Samantha Youssef

Samantha Youssef
Born	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupation	Founder & Artistic Director of Studio Technique
Known for	Character Animator Animation Director

Samantha Youssef is a Canadian character animator, and animation director. She has worked in both feature films and video games for Walt Disney Animation,^[1] Filmax, and Ubisoft.

Early life

Samantha Youssef was born in Montreal, Quebec. Both of her parents are surgeons. She attended ballet classes at the Royal Academy of Dance and Canada's National Ballet School.^[2]

Career

After submitting her portfolio to Sheridan College, Youssef got accepted and was one of four women in her college course. Samantha Youssef graduated from Sheridan College where she majored in Animation.^[3]

Samantha Youssef was a character animator for The Walt Disney Company,^[1] and has also worked for Ubisoft, Filmax Animation, and Yowza! Animation. She is also responsible for the artistic training of many Montreal video game studios, such as BioWare, Electronic Arts, Visceral Games, and Ubisoft Montreal.^[4]

She is the Artistic Director and founder of Studio Technique,^[5] an artistic production and training studio in Montreal focused on feature film and video game animation. In 2011, the studio received a $10,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh Project.^[2][6]

On March 7, 2015, Youssef launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for her first figure drawing book "The Youssef Drawing Syllabus – Movement & Form."^[7][8][9]

Recognition

Youssef was one of Wired Magazine's Sexiest Geeks of 2009 and 2010.^[10][11][12] She was also one of MSN techno's top sexiest geeks.^[13][14] According to her Wired geek nomination, she is a fan of Star Wars.^[11] Her reaction to the nomination was mixed, stating "It's flattering, in a way, but it's also a concern when you work in a male-dominated field. When you're a petite girl, people don't always take you seriously."^[2]

She was also featured in Chatelaine (magazine) as Miss Chatelaine in 2011.^[2][15]

Youssef was selected as an animation jury member in the Canadian Interactive Academy^[16][17] for the Canadian Game Development Talent Awards.^[18][19]

Youssef was a jury member for Viewster's Global Film Festival, the Viewster Online Film Fest #VOFF5: Animated Worlds.^[20][21]

Youssef's animated short film La Fuga Grande (The Great Escape) was an award winner at the Toronto International Film Festival,^[22][23] and has been showcased at other film festivals in Canada.^[24][25]

Filmography

• Till Eulenspiegel (2003)
• El Cid: La leyenda (2003)
• Tarzan II (2005) (V)
• Lilo & Stitch 2 (2005) (V)
• Kronk's New Groove (2005)
• Bambi II (2006)
• Curious George (2006)
• The Girl Who Hated Books (2006)
• Brother Bear 2 (2006)
• La Fuga Grande (2007)
• Enchanted (film) (2007)
• Nocturna (2007)
• The Princess and the Frog (2009)
• Le jour des corneilles (2011)
• The Day of the Crows (2012)
• Steamboat Willie Redux (2013)
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
• Hullabaloo (2023)
• Dolittle (2020)
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021)
• Twilight of the Gods (2024)
• The Badalisc (TBA)

Bibliography

• The Youssef Drawing Syllabus – Movement & Form (ISBN 0994836104)

References

1. "Samantha Youssef". IMDb.
2. Latimer, Joanne; Updated, Alanna Glassman (September 23, 2011). "Samantha Youssef on becoming an animator and founder of art school, Studio Technique".
3. "Samantha Youssef". Alumni Profiles. Sheridan College. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016.
4. "About". Studio Technique.
5. "Studio Technique". Studio Technique. Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved April 25, 2022.
6. StudioTechnique (September 15, 2011), Studio Technique Pepsi Refresh Commercial with Samantha Youssef, retrieved May 2, 2019^{[dead link‍]}
7. "Movement & Form with Samantha Youssef". CGSociety. April 4, 2015. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
8. "The Youssef Drawing Syllabus – Movement & Form". Kickstarter. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
9. Youssef, Samantha (2015). Movement & form. Studio Technique Artistic Training Incorporated. ISBN 9780994836106. OCLC 915263926.
10. Staff, WIRED. "Vote for Your Favorite Sexy Geeks of 2010". Wired. Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved April 25, 2022 – via www.wired.com.
11. Wallace, Lewis. "Vote for 2009's Sexiest Geeks". Wired. Archived from the original on September 27, 2022. Retrieved April 25, 2022 – via www.wired.com.
12. "Sexy Nerd Contest" - Wired Blogs
13. ""Sexy Geeks" - MSN". Archived from the original on March 2, 2010. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
14. "Samantha Youssef – Sexy geeks". March 2, 2010. Archived from the original on March 2, 2010. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
15. "Samantha Youssef on becoming an animator and founder of art school, Studio Technique – Chatelaine". www.chatelaine.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
16. ""Canadian Interactive Academy" - Canadian Game Development Talent Awards". Archived from the original on September 7, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
17. "Canadian Game development Talent awards – CANADIAN INTERACTIVE ACADEMY". March 26, 2012. Archived from the original on March 26, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
18. ""Canadian Game Development Talent Awards"". Archived from the original on September 7, 2011. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
19. "Canadian Game development Talent awards – ABOUT US". November 14, 2012. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
20. ""Viewster Launches Largest Online Animation Festival" - Animation Insider". Archived from the original on August 28, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
21. ""'Warm Snow' wins VOFF animation prize" - Screen Daily". Archived from the original on October 1, 2024. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
22. "The Great Escape" - Toronto International Film Festival
23. "FRL-85124". collection.tiff.net. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
24. ""The Great Escape" - Tremblant Film Festival". Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
25. "TREMBLANT Film Festival 2007". July 28, 2011. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 2, 2019.

External links

• "Live Stream with Samantha Youssef - CG Con White Conference" - CG Con
• Studio Technique Youtube Channel
• Interview with Samantha Youssef (Artistic Director)
• Samantha Youssef - Toon Talks Podcast Episode 13
• A Conversation With Samantha Youssef
• Movement & Form The Youssef Drawing Syllabus Volume 1