Tom Richner is an Associate Professor of Animation at the Columbus College of Art and Design where he has taught for the past eight years. He specializes in traditional hand drawn animation and teaches a number of animation, storyboarding and film design courses.   Tom recently began self-publishing a book series for children entitled, 'The Saga of Captain Cheeseball'.  An interactive story that chronicles the adventures of a misfit pirate named Captain Cheeseball, the series follows the main character as he embarks on a top secret quest to find a treasure for the king of the island nation of Flinginghamdunbergville.   Four years ago, Tom founded Cap City Studios, an animation production entity that draws upon the local animation talent in Columbus, Ohio to produce larger scale animation pieces. To date, the studio has produced two commercials and an animated television pitch piece. He also works as an independent freelance animation artist, but is currently focused primarily on the production of a short animated film which he hopes to send to film festivals upon its completion.   Before moving back to Ohio, Tom was a layout artist and sheet timer on the television show The Simpsons for six seasons, working closely with the directors and producers on over twenty episodes of that series. He also acted as a consultant on the Electronic Arts' production of The Simpsons Video Game in 2007.   Tom holds an MFA in Animation from the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, as well as a BFA in Fine Arts from Denison University in Granville, Ohio.

Three-time Emmy Certificate Award for his work on 'The Simpsons'

Honorable Mention, CCAD Teaching Award

Two-time Bronze Telly Award Winner

Denison University Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee for Swimming


NCAA Post Graduate Scholarship