Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Daniel studied art and animation at Academy of Art College, San Francisco. He began his career with Pixar Animation Studios as a Production Assistant on Monsters, Inc. and in 2001 made the jump from Production Assistant to artist. Daniel designed dozens of characters and sets for films such as Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up and Toy Story 3, for which he was the Character Art Director.
As a Visual Development Artist (often referred to as a “Concept Artist”) Daniel is one among a team of artists and designers who take on the immense responsibility of pre-conceiving the visual direction and design of an animated film leading up to the animation process. A lofty role indeed, walking in the footsteps of the legendary artists who pioneered this discipline, names like Eyvind Earle, Mary Blair, Tyrus Wong and other Disney Legends whose visual development work a generation ago weaved the very fabric of so many Disney classics.
Arriaga was the concept artist for Disney’s Coco.
Coco is the first film with a nine-figure budget to feature an all-Latino principal cast, with a cost of $175 million.
