Mark Simon worked in the entertainment industry for 20 years and has been a professional artist for over 25 years. His background includes live action and animation production, print, writing and teaching.

He has won over 60 international awards for the programs he's directed and produced.

Mr. Simon currently own three companies located in Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World, one of his clients. Sell Your TV Concept Now, Inc. helps people to sell your TV ideas by showing them how to develop, package and pitch concepts the way Hollywood wants to see them.

Animatics & Storyboards, Inc., is a company which provides storyboards, illustrations, cartoons and comic book illustration to the entertainment and print industries. They are now the largest storyboard supplier in the Southern United States having provided support on over 2,500 productions, ranging from feature films to television series, live action, animation, commercials, industrials, books, magazines, newspapers and more. Their clients include Disney, Universal, Viacom, Sony, HBO, Nickelodeon, Steven Speilberg, Fox, USA Networks, ABC, AT&T, Yamaha, NASA, The American Cancer Society and many, many others.

His other company is A&S Animation, Inc., an animation consultation, development and production house. They specialize in character animation. A&S Animation, Inc. has produced animated shorts which have won over 50 international awards. They also animated Disney’s iconic character, Tinker Bell, for the hugely successful Disney Cruise Line.

The series of animated shorts, Timmy’s Lessons In Nature, which Mark Simon developed, directed and produced, won Grand Prize in Nickelodeon’s and Animation Magazine’s first-ever Nicktoons Film Festival.

Mr. Simon is also the author of seven entertainment industry texts. Producing Independent 2D Character Animation showcases every step of production of an independent hand-drawn animation. This book features the production of one of our popular Timmy’s Lessons In Nature shorts. The text also contains research necessary for any animator and includes invaluable interviews with industry greats.

His text Storyboards: Motion In Art, a text used around the world to train storyboard artists and the recent Facial Expressions, is his best-selling photo reference guide for artists.

Each month readers may also see Mr. Simon’s articles in Animation Magazine and on Animation World Network (www.AWN.com).

Prior to producing animation, Mr. Simon was an art director in live action film and TV in Los Angeles, CA and Orlando, FL. While in Los Angeles, He designed many feature films, music videos and commercials. He then became the second art director at the new Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, FL in 1989.

He has also done Second Unit directing for Nickelodeon and on Steven Speilberg’s seaQuest DSV as well as working as a Special Effects Supervisor for NBC and Fox networks.

Mr. Simon teaches at the Digital Animation and Visual Effects School located at Universal Studios, and previously at the University of Central Florida. He currently lectures around the world at major conferences, conventions and schools.