Kei Acedera is an Emmy Award-winning creator, co-founder of Imaginism Studios and Schoolism, and an artist working in the movie industry. At The Art Department 2018 we're delighted to have Kei joining the stage together with her 'partner in crime' Bobby Chiu.
Kei was born and raised in the Philippines and moved to Toronto, Canada when she was 12. She started her career at 16 when she was hired to help huge mural paintings for private homes. This prompted her to follow the courses of Sheridan College for Animation where she had the opportunity of meeting many influential fellow artists and mentors. Among them was Bobby Chiu, an equally talented creator that saw her potential. Bobby invited Kei to join his company Imaginism Studios and they started publishing together the series of art reference books: ‘Sketches”. Since then they’ve worked on designing characters for all sorts of things from TV shows to video-games, magazines, advertising and commercials.
Kei‘s art and imagination has made her many directors’ “go-to” illustrator and idea-maker, designing for projects like Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and its sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass. She has also worked with directors such as Kevin Lima, Pete Chandeland, Oscar-winning director, Brenda Chapman, and many more. Kei is an avid traveller and passionate about helping other artists and the art community.