Rick Mischel Launches Artists Animation Studio

Veteran animation producer Rick Mischel has launched Artists Animation Studio, headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.

The new studio comes from Mischel’s acquisition of Yeti Farm Creative Animation Studio (Hotel Transylvania: The Series, Summer Memories, Pete the Cat) through Reach Media. He will serve as the CEO of the new venture.

Joining Mischel at Artists Animation Studio is Yeti Farm Creative Animation Studio’s co-founder Todd Ramsay (Hotel Transylvania: The Series, Pete the Cat, D.N. Ace, Angry Birds) as head of animation. Ashley Ramsay, also a co-founder of Yeti Farm, will depart to pursue new opportunities.

Dan Christman (Agent Elvis, Invincible, DinoTrux) joins Artists Animation Studio as supervising producer, and Rachel Bepple (My Little Pony, Frog and Toad, Hotel Transylvania: The Series) has been named as producer.

Artists Animation Studio is located in the former Yeti Farm Creative Animation Studio facility. Mischel and his team will build on the former studio’s legacy of providing full-scale animation service capabilities from script to screen at a competitive cost for studios around the world, with the help of the region’s Canadian Tax Credit incentives. Artists Animation Studio will focus on 2D Harmony and hand-drawn animation services for adult and children’s series and film content, advertising and digital content creation.

Mischel has 30 years of experience in the animation industry and has been an executive producer (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania: The Series) at Sony Pictures Animation since 2014. From 2018 to 2022, he served as CEO of Bardel Entertainment, overseeing a team of over 400 artists and productions for some of the industry’s leading broadcasters and IP owners. He received an Emmy in 2020 as an executive producer for Bardel’s work on Rick and Morty.

Prior to that, Mischel served as senior VP and general manager of Sony Pictures Imageworks, where he launched the animation and VFX facility in Vancouver that is behind hits such as Hotel Transylvania, Smurfs and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

“Artists Animation Studio reflects my mission to deliver a full suite of animation services, driven by artists who are committed to creative excellence and client satisfaction,” Mischel said. “Todd and Ashley have built a top-tier animation studio, which provides us with a solid platform to further expand our service capabilities. I look forward to working together with Todd, Dan and Rachel, all of whose work I have admired over the years, as well as the amazing creative talent based in Kelowna and British Columbia as we continue to grow the studio’s roster and range of projects globally.”

“Todd and I are proud of the prestigious projects we and our creative team have developed and produced since we launched our studio in 2007,” said Ashley Ramsay. “While I’ve made the difficult decision at this time to move on to new endeavors, I’m confident that with Rick’s leadership and trusted reputation and Yeti’s creative legacy, the new Artists Animation Studio will be an industry force!”

“Building Yeti Farm Creative Animation Studio from the ground up has been a thrilling experience, and Ashley and I are extremely proud of our work,” added Todd Ramsay. “It is a privilege to continue our legacy by joining Rick in this new venture as head of animation, where we will continue to push creative boundaries as we work together to deliver high-caliber entertainment to our clients and to audiences around the world.”