About Us
From a small office in Newport Beach, CA to offices across the globe, our steady growth over the past four decades can be attributed to the longstanding relationships we develop with our clients.
I’ve always had a passion for this business. I absolutely love making ideas become beautiful, realistic images of visionary projects.
Timeline of Tradition
We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings and have earned our way to the top of our industry by staying true to our vision and business practices laid down over 30 years ago.
1984
After working with renowned architectural illustrator Carlos Diniz, Michael Abbott & Associates was founded as an architectural illustration studio in Newport Beach, CA..
1990
Michael starts creating illustrations in watercolor and has commissions that range from large multi-image master plan projects in Asia. And also retail, mixed use and theme parks in the USA, including helping Universal Studios with the ``Isles of Adventure`` and City Walk`` in Orlando.
1993
The first computer-generated image (CGI) was produced for SOM Architects
2000
Michael was commissioned to create several large watercolor illustrations of resorts, master plans and retail centers in Dubai.
2009
A strategic partnership was formed with Digital Frontier, a leading CGI and animation studio.
2012
Michael was commissioned by SSA Architects, in collaboration with GKK works, to create an original animation of Kohinoor Tower in Mumbai, the tallest mixed-use building in India
2014
Created photorealistic illustrations and animation for CRTKL and their client Centercal, for the revitalization of the Lagoon to the Pier in the coastal town of Redondo Beach.
2014
Michael Abbott and Digital Frontier create a virtual reality division for supplying clients with the latest in HTC Vive, Oculus, and Google Cardboard.
2015
Created animations, CGI and HTC to create a virtual reality presentation for Princess Cruises new ship, the ``Majestic Princess.`` Provided support for 300 guests, 180 screen presentations, and 2 virtual reality stations.
2015
Worked with Landmark Entertainment on their Virtual Worlds Fair, creating virtual reality files in Oculus and HDTV quality animations.
2016
Michael is designing illustrations, CGI and animations for the largest single real estate project in Boston's history. spanning over 23 acres, 20 city blocks and 6.3 million square feet of mixed-use development.
2018
As the leading rendering and animation design firm, MA&A looks forward to a future as bright as its past.
Driven By Exceptional Leadership
Our company is governed by a diverse group of executives and senior leaders who exemplify the characteristics that Michael Abbott & Associates strives to embody each day and with each project—creative excellence, integrity, proven experience, and relationship-driven management. With the common goal of always improving the way in which we do business, our principals have passion for their work and foster a culture of high performance, responsibility and community building. Through a strategic partnership with Digital Frontier, the team at Michael Abbott & Associates is well positioned to handle a multitude of digital services, including renderings, animations and interactive deliverables.
Marilyn Abbott
Michael Abbott
Gavin Crombie
Xiaomei Lui
James Crombie & Andy Gao
Robert Becker
As the founder and fearless leader of MA&A, Michael Abbott is the visionary behind the last 30 years of success. A global expert in visualization, Michael is able to help describe projects not yet designed through renderings and animations.
Abbott, based out of MA&A’s Newport Beach office, has more than 35 years of diverse experience in design, technology, and management, with special emphasis on projects with complex visual requirements. He is passionate about sustainable, multidisciplinary, research-based design. He believes in bringing all parties together as early in the design process as possible to spawn new ideas, establish collaborative working relationships, and create a strong foundation for success.
With his background in both rendering and animation design, Abbott has a lifelong commitment to understanding how fantastic visualization can change the life cycle of a project, and he translates this influence into the company’s creative designs. Examples of these advances can be seen in the Redondo Beach Waterfront project and the South Boston Seaport project, which has achieved worldwide recognition.
The Company We Keep
Our visionary clients partner with us because of our deep understanding of the essential role that visual identity enhances their business.
Michael Abbott and his team are extremely professional – their agility, response time, and approach to partnership make seamless even the most complex projects. We have worked with his team on animations and high quality renderings for a variety of different projects; their work has set the standard of quality in our office.
Gensler has worked with Michael Abbott & Associates on numerous occasions. Not only is his work outstanding, Michael's ability to understand what we are trying to achieve and create through his renderings, enhancing our design, is an important part of his success.
Michael Abbott’s studio perceives the intangibles that capture compelling moments in time. It’s this belief which sets his work apart.
Michael is an outstanding creative resource for illustrations and renderings of all kinds. Over more than 20 years, he has become a creative extension of our design studio. They have never failed to deliver first class, top-quality work. His talent is evident during the early conceptual phases of a project when much of the content of the project is still under development. His experience allows him to “fill in the blanks” of missing information for a cohesive rendering. I can confidently recommend Michael Abbott and Associates to anyone seeking the finest in presentation renderings. He and his staff are simply the best, and a joy to work with!
Michael Abbott came to us at the recommendation of a client when we were in a time crunch for high-quality photorealistic renderings. Whether it's renderings animations or VR, his team consistently accommodates accelerated schedules and always delivers on time with the same quality as was provided on day 1. Abbott is a great communicator, collaborator, and conductor of dreams with whom we are proud to partner to help us and our clients develop our design visions.
We have been working with Michael for over 25 years and his work just keeps getting better, from his watercolors to his computer-generated photo-realistic perspectives, his work is fantastic.