lip sync stands out as a particular strength—he has contributed to and influenced the facial animation libraries of Missing Link, Entergalactic, and Nimona, and oversaw the entire facial animation library of That Christmas. Building on this experience, he now shares his knowledge through a dedicated lip sync course.
[Current] - Animation Supervisor [Past] - Animation Supervisor at DNEG - Lead Animator at DNEG - Animation Supervisor at Studio AKA - Lead Facial Animator at LAIKA - Character Animator at Illumination [Notable Projects] - Undisclosed Feature (coming 2028) - Bad Fairies (coming 2027) - That Christmas (2024) - Nimona (2023) - Entergalactic (2022) - Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) - Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (2020) - Missing Link (2019) - Secret Life of Pets (2016) - Minions (2015) - Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Titeuf Le Film (2011) - The Illusionist (2010) [Notable Awards] - Golden Globe Award: Missing Link - Oscar Nominations: The Illusionist, Despicable Me 2, Missing Link, Nimona - Emmy Award Nomination (Outstanding Animated Program): Entergalactic - Daytime Emmy Award (Outstanding Special Class Daytime Animated Program): Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth - Festival Nominations for One Day (2012); Annecy, Stuttgart, Siggraph, and more
[Current] - Animation Supervisor [Past] - Animation Supervisor at DNEG - Lead Animator at DNEG - Animation Supervisor at Studio AKA - Lead Facial Animator at LAIKA - Character Animator at Illumination [Notable Projects] - Undisclosed Feature (coming 2028) - Bad Fairies (coming 2027) - That Christmas (2024) - Nimona (2023) - Entergalactic (2022) - Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) - Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (2020) - Missing Link (2019) - Secret Life of Pets (2016) - Minions (2015) - Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Titeuf Le Film (2011) - The Illusionist (2010) [Notable Awards] - Golden Globe Award: Missing Link - Oscar Nominations: The Illusionist, Despicable Me 2, Missing Link, Nimona - Emmy Award Nomination (Outstanding Animated Program): Entergalactic - Daytime Emmy Award (Outstanding Special Class Daytime Animated Program): Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth - Festival Nominations for One Day (2012); Annecy, Stuttgart, Siggraph, and more
and why?
An essential skill that is not so easily taught is the ability to work within a team. Animation is a joint effort; we create things together, and the combined experience of multiple people is far greater than what we could achieve alone. You want to be a team player, someone who communicates well, responds positively to feedback, is proactive, and thinks about the whole rather than just the individual. Bringing a positive attitude and the ability to work well with colleagues on a professional level will help you in your career, because if people enjoy working with you, you will always be recommended among your peers.
As for tools, I find AnimBot essential. Speeding up your workflow is vital to producing high-quality work within limited time, and once you really learn all of AnimBot's features, it can make you much, much faster.
People often come to me for lip-sync advice at work, even if I’m not on the same project, because I’ve built a reputation for giving good guidance in this area. This is why I made this course: to help animators with one aspect of the process which, when combined with everything else, contributes to a complete skill set.






Release (Ch. 1 - Ch. 15) : 2025. 12. 30
**Class release dates and content are subject to change without prior notice.
- Section 01
OT
01. Orientation- Instructor introduction - Class objectives and learning outcomes
- Section 02
Foundations of Dialogue & Shape Placement
02. Accents & Dialogue Analysis- What to pay attention to when analyzing and interpreting dialogue - Overview of the learning material provided for the first exercise
03. Shape Placement: The "Where & Why"- THE BEST way to place your shapes and WHY it's the best way - In-depth demonstration using the Jieun rig from Wonderwell
04. Exercise: Shape Placement- Animating a dialogue clip in Maya and incorporating shape placement principles
- Section 03
Visual Appeal & Phoneme Theory
05. Visual Appeal: Image- Understanding what makes an image visually appealing - Drawing sessions exploring design principles and aesthetics
06. Exercise: Visual Appeal- Practical draw-over assignments to develop the animator's visual language - 3D image matching exercise to develop observational skills - Tutorial on how to use Krita for animation and drawing
07. Phoneme Theory- Core principles of phonemes in animation and analysis of their usage, complemented by examples
- Section 04
Building a Lip Sync Library
08. The Lip Sync Library - Part 1- In-depth look at the instructor’s method for creating specific phonemes in facial animation libraries - How a library can be used to store shapes for a streamlined workflow - Tutorial on how to use Studio Library
09. The Lip Sync Library - Part 2- Understanding the nuances of phoneme creation and variations of those phonemes for feature films - Key considerations when developing a lip sync library
- Section 05
Motion & Performance Test
10. Visual Appeal: Motion- Exploring motion appeal and its role in lip sync believability through various examples
11. Intent: Deep Dive- Delving deeper into intent when it comes to feature animation - How breakdowns can change the intention of a performance
12. Animation Test- How lip sync integrates into production workflows - Animating a complete dialogue test with full phoneme application using the Leo rig from Wonderwell - Application of all the principles to culminate in students' final outcome
- Section 06
Review & Industry-Level Application
13. Review Session- Breakdown of beginner, student & professional scenes, analyzing where lip sync succeeded and where it could be improved
14. Exercise: Review Session- Reviewing your own work - Tutorial on how to use SyncSketch - Practicing giving and receiving actionable feedback
- Section 07
Conclusion
15. Summary- Key takeaways from the course - Checklist of best practices for believable lip sync - Last words on lip sync for feature animation
For the best learning experience, students are also encouraged to purchase the Leo or JiEun rig from Wonderwell, for which a discount code will be provided as a class perk.



















