DALLAS — Republic (http://theRepublic.co) recently added two industry veterans to its roster of creative directors. Barrett Lewis and Patton Tunstall are already leading projects inside the studio's pipeline.
Photo (L-R): Lewis and Tunstall
Lewis joins Republic after most recently working across town at ReelFX and its sister companies Atk Pln and Flight School. He began his career at ReelFX in 2001 as a character animator, and later transitioned to the finishing side, becoming a VFX supervisor. He’s worked on high-profile commercials and feature films, including Spy Kids 2, Disney’s The Wild and The Book of Life. He became a creative director in 2011, using his leadership skills to impact multiple divisions of ReelFX and its sister companies. There, he also directed and composed music for countless notable projects, and went on to win an Emmy for “Outstanding Art Direction” for his work for the Atlantic Festival’s 2021 virtual conference.
Tunstall grew up in New Orleans and is also a fellow ReelFX alumnus. He had an early passion for computer graphics and developed a unique perspective on where technology and art meet, which landed him a position at 3D model house TurboSquid while still in high-school. He later attended Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL, and then returned to New Orleans, working at Bayou FX as both a 3D and compositing artist. In 2012, he moved to Dallas to join his wife at ReelFX, where he served as a digital artist and CG supervisor.
Most notably, Tunstall reverse engineered Animal Logic’s Lego lookdev, all within confines of the graphics card, for several global marketing campaigns. He left there in 2021 to found his own VFX studio, WhammyFX.