Outpost Expands UK Creature Team With Dan Zelcs And Oliver Dale Hires

We are delighted to announce the addition of Creature Supervisor Dan Zelcs and Animation Supervisor Oliver Dale to our UK team, injecting a combined 30 years of high-end character animation expertise.

Zelcs has been working in character design and animation since 2005 and was instrumental in delivering some of the most acclaimed CG characters of the last two decades. Technically adept as an on-set supervisor, Zelcs was behind Arnold Schwarzenegger’s performance capture for Terminator: Genisys and was key to the delivery of the ghost of Spengler in Ghostbusters: Afterlife.

Zelcs’ other high-profile work includes animating the titular character in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, working alongside Ridley Scott on creature sequences for Alien: Covenant and the rapid redesign and delivery of the hero characters in Sonic the Hedgehog.

Zelcs said: “I’m excited to be joining a seasoned team of VFX pros, many of whom I’ve had the pleasure to work with in the past. It’s a joy to reconnect with such a friendly, generous and experienced bunch. I’m looking forward to contributing to the tools and workflows that the team have been building and helping to deliver creature work to the highest possible standard.”

Best known for his work animating Rocket Raccoon and Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy, Dale was part of the Academy Award winning team that delivered Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, helping to bring iconic characters including Shere Khan to life. He recently served as Animation Supervisor on the Favreau-produced dinosaur series, Prehistoric Planet.

“What excites me most about joining Outpost is both the people and the potential," said Dale. "It's exciting to be working somewhere that is pushing into much more complex creature and character animation, and assembling a great team to build everything that requires. I see lots of skilled people with fresh ideas and enthusiasm all coming together to make something great.”

Rachel Matchett, UK Managing Director, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Dan and Oliver to the Outpost team at a very exciting time. I’ve known them both for a while now and knew they’d bring vast amounts of expertise to the team as we continue to create ever more ambitious CG characters for film and episodic.

“It’s extremely important at Outpost that any senior hires are a good cultural fit, and Oliver and Dan completely meet that brief. Their knowledge of complex character work has already been felt across Outpost and added further Oscar-winning pedigree to our team.”

The news follows the late 2022 launch of Outpost VFX’s London studio, which is our fifth globally alongside Bournemouth, Montreal, Mumbai and Los Angeles.