EXHIBITIONS

Gallery Nucleus
www.gallerynucleus.com/artist/tara_nicole_whitaker

DIRECTING AND DESIGN EXPERIENCE 

2024: Illustrator for "The Princess and the Frog" Little Golden Book, written by Victoria Saxon, published by Penguin Random House
2023: Illustrator for "The Little Mermaid" Little Golden Book, written by Lois Evans, published by Penguin Random House
2023: Illustrator for "Oprah Winfrey: A Little Golden Book Biography", written by Alliah L. Agostini, published by Penguin Random House
2022: Art Director at Wild Canary for Original Animated Series
2021-2022: Character Designer and Visual Development Artist at Disney Television Animation for Disney Jr.'s "Ariel"
2022: Illustrator for "Shady Baby Feels", written by Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, published by HarperCollins Publishers
2022: Illustrator for "My Little Golden Book about Misty Copeland", written by Sherri L. Smith, published by Penguin Random House
2021: Illustrator for the NY Times Best Seller "Shady Baby", written by Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade, published by HarperCollins Publishers
2021: Illustrator for "My Baby Loves Valentine's Day", written by Jabari Asim, published by HarperCollins Publishers
​2020-2021: Series Director for "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder", Disney+
2020: Illustrator for “The World is Yours (Disney Princess)” for Disney Publishing
2020: Illustrator for "The Square Root of Possible: A Jingle Jangle Story", written by Lyn Sisson-Talbert and David E. Talbert, published by Penguin Random House
2020: Illustrator for “Bubble Kisses” for Sterling Publishing 
2020: Illustrator for "My Baby Loves Halloween", written by Jabari Asim, published by HarperCollins Publishers
2019: Illustrator for "My Baby Loves Christmas", written by Jabari Asim, published by HarperCollins Publishers
2019: Prop Designer at Netflix for “Kid Cosmic”
2019: Illustrator for "Ariel and the Sea Wolf" for Dark Horse's Disney comics line
2018: Character Designer and Visual Development for Bento Box for “Kuroba”
2018: Character Designer and Visual Development for Nelvana Studios
2018: Character Designer and Visual Development at Nickelodeon Studios for "Middle School Moguls"
2018: Illustrator for Disney Publishing
2017: Illustrator for Disney Publishing
2017: Character Designer and Visual Development at Disney Television Animation for “Haunted Mansion”
2016 - 2018: Illustrator of Rapunzel's journal at Disney Television Animation for “Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure”
2016 - 2018: Prop Designer at Disney Television Animation for “DuckTales”
2016: Personal Project “Azelie” www.azeliethevampire.com
2015: Prop Designer at Disney Television Animation for “Billy Dilley”
2013 - 2015: Prop Designer at Disney Television Animation for “Wander Over Yonder”
2011 - 2014: Prop Designer at Disney Television Animation for “Gravity Falls” 
2014: Character Designer and Visual Development for "Home" for Dreamworks
2014: Prop Designer for "Jammers" for Cartoon Network
2013: Character and Prop Designer for "We Bare Bears" for Cartoon Network
2013: Prop Designer for "AJ's Endless Summer" for Cartoon Network
2009 - 2013: Prop and Character Designer at Disney Television Animation for “Fish Hooks” 
2006 - 2009: Prop Designer at Cartoon Network Studios for “Chowder” 
2009: Character Designer for “Polly Pockets” Online
2006 - 2009: Puppeteer for “The Wheels on the Bus” children’s film series
2006: Storyboard Revision Artist and Designer at Cartoon Network Studios for “Billy and Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure” film 
2005 - 2006: Storyboard Revision Artist at Cartoon Network Studios for “The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy” 
2005: Prop and Character Designer at PBS for "The Zula Patrol"
2005: Storyboard Revision Artist at Fox for "Family Guy"
2005: Character Designer at Nickelodeon for "My Life as a Teenage Robot" 
2003 - 2004: Storyboard Revision Artist at CBS for "Game Over"
2002: Art Department for Spike Lee’s “The 25th Hour”

SELECTED SPECIALIZED SKILLS
  • Visual Development
  • Character and Prop Design
  • Background Layout
  • Adobe Photoshop/ Illustrator/ Maya
  • Color Styling
  • Rough Inbetweening/ Animation Clean-up
  • Watercolor/ Gouache
  • Classical Animation
  • Puppeteering
  • Illustration and Digital Painting/ Life Drawing 
  • Storyboarding 
  • Voice-Over Acting


EDUCATION
2012: Puppet School, Advanced TV Puppeteer Class Graduate
2002 - 2003: College: California Institute of the Arts, Film Directing Major - MFA
1998 - 2002: College: California Institute of the Arts, Character Animation Major - BFA
1997: Summer Arts Program: Rhode Island School of Design

 



 



 



 


Copyright 2025 Tara Nicole Whitaker