(written from a Production point of view)
Earl Hibbert (born 14 May 1970; age 54) is a visual effects artist who from February 2015 worked as Previsualization Supervisor for the company Proof Inc. on Star Trek Beyond. [1]
Hibbert was born in London, UK and attended the Northumberland Park Community School between 1984 and 1988. Early in his career, he worked as assistant animator on the animated television series Juniper Jungle (1992-1993) and on the animated films We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993) and The Pebble and the Penguin (1995).
Following his move to Los Angeles, California, Hibbert started to work as animator for Warner Bros. Animation until 1999. Projects during this time include Space Jam (1996), Quest for Camelot (1998), and The Iron Giant (1999).
In 2003, Hibbert wrote, directed and produced the short drama The Appointment and worked as animator on Osmosis Jones (2001), Eight Crazy Nights (2002), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003, with Dick Miller, George Murdock, Robert Picardo, Ron Perlman, Allan Graf, Glen Hambly, and Frank Welker, and music by Jerry Goldsmith).
Hibbert worked for Halon Entertainment LLC and Proof Inc. as previsualization artist and/or supervisor on projects such as Spider-Man 3 (2007, with Kirsten Dunst, James Cromwell, and Michael Papajohn, and produced by Stan Lee), TMNT (2007, with the voices of Patrick Stewart, Nolan North, and Kevin Michael Richardson), Meet Dave (2008, starring Gabrielle Union), Astro Boy (2009), Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and Underworld: Awakening (2012), Battleship (2012, art direction by Aaron Haye and William Ladd Skinner), and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012).
Hibbert previously worked for director Justin Lin as previz artist on Fast Five (2011) and Fast & Furious 6 (2013). Both films starring Dwayne Johnson, cinematography by Stephen F. Windon, and costume design by Sanja Milkovic Hays.
More recent projects include commercials for Julius Baer, Turbo Tax and Pepsi and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, starring Zoe Saldana, with Gregg Henry and Stephen Blackehart, and executive produced by Stan Lee).