A little about us
We’re more than just a design shop or motion studio.
̸ Studio
An award-winning creative studio with a singular focus: telling the bigger story.
̸ Work
A multidisciplinary blend of design, animation and live action that elevates brands, campaigns, films and series.
̸ What we do
We bring stories to life. We create icons. We connect to people.
̸ Telling the bigger story
We're an award-winning group of artists and makers who love nothing more than creating something iconic.
Most of the time, we let our work do the talking. But we're also not afraid to talk about how our work can elevate yours. How we can take stories and make them into something bigger. Something that is going to resonate with your audience and make people stop and take notice. Whether it's through design, motion graphics or live action content, we do it all in service of telling the bigger story.
Our people
Leadership
Josh Norton
Founder, Executive Creative Director
As creative director, Josh leads a dynamic team of artists, writers, directors and producers to develop visual approaches for branding and storytelling projects.
Harnessing his talents and company resources to bring truth to power and life to brands, Josh has been creating outstanding visual experiences in the premium entertainment and advertising industries for over 20 years. In addition to being a creative executive and live-action director, Josh is an entrepreneur. He founded BigStar in 2004 and successfully nurtured its growth into a competitive and visionary motion graphics and production company. As a businessman, he believes in organic growth and continuous creative innovation through responsible management and calculated risk taking.
Throughout his storied, award-winning career, Josh has worked on a comprehensive list of media and communication projects with a focus on entertainment brand development and marketing.
Josh is originally from Buffalo, New York and now lives in lower Manhattan.
Carson Hood
Executive Vice President, Executive Producer
For over seven years, Carson Hood has played a crucial role as the executive producer at BigStar. Carson has a wide range of experience from producing to representing directors in the film and production industry. He shares a passion for collaborating on branding and storytelling initiatives with the creative team.
Over the course of his career, Carson has built a series of strong relationships with agencies, networks, brands, and production companies across the U.S. Utilizing his intuition, diverse background, and his ability to wear many hats, he has enabled the success of BigStar projects ranging from series and network branding, to integrated marketing and live action.
A connector at the core, Carson spends much of the time collaborating with his vast network of peers and influencers, honing client strategy, developing partnerships and expanding upon the BigStar portfolio. Always up for new challenges, Carson prides himself on being a trusted resource his clients can rely on to help make their projects come to fruition.
Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Carson spent over a decade residing in Manhattan and is now based in Austin, Texas with his wife, children and their dog, Bo (a local celebrity).
Team
Leo Bai
Associate 3D Designer / Animator
New Kid on the Block.
Riley Carson
Associate Desginer
Loves dodgeball, Clairo, and type.
Paulina Casey
Associate Producer
Gets real specific about food and film.
Muriel Choi
Associate Designer / Animator
Queen of 3D.
Virgil Conklin
VP / Head of Production
Almost an eagle scout.
Carl P. Dempsey
2D / 3D Animator
Tee shirt game is on full. Middle name is Patrick.
Casey Drogin
Animation Director
Loves Chess, keyframe expressions, and death metal and is very good at all three.
Ross Henderson
Creative Director
From Jersey, the original one.
Carson Hood
EVP / Executive Producer
Can't get out of Texas.
Brian Landisman
Sr. 2D / 3D Animator
Not a man of few words.
Liu Chialung
Sr. 2D / 3D Animator
Jump shot is no joke.
Josh Norton
President / Chief Creative
Has a passion for doing things he's terrible at.
Conner O'Brien
Sr. 3D Generalist
Runs a ranch and coaches a little league football team in Austin that has yet to win.
Marvin Perez
Studio / IT Associate
Holds it down.
Kristen Pritchett
Supervising Producer
KP originated repeattttting letters in casual tyyyype.
Lejf Rossi
Head of IT
One day our renderfarm will have feelings.
Jessica Rowley
Producer
Defected from jazzz and San Francisco.
Muskaan Sethi
Associate Designer/Animator
From Bangkok to Savannah to the Big Apple!
Mark Thompson
Creative Director, Designer
Actually a Deep Fake of himself.
Ivan Viaranchyk
Art Director
Makes art.
Momo Zhao
Associate Designer/Animator
The ultimate GIF maker.